written by – Rangers Report

Goal:

To put together a team who will collaborate to create a database for the 2019-20 Scottish Premiership that can identify:

• Trends in teams transitional attacking play 
• Ways to exploit/improve how different teams transition into the final third
• Similar trends in how clubs defend transitional play
• Strengths/weaknesses in how different players drive possession into the final third

Background: 

The tracking of zone entries originates from the hockey analytics world & has become a major component of any kind of advanced stats analysis in the NHL.  

Danny Pugsley was probably the first to transfer this concept to football & zone entries became a major part of my own analysis when I contributed data for Rangers back in the 2015-16 season & when I was a consultant for Livingston in 2016-17. 

I think a lot can be learned about players who ‘drive possession into the final third’ that adds a whole new layer of identifying values in players (beyond goals & assists).  Additionally, the results prove that teams have much better results when they enter the final third via Controlled Zone Entries vs. Non-Controlled Entries…meaning the data can flag ways for clubs to improve their results on the pitch.

I invite you to read this blog post from 2017 for more on those results.

Patreon:

Once we have started compiling the data, a Patreon site will be launched that includes player data, team stats & individual match reports.  

Shared Profits:

Again, I don’t expect this to make a lot of money but I will make sure that the compensation is distributed with equity.

• I will take 10% of the profits for running the Patreon site & coordinating the data collection
• The remaining 90% will be divided up based on who tracked the data.  If someone has tracked 30% of the matches…they will get 30% of the remaining profits.  

I have found that tracking this kind of data provides a new lens to watch matches with & can really be useful for clubs when it comes to their match analysis & how they value players within their systems.  

Conversely, if you are interested in football analytics this would give you a unique lens to present data & it can be used in so many different ways to showcase what you learn from tracking this kind of information.

If you are interested in helping with this project you can either DM me on Twitter or email me at therangersreport@gmail.com