Affects of different passing styles on match outcomes in football

Football (Soccer) was established as a formal sport in England during1803. At this time Football Association (FA) was formed and became the sports first governing body. However it was not until 1904 when Federation International Football Association (FIFA) was established that football became an internationally recognised sport and brought under one governing body for all countries.

Performance analysis, specifically notational analysis has played a growing role in football since the 1960’s. As the area of notational analysis has been developed and refined there has been a move from limited and very basic statistical analysis to that of highly complex computerised data collection, manipulation and analysis within ever shortening time spans.

Within the world of sport specifically football there has been an ever-growing trend towards trying to identify and isolate possible key performance indicators in order to create a winning and successful team. Despite the efforts of research there are still no known performance indicators in football except to score more goals than your opponent.

Within football it is a fact that in order to score and thus improve a teams chances of winning, possession of the ball is needed. Therefore a large portion of research has looked at the affects possession has on creating goal scoring opportunities.

Currently there are two main chains of thought as to how to achieve the above objective. The first is through a direct passing style where the team tries to progress the ball into their attacking third to create a goal scoring opportunity as quickly as possible. The second method is that of a possession style of football where the team tries to progress the ball forward using a number of passes until the opportunity to get into their attacking third arises.

Since football was established players, clubs and coaches have looked for ways to improve the likelihood of winning, be it through changes in formation, player profiles (size, shape and skill set) or even passing and playing styles. As a result this has shaped the way in which the game is currently played, analysed and coached. However to date there is no key indicator for determining match outcomes or being a successful team.

Research done by Reep and Benjamin is said to have shaped the current tactics used within modern day football all over the world. Their original work on ball possession in football found that the strike ratio between passes and shots on goal were higher when the team played less passes. Further to this they found that 80% of goals resulted from a sequence of three or less passes and that goals were scored on average every 10 shots.

It was found that coaches were implementing a more direct style as a way to maximise the ‘chance’ element of the game. Therefore when in possession of the ball players tried to move the ball into a shooting position as quickly and direct as possible using the least number of passes.

Hughes and Franks however found that very few teams have succeeded at the highest levels using low passing sequences per possession. Instead they have found that successful teams have more touches per possession than unsuccessful team.

Jones et al. found when comparing ball possession of successful and unsuccessful teams that successful teams had significantly longer time in possession the unsuccessful team regardless of their match status.

Lago-Penas and Martin as well as Redwood-Brown stated that a teams confidence to pass and receive the ball when under pressure as well as ability to accurately pass the ball over a range of distances where more successful.

Over the last 50 years there has been a growing interest in identifying performance indicators in football, in particularly in the area of ball possession and passing styles. According to the literature available there is not on clear consensus regarding the best passing style to implement within a game in order to be successful. Further to this there is a lack of well-defined definitions within the limited articles available that examines the affect passing has on match outcomes. In order to bridge the gaps within the research further study is needed within the area of performance analysis and the affects, if any that passing has on match outcomes.

Using the research currently available it is clear that there is not one passing style that would improve the 'chance' of a team being successful in a match. It may be possible however to isolate areas of the field or times within a match where implementing either a direct or possession style could influence specific situations and by doing so could then result in a success.