Globalization as a transversal element has altered reality in many ways, and elite sports are no exception. In football, markets, countries, players, and coaches have become decentralized, influencing how football is perceived in countries where the perspective was very different. This is what has been happening in the Premier League since numerous foreign coaches started arriving in the best league in the world.
If we zoom in on this idea, there is a main actor whose ideas have influenced football more than any other coach this century. Since Pep Guardiola arrived at Manchester City in 2015, English football has changed. Pep, with Arsene Wenger as a precursor, influenced the game so significantly that the style of play in the league started evolving rapidly. His methods, more elaborate, with passing as the central act of the game, changed players’ intentions.
Many aspects of the game can be measured, but two are particularly significant. One is the goalkeeper’s footwork. The primary action of the goalkeeper in play is the goal kick, which has changed, likely forever, since 2016. Statistics reflect this change. Long goal kicks have decreased continuously, from 70% to 44%, while passes made by goalkeepers have increased.
Similarly, the average distance of their passes has decreased, a result of not only more sophisticated football but also the arrival of new regulations in 2019, allowing defenders to receive the ball inside the penalty area. This enables them to connect with the goalkeeper from the start, facilitating play out from the back. Both situations are illustrated in the graph.
On the other hand, the number of crosses into the box is another significant change in the game. The game increasingly requires fewer wingers to cross into the box. The wingers that exist, needed by Guardiola and similar coaches for their style of play, hardly cross. Everything is played on the ground, everything is short passes, and everything is done in groups. Eleven years later, there are far fewer crosses into the box than historically seen in British football.
Founded in 2017 as a consultancy, Driblab has driven innovation through data in all aspects of professional football. Thanks to a transversal model, its database collects and models statistics in all directions. From converting matches and videos into bespoke data for training academies to developing cutting-edge technology, helping clubs, federations and representative agencies in talent scouting and transfer markets. Driblab’s smart data is used by clubs all over the world, with success stories such as Dinamo Zagreb, Real Betis and Girondins Bordeaux among others. Here you can find out more about how we work and what we offer.
