The choice: a wide player has the ball
"When play goes to wide areas, and opponents move with play to press the ball, where is the space? Either behind, or back underneath and central, against the grain of the press."
Every wide action, what was chosen, and how the possession ended
A wide action is an open-play pass or carry started outside the width of the penalty area, between the edge of the own box and the edge of the attacking box. The back-space is the central band of the pitch entered at or under the line of the ball.
Where they play it, and which side
"There is a clear difference in the number of times this back-space has been activated on the left compared to the right. Why does our left side connect through the back-space more often?"
Share of wide actions played inside, by zone
Each zone shows how often this team, with the ball in that wide channel, played it into the central band at or under the line of the ball. Shading is against the league rate for the same zone: darker means they go inside more than the league does there.
Left against right
Every team, left against right
Wide player to midfielder, inside and under the line - the situation the article describes. Sorted by how lopsided the team is.
What the back-space is actually worth
This team against the league, by option
Against the opponent's block
The narrow version: wide player to midfielder
The article's own situation. Because a receiving player is only recorded on a completed pass, both sides of this comparison are completed passes.
What makes it work
"The near side CM runs away from becoming a passing option, dragging his marker with him. At the same time, the far side CM moves across to become active."
Off-ball runs around the ball
Back-space actions split by what teammates were doing in the four seconds around the ball. Run detection is conservative, so these shares are a floor.
Third-man combinations
Up from the wide area, back underneath into the middle, then through, inside eight seconds. The most productive route out of a wide area in the league.
Who receives it
League-wide. In the own third the back-space pass is mostly a goalkeeper or a centre-back recycling; the midfielder the article draws only takes over higher up.
Who plays it
The league: most wide-player-to-midfielder passes per 90
The final third: the edge of the box
"Attack the end-line, pull numbers out/away, and make hard runs to goal."
What this team puts into the box and onto the edge
Open-play passes played from the final third, per match, with what each was worth in expected goals from a shot within six seconds.
League: the deep run is the whole thing
The same pass, with and without a deep or diagonal run into the box in the seconds around it. xG per 100 passes, league-wide.
The league, ranked
Click any row to switch the report to that team.