Tag: Player Ratings

Explaining the Shot Stopper – Player Role Analysis

by Rhys Desmond, posted in Canadian Premier League, Coach Education, Data Analysis, Goalkeeper, Masterclasses, Most Recent, Player Analysis, Player Education, Premier League

While formations may exclude the never-changing goalkeepers from their numbering, we could never fail to recognize the importance of goalkeeping in the game. As a result, we start with one of the most scrutinized positions on a football pitch - that of the keeper. We break goalkeepers down into two broad categories - 'Shot Stopper', and 'Sweeper Keeper'. We can then use these classifications to help distinguish between different types of players, and measure accordingly. Today's article is all about the 'Shot Stopper', defining role expectations and answering the soon to be common question of - 'What exactly is a shot stopper?'

Forge FC 3-0 FC Edmonton – Match Analysis & Player Ratings

by Rhys Desmond, posted in Canadian Premier League, Coach Education, Formations, Masterclasses, Match Analysis, Most Recent

After a couple of disappointing results to start the season, Forge found their flow in Week 3, achieving a comfortable 3-0 win over FC Edmonton's stern defense. Not only did Forge live up to expectation from a performance perspective, but also from a tactical one. Bobby Smyrniotis changed shape away from the 3-4-1-2 / 3-4-3 formation utilized against Cavalry back to his favoured 4-3-3, only to reconstruct their ideologies in the second half to better take advantage of the wide areas. Here is our analysis of Forge's commanding 3-0 victory over FC Edmonton.

Evaluating players based on role continuity

Featured by Rhys Desmond, posted in Canadian Premier League, Data Analysis, Match Analysis, Most Recent, Player Analysis, World Football

What a player does on a football pitch from a pure on-the-ball event perspective, quantifies only a small percentage of their actual role or influence on a match. What a player does off the ball can often be the key to a good performance, allowing a player to enhance their on-the-ball metrics in the process. So this begs the question - how can you evaluate a player's performance if they weren't really all that involved in the action, but stuck to their specific role perfectly?