|
|
|
|
|
|
by afy
5095 days ago
|
|
|
Actually, in the final Pirlo did not have the ball the most for Italy because he was closely marked by Xavi. A central defender, Barzagli got more touches than him. It would be interesting to see the graph of that match. Also your final assertion that teams set themselves up so their best players get the ball the most seems a bit off to me. Consider FC Barcelona. Lionel Messi is arguably their best player but you would be hard pressed to find a game in which he has the ball the most since he plays high up on the pitch as an attacker. I agree with you in that single match analysis using this technique doesn't really produce any new insights. I think this analysis would be very interesting when comparing between different games however. e.g. comparing Italy's match against England where Pirlo was effectively given free reign of the pitch to their match against Spain where he was shut down for most of the match. I would love to get my hands on some raw data from Optasports! |
|
|
