Measuring Tactical Behaviour in Football

TLDR

Advances in measuring tactical behaviour may open new research topics and narrow the gap between sports sciences and coaching. The study explores using dynamic positional data to assess tactical behaviour through movement patterns and inter‑player coordination. A 13‑week constructivist/cognitivist training program was evaluated with a pre‑post design in 5×5 small‑sided games, using 5 Hz GPS tracking and nonlinear signal‑processing analysis. Post‑test data showed lower approximate entropy, indicating more regular movement patterns, and a tendency toward anti‑phase coordination relative to the team centre.

Abstract

The present study explored how football players' dynamic positional data can be used to assess tactical behaviour by measuring movement patterns and inter-player coordination. A pre post-test design was used to assess the effects of a 13-week constructivist and cognitivist training program by measuring behaviour in a 5 × 5 football small-sided game, played on a 60 × 40 m outdoor natural turf pitch. Data was captured at 5 Hz by GPS devices (SPI Pro, GPSports, Canberra, Australia) and analysed with non-linear signal processing methods. Approximate entropy values were lower in post-test situations suggesting that these time series became more regular with increasing expertise in football. Relative phase post-test values showed frequent periods with a clear trend to moving in anti-phase, as measured by players' distance to the centre of the team. These advances may open new research topics under the tactical scope and allow narrowing the gap between sports sciences and sports coaching.