[Val1]

I watched the Portugal - Turkey game this afternoon, and as I did so, I charted Deco for the game. I'm trying to develop a methodology for quantifying to some degree the game.

Deco came out in about the 88th minute. There was 1 minute of stoppage time in the first half, and 2 minutes in the second half, so he played 89 of 93 minutes.

For the game, Deco had 42 possessions, split evenly 21 in the first half, 21 in the second half. He had 14 turnovers, 5 in the first half and 9 in the second half.

I define a possession as anytime a player has a ball, whether at his feet on the dribble or making a pass/shot. Even heading a ball away from a corner is a possession. A throw-in or free kick is not a possesion. A turnover is when a player loses the ball in possession or loses the ball, either by making a poor pass to the other team or even if an opposing team member makes a great interception. For my purposes, a poor pass that a teammate is able to field/play, even if it puts the teammate in a poor position, is not a turnover for the passing player. It is a turnover for the receiving player. And lastly, methodologically, a shot is never a turnover, even if it goes straight at the keeper. Scoring goals is the object of the game, after all.

Anyway, 42 possessions for Deco and 14 turnovers. I also like to see who Deco plays to/ passes with for this team. For this game, the players who looked to him the most were Simao, Carvalho, Bosingwa, and Ferreira. This quartet got him the ball about 5 times each. Interestingly absent, were many passes from Costinho (1 pass), Petit, (no passes) and Nunyo Gomez (1 pass).

I find it interesting that the midfielders of Portugal didn't get the ball into his feet as often as the defenders. Deco's distribution was more egalitarian: Ronaldo (5 passes), Simao (3 passes), Petit (2), Costinho (3), Bosingwa (4), Ferriera (3), Pepe (2), Nani (2).

At the 65 minute mark, he'd received just one pass from Ronaldo and made just two passes to Ronaldo. Over the next 20 minutes, he got the ball from Ronaldo twice and gave it to Ronaldo 3 times. This is also the period of time when even as Turkey was pressing the most, Portugal played their best ball and ended up getting the goals.

One more methodological note: I have gone back to re-watch games to see if I'd get the same counts, i.e. would I have the same number of possessions and turnovers. I'm very consistent. If I saw this game again, I'm sure I wouldn't be off more than 1 or 2 possessions. As to passed to and received from Deco, well, that's a little more subjective until I can recognize every player. Even though Gomez was wearing the captain's armband, I had a lot of trouble distinguishing between Gomez and Costinho.

[Cris 09]

Originally Posted by Val1

One more methodological note:...

....please get rid of that font!!

[Val1]

Watched/charted Michael Ballack in the Germany - Poland game today.

I watched 66 minutes, when the feed broke for almost 8 minutes. When we returned live, Podolski had scored his second, the game was out of reach and I really had work to do (so that I can watch the Italy - Holland game tomorrow).

In 66 minutes, Ballach had 32 possessions and just 7 turnovers. Looking to see where his touches came from, he received balls from:
Mertesacker - 4
Fritz - 3
Podolski - 4
Lahm - 1
Frings - 4
Gomez - 1
Jansen - 2
Metzelder - 4
Direct from Throw ins - 2
Loose balls - 3

His distribution was equally egalitarian:
Mertesacker - 1
Fritz - 2
Podolski - 4
Gomez - 1
Lahm - 1
Klose - 1
Frings - 1
Jansen - 3
Metzelder - 3
Lehmann - 1
Schwansteiger - 1

Ballack received passes from 8 of the 11 players who played, and made passes to all 11 (Schwanstiger was a 55th minute sub) and this was only looking at 66 minutes. I do this charting for 20 - 25 games a year, primarily in the Premiership and in the Champions League, and that kind of distribution is rare. His touch back to Lehmann was a statistical outlier (attacking mids rarely control back to the keeper), but I doubt I'll see another player get it to every other field player in just 66 minutes. I'm no fan of Ballack in general, but this was a typical, neat and tidy game, moving the ball, getting it to everyone because he covers a lot of ground, is always available, and will usually make the simple pass, even if it is right back to Metzelder or Jansen. Really an elegant game for Ballack.

[Val1]

For the Italy - Holland game, I'd planned on charting de Rossi. Never in my wildest dreams did I think Donadoni would think that Ambrosini was better, so when de Rossi was not named, I panicked (I got in front of the TV 40 seconds after kickoff) and decided to chart Pirlo. He's boring. I've charted him before, and I should have gone ahead and charted Wesley Sneijder of Holland, clearly the player of the tournament so far, But as I said, I panicked.

Anyway, Andrea Pirlo. Very quiet first half, as Italy was losing the game. Had 15 possession and two turnovers. In the second half, Pirlo came alive, and within 19 minutes, he'd doubled his possessions, and he ended up having 37 possessions in the second half alone (to go with 7 turnovers). Plus he had two very nice free kicks, but it was too little too late.

Problem with Pirlo is that he drops far farther back than most other playmakers (because ideally Italy would have Totti as the forward playmaker) so he's got to cover too much ground to be dangerous.

He received passes from the following players:
Ambrosini - 3
Cameronesi - 2
Zambrotta - 5
Gattuso - 6
Barzagli - 7
Pannuci - 6
Materrazi - 2
Grosso - 2

That is ZERO passes from Toni, di Natale, del Peiro, Cassano.

He made passes to:
Ambrosini: 5
Cameronesi: 3
Toni: 1
di Natale: 1
Zambrotta: 10
Gattuso: 4
Pannuci: 2
Materazzi: 1
Grosso: 4
Barzagli: 2
del Piero: 1
Cassano: 3

Certainly an ideosyncratic player, who'd think that your creative force would do so much to get Zambrotta and Grosso in the attack?