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Research: Nationality and Performance Trends
With the League Managers Association coming out in support of a potential National Football Centre and the proposed ‘6+5 Rule’ being accepted as a resolution by FIFA, the spotlight is firmly on the strengths and weaknesses of home-grown footballers and ways to aid their development. With this in mind our Performance Analysis Centre have begun research into the technical playing characteristics nationalities in the Premier League. This allows us to compare styles of play for players of different nationalities.
The initial study focused on the 2008-09 season and includes every match, every team and every player. The depth of subsequent data available allows us to analyse a whole range of technical aspects, including distribution, attacking and defensive play.
Here’s an insight into the analysis undertaken…
Passing Analysis
Graph 1: The average passing frequency and success per game of home-grown and overseas players of different positions in the 2008/09 FAPL season
Graph 1 illustrates the passing frequency and success rates of home grown (HG) players compared to overseas (OS) and we can see that overseas players are generally attempting more passes than home-grown players with a higher success rate. This could be reflective of the type of overseas players now gracing the Premier League and also the style adopted by the home grown players.
Attacking Analysis
Graph 2: Continent-specific technical data for central-midfield players during the 2008/09 FAPL season
Graph 2 shows how players from different continents perform in terms of 1) passes received, 2) tackles made, 3) shots on target, 4) goals per game (all presented as an average per game).
We can see that South American and European players tend to receive more passes per game, and that European players are most likely to attempt a tackle, but when it comes to goal scoring it is the home-grown midfielders who are the most prolific finishers.
Of course, this is a mere snapshot the analysis available. but the research offers an insight into how the multi-cultural nature of world football may affect playing styles Premier League.. With FIFA’s 6+5 rule meaning that every British team would need to start 6 home-grown players in every match by the start of the 2012-2013 season, this ongoing research could become even more relevant.
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