Direct play index: from Farense to Manchester City

Issue 438 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post combines SkillCorner’s physical and tactical (’game intelligence’) data with Wyscout’s technical ones to create a direct play index*. Based on 100, the latter allows us ranking teams from 27 leagues worldwide from those with the most direct attacking style to those with the most elaborated offensive play.

The highest values for direct play were recorded for Portugal’s SC Farense (100) overall, Luton Town (87) in the big-5, CA Banfield (83) for non-European teams, and Newcastle United (56) for UEFA Champions League participants. In contrast, the lowest values, reflecting the most elaborated attacking styles, were measured for two teams coached by Spaniards, Guardiola’s Manchester City (21) and Luis Enrique’s Paris St-Germain (23), with Arteta’s Arsenal (27) fourth.

Also presented in the Post, the extreme values for the specific variables of the index were observed for SC Farense (max) and SC Freiburg (min) regarding sprints during possession phases, Cercle Brugge (max) and Burnley (min) with regard to ‘call-for-the-ball’ runs into space, as well as Paris St-Germain (max) and FK Teplice (min) concerning the kilometres ‘covered’ by the ball also with the team in possession.

* The direct play index is calculated by multiplying the frequency of sprints per player (at least 0.7 seconds at over 25 km/h) during possession (projected over 90’) and the proportion of ‘call-for-the ball’ runs in space (SkillCorner data); divided by the number of kilometres ‘covered’ by the ball in possession, an indicator resulting from the multiplication between the number and average length of successful passes (Wyscout data).

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