Expert oriented analysis of football duels by means of position data

• Robert Leser
• Thomas Hoch
• Bernhard Moser
• Arnold Baca

• Jens Bangsbo
• Peter Krustrup

This study aimed to analyse 1 versus 1 duel situations in football. Therefore, 77 duels of elite youth players were videotaped and recorded with the LPM position tracking system. By means of expert interviews and content analysis the process and variables for assessing the players performance in the perspective of coaches was gathered.

The experts’ knowledge led to a kinematic model distinguishing 3 keypoints (start, confrontation, shot) and 2 phases (phase 1: start to confrontation; phase 2: confrontation to shot). For each of the keypoints and phases a series of kinematic parameters were calculated (e.g., distance between the players at the keypoints, maximum speeds during the phases).

Summarised, in 36% of all duels the attacker could not pass the defender at the confrontation keypoint. In 64% of all duels the attacker was able to pass the defender, but only 43% led to a shot (21% of the duels led to a lost ball in phase 2).

When the attacker was not able to pass the defender the most important factor was an active turnover through the defender (70%) followed by hesitant attacker movements (15%) and others (15%). The most crucial kinematic parameter distinguishing between successful and unsuccessful confrontations was the acceleration of the attacker at the moment when he tried to steer in one direction (either left or right) and thereby tried to pass the defender (p>0.01).

Our results show that performing dynamical movements at proper moments is a key factor for successful 1 versus 1 duels in football.