Football is a simple game, but it is also a complicated one and sometimes the greatest complication is working out just how complicated. As data reveals the intricacies of its internal workings and informs ever more complex pressing and counter-pressing schemes, so at the same time the bluntest and most obvious observations take on a weird profundity: “What they need is somebody to put the ball in the net.”
At the highest level, the impact of data on processes has been huge and led to disconcerting shifts in perspective. Take, say, Brighton’s 2-2 draw against Liverpool in October when all four goals stemmed (one via a penalty) from transitions after the ball was won high up the pitch.
