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Possession as a performance indicator in soccer

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  • P. D. Jones
  • N. James
  • S. D. Mellalieu

Abstract

In soccer, the ability to retain possession of the ball for prolonged periods of time has been linked to success (Hook and Hughes, 2001). The accuracy of this assertion was investigated by comparing 24 matches involving successful and unsuccessful English premier league teams within the 2001-2002 season. Specifically the teams’ possessions were analysed depending on evolving match status i.e. whether the team was winning, losing or drawing. All possessions less than 3 seconds in duration were removed from the data as they were not deemed to include significant events pertaining to a teams’ strategy. Successful teams were found to have significantly longer possessions than unsuccessful teams irrespective of match status i.e.winning (p<0.01), losing (p<0.05) and drawing (p<0.01). However both successful and unsuccessful teams had longer durations of possession when they were losing matches compared to when winning. It was concluded that within elite English football possession is related to successful performance but it is likely this is down to differences in individual player’s skill levels rather than specific team strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • P. D. Jones & N. James & S. D. Mellalieu, 2004. "Possession as a performance indicator in soccer," International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 98-102, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rpanxx:v:4:y:2004:i:1:p:98-102
    DOI: 10.1080/24748668.2004.11868295
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    Cited by:

    1. Enrique García-Ordóñez & Carlos Touriño-González & María del Carmen Iglesias-Pérez, 2017. "Effects of situational variables on offensive performance indicators in elite water polo," International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1-2), pages 164-176, March.
    2. Fiona Carmichael & Dennis Thomas, 2014. "Team performance: production and efficiency in football," Chapters, in: John Goddard & Peter Sloane (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Professional Football, chapter 10, pages 143-165, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Poojan Thakkar & Manan Shah, 2021. "An Assessment of Football Through the Lens of Data Science," Annals of Data Science, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 823-836, December.
    4. Oberstone Joel, 2009. "Differentiating the Top English Premier League Football Clubs from the Rest of the Pack: Identifying the Keys to Success," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 5(3), pages 1-29, July.
    5. Rubén Maneiro & José Luís Losada & Claudio A. Casal & Antonio Ardá, 2021. "Identification of Explanatory Variables in Possession of the Ball in High-Performance Women’s Football," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-14, May.
    6. Manuel Espitia‐Escuer & Lucia Isabel Garcia‐Cebrian, 2020. "Efficiency of football teams from an organisation management perspective," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 321-338, April.
    7. Gomez, Miguel-Angel & Reus, Marc & Parmar, Nimai & Travassos, Bruno, 2020. "Exploring elite soccer teams’ performances during different match-status periods of close matches’ comebacks," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    8. Athalie J Redwood-Brown & Peter G O’Donoghue & Alan M Nevill & Chris Saward & Caroline Sunderland, 2019. "Effects of playing position, pitch location, opposition ability and team ability on the technical performance of elite soccer players in different score line states," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-21, February.
    9. Kylie Garratt & Aron Murphy & Rob Bower, 2017. "Passing and goal scoring characteristics in Australian A-League football," International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1-2), pages 77-85, March.
    10. Claudio A. Casal & José L. Losada & Daniel Barreira & Rubén Maneiro, 2021. "Multivariate Exploratory Comparative Analysis of LaLiga Teams: Principal Component Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-18, March.
    11. Iyán Iván-Baragaño & Rubén Maneiro & José L. Losada & Antonio Ardá, 2021. "Multivariate Analysis of the Offensive Phase in High-Performance Women’s Soccer: A Mixed Methods Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, June.
    12. Nimai Parmar & Nic James & Mike Hughes & Huw Jones & Gary Hearne, 2017. "Team performance indicators that predict match outcome and points difference in professional rugby league," International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(6), pages 1044-1056, November.
    13. A. Tenga & A. Mortensholm & P. O’Donoghue, 2017. "Opposition interaction in creating penetration during match play in elite soccer: evidence from UEFA champions league matches," International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(5), pages 802-812, September.

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