In modern football, executing a successful transition has become an art form. It's crucial to be efficient during transitions because this is when the opposing team is at its most vulnerable, with many players caught out of position.
Many clubs using MyGamePlan are now focusing on custom metrics that track forward movement during transitions. The first few seconds after gaining possession are vital, with both on-the-ball and off-the-ball movements playing a key role in turning a transition into a successful attacking opportunity.
Off-the-ball movements, often referred to as forward runs, involve players quickly advancing into spaces that can be exploited. Meanwhile, on-the-ball actions—whether it's a forward pass, a dribble (carry), or a take-on—are equally important in pushing the team into an attacking position.
To effectively evaluate a team's transition play, we can track the following key metrics:
- Forward Off-the-Ball Movement: How quickly and efficiently players move forward after regaining possession.
- Forward On-the-Ball Movement: The effectiveness of the initial actions taken with the ball, such as passes, carries, or take-ons.
- Penetration into the Final Third: Whether these movements lead to entry into the opponent's final third or result in a goal-scoring opportunity.
By analyzing these aspects, teams can better understand their efficiency in transitions and make necessary adjustments to improve their attacking prowess.
Forward movement based on the position of the possession gain
The farther away a team is from the opponent's goal, the more critical forward movement becomes. This is particularly true during an offensive transition that begins in the defensive or middle third of the pitch.
In these situations, rapid and purposeful forward movement is essential to overcome the distance and defensive structures that separate the team from a scoring opportunity. Whether it's quick off-the-ball runs or decisive on-the-ball actions like passes and dribbles, every movement must be executed with precision to effectively transition from defense to attack.
By focusing on these forward movements, teams can quickly turn defensive situations into dangerous attacking plays, even when starting deep in their own half.
This way we can evaluate how many times our strikers make a deep run immediately after we recover the ball on the first third or middle third.
And we can evaluate the video footage of the recoveries with deep run actions and without deep runs actions in an automated way.
This way we can show the clips to the attacking players of situations they did not make a run why we expected a run from them.
Forward ball movement after the possession gain
Once the possession is gained, we expect a deep run from the players off the ball, but we also expect that the ball move forwards as soon as possible after the possession gain.
This is also something we can measure in an easy way with MyGamePlan.
This metric will allow us to see all the videos that we actually played the pass forward or made a forward carry after the possession gain.
The end product of the offensive transition
What happens after the forward pass and forward movement, can we measure if it actually results in the final third or a shot on target?
This we can do by creating a metric that measures the passes to the final third or a shot after we make a possession gain.
This is an important way to evaluate how effective the team is on an offensive transition.
These three trackers give us the perfect evaluation of the offensive transition by evaluating:
- Forward off the ball movement of the team after possession gain
- Forward movement on the ball after the possession gain
- Reaching the final third or creating a goal scoring opportunity
If you need more inspiration on how you can create your specific style of play metrics, click here.
MyGamePlan is a Belgian startup founded by Berten Knaepen and Dries Deprest, using their expertise from working experience at different clubs. They help clubs like Bayer Leverkusen, KRC Genk and QPR to reach their targets by connecting different data sources into one tool.
