When we watch a football match, we consume only a fragment of the action.
We’re naturally drawn to the fun things happening on the ball, but zoom out a little and there’s beauty in the carefully choreographed movements off the ball across the field.
You may not notice many runs. Some of them won’t even be picked up by the television coverage, but if a player receives the ball in space you can be confident that it was the movements of their teammates elsewhere that threw the opponent out of shape.
Running outside the defensive line is crucial to a team’s attacking prowess, especially in an increasingly physically demanding Premier League.
“Deep runs are probably the most important thing in football,” Liverpool manager Arne Slot said on Amazon Prime after their 3-1 win over Leicester City.
“You don’t even always have to play against a player who makes the deep run, but then you can maybe create a bigger one-on-one situation for your winger, so the more deep runs you make, the better chance you have. of winning a match.”
The Athletics noted a similar trend in Slot’s side earlier this season, with overlapping runs past the opponent’s defensive line allowing Liverpool’s wingers to come in and cross – as evidenced by Mohamed Salah’s assist for Curtis Jones against Chelsea.
Running past the ball remains a key theme of Liverpool’s campaign under Slot.
Besides the obvious candidates Salah, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz, Slot’s midfielders have shown a remarkable tendency to break past the opposition’s last line with runs from deep.
For example, in their recent Premier League match against Manchester United, Jones desperately tries to get the attention of Ibrahima Konate as he identifies a gap in the defensive line.
Although the ball does not reach Jones, Harry Maguire’s attention is drawn to the 23-year-old as the ball continues to circulate.
Five seconds later, that space is utilized with another deep run from fellow midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, with Salah’s clipped ball being struck for the first time by the Argentina international.
Using SkillCorner’s Game Intelligence Model — which extracts contextual statistics from broadcast tracking data — we can measure the number of off-ball runs made by each team when in possession, with an emphasis on runs from the back.
For those unsure, this type of run is simply recorded when a player attacks a space behind the last line of defense, as in the example below. Crucially, the player does not have to receive the ball for the run to be recorded.
Looking at all Premier League teams, Liverpool’s 4.1 deficit per 30 minutes in possession – adjusted to control for each team’s share of the ball – is the third highest this season, with Crystal Palace topping the charts, ahead of Aston Villa. .
There is no right or wrong method here, but the image above highlights the stylistic approach of each attacking team.
Arsenal and Manchester City, for example, rank relatively low on this metric, reflecting their desire for a more patient, possession-based build-up that appears to push the opposition back – establishing territorial dominance, often leaving less space behind the defense of the opposition. line.
As for Southampton, let’s not add to their misery.
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Measuring off-ball runs by Premier League wingers
For league leaders Palace, Jean-Philippe Mateta’s runs are crucial to Oliver Glasner’s attacking approach and can have a double advantage for the team.
The first is the typical threat of an attacker receiving the ball beyond the opponent’s last line, but the second is the space such a run can provide for others to exploit between the lines – namely Eberechi Eze.
For example, in their most recent Premier League match against Chelsea, Ismaila Sarr finds right wing-back Daniel Munoz in space on the right flank, while Mateta occupies Chelsea’s centre-backs with a run from behind, towards the front post (see frame 2).
That run opens up space for Eze to drift into, with Munoz’s cutback allowing Eze to shoot first time – even if he misses the target.
Twenty minutes later there was an almost identical pattern. Sarr’s ball finds an onrushing Munoz, while Mateta’s lag at the near post allows Eze to hold back and receive the cutback – which is blocked on this occasion.
Conversely, Mateta’s improved link-up play has allowed Sarr to thrive as a No. 10 by making runs from deeper.
This was evident in his Premier League goal against Aston Villa in November, with Mateta receiving the ball in his own half before releasing Sarr, who had made up the score.
It’s an area of his game that Sarr has been actively working on in training since arriving in the summer.
“We showed him the space where he can show his strength,” Glasner said at his press conference last month.
“We wanted to have speed, a player who can make runs behind. (To) find the perfect profile we are looking for, we cannot spend (much) money, so we have to find players with the most of the profile, then our job is to teach them where to develop their skills can show and talent.”
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If Eze gets his confidence back, Palace will have a real triple threat up front
At Aston Villa, the midfield runs of John McGinn and Morgan Rogers – alongside the wide runs of left-back Lucas Digne – are key to Unai Emery’s system. However, Ollie Watkins is one of the leading candidates in the Premier League for goal-scoring goals.
Although capable of dropping deep to receive, Watkins has developed his game in recent seasons, staying on the last line between the width of the six-yard box and conserving his energy – having reached wider areas in previous seasons.
He chooses his moments carefully, but his channel’s muscle memory lags when Tyrone Mings has the ball and remains effective – as was the case against Leicester last weekend.
It was a similar sequence that was created for his Premier League goal against Crystal Palace in the aforementioned match in November. Before McGinn got the ball between the lines, Watkins was already looking for the space he could use at the back (see frame 1).
A perfectly balanced pass and a calm finish followed.
When Watkins’ run types are broken down by category, more than two-thirds of his total consists of runs behind or in front of the ball – with a noticeably small proportion falling short or pulling into the half-space to receive.
When a teammate gets the ball in space, you can bet Watkins will ride his bike towards goal.
Crucially, this fits in with Emery’s attacking method of penetrating the opposition backline whenever possible. No Premier League team has registered more than Villa’s 53 through balls this season, showing that they often take the opportunity to play the pass when those runs are made.
Breaking down our SkillCorner dataset by player, Watkins is up front alongside Leicester’s Jamie Vardy with the highest number of runs behind as a share of their totals, in a list largely made up of number 9s leading the respective attack of their team.
Below Watkins on the list? The previously discussed Mateta, of course.
Like Mateta, Watkins and Jhon Duran’s runs don’t always have to be answered with a pass from a teammate. However, these moves are still crucial in pushing the defense back and creating space for Villa’s number 10 to exploit.
This was particularly notable during Villa’s recent win over Manchester City The Athletics has previously analyzed – with Rogers and Youri Tielemans taking advantage of Duran’s relentless forward run.
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How Tielemans and Rogers’ ability between the lines helped Villa beat City
While our post-match debrief will largely focus on the events that occurred on the ball, the key to unlocking a defense can often lie elsewhere on the pitch.
Whether you’re Nottingham Forest or Forrest Gump, running matters – and now we can measure its impact in context.