Comparing the technical and individual possession statistics of academy players across different age groups in match-play (anonymised dataset)

McLaren-Towlson, Christopher

Abstract

Background: Youth soccer players in the UK transition into the professional game at 16 years of age. Understanding the differences between youth and professional standards can help coaches and clubs to support player development during this transition. Objectives: To (i) assess the differences in technical and possession statistics between different age groups (U16, U18, U23) and outfield positions (central defender [CD], wide defender [WD], central midfielder [CM], attacking midfielder [AM], wide midfielder [WM], striker [ST]), within an English academy soccer programme, during match-play. Methods: All matches were monitored using foot-mounted inertial measurements units (F-IMU; PlayermakerTM) to quantify the technical (touches and releases from the feet) and individual possession statistics (Time on the ball, Time on the ball per possession) from each match. Teams were instructed to play a 1-4-3-3 formation as part of their clubs playing philosophy, with positions defined per this formation. Data were analysed using a multi-variate ANOVA Two-tailed statistical significance was accepted as p < 0.05 and measures of effect size were calculated using partial eta-squared (η2). Magnitude of the effect sizes were small (0.2<ES<0.6), moderate (0.6<ES<1.2), large (1.2<ES<2) and very large (≥2). Results: Trivial to small effect sizes were observed across age groups for both technical and possession-based statistics during match-play. Across all age groups and positions, CD`s had the highest number of technical actions (touches and releases), whereas ST`s & AM`s, had the highest amount of time in possession of the ball. Further, positional analysis showed ST`s and AM`s had moderate to large decreases in time on the ball per possession at the U23’s age group in comparison to the U16 and U18’s, with no technical differences observed within the same positional analysis. Conclusion: Attacking players (AM & ST) are required to move the ball quicker as they progress from U16 to U23’s within the current English football academy. Further exploration is required to assess if these changes are context specific given requirements of those age groups.

Citation

McLaren-Towlson, C. (2024). Comparing the technical and individual possession statistics of academy players across different age groups in match-play (anonymised dataset). [Data]

• Online Publication Date: Feb 20, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024
• Deposit Date: Aug 8, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 20, 2024
• Publisher: University of Hull
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4354202
• Type of Data: 1 Excel file (Anonymised, quantitative anthropometric and technical performance data)
• Collection Date: Jan 8, 2023
• Collection Method: Player technical and locomotor activities (total distance covered, high-speed running distance[>4m/s](22), sprint distance [>5.5m/s], accelerations and decelerations[±2m/s/s](23)) and technical actions (ball touches, time on the ball, high-speed releases[>15m/s](24)) were quantified using commercially available foot-mounted, inertial measurement units (IMU`s) (PlayerMaker™, Tel Aviv, Israel). Each IMU incorporated two components from the MPU-9150 multi-chip motion tracking module (InvenSense, California, USA), being a 16 g triaxial accelerometer and a 2000•sec-1 triaxial gyroscope. Housed in manufacturer-supplied tightly fitting silicone straps, each player was equipped with two IMUs (one for each foot), which were located at the lateral malleoli over the player’s boots. To diminish issues related to inter-unit reliability, players used the same IMUs throughout the data collection period(25). The IMUs showed good intra-unit reliability (Proportion of agreement (PA) = 95.9% - 96.9%, Coefficient of Variance (CV) = 1.4% - 2.9%) and validity (PA = 95.1% - 100.0%) compared to retrospective video analysis (26). All devices were activated via a Bluetooth connection to an iPad (Apple Inc, California) prior to each training session. Data were uploaded to the manufacturer’s cloud-based software (v.3.22.0.02) post-session by the national teams’ practitioners. The start and end of each trial was identified and tagged prior to data being exported from the manufacturer’s cloud-based software into Microsoft Excel 2020.