Left - Arsenal's pass map before Eze's goal, right - Leverkusen's after. An illustration of what dominance looks like with 30% possession

Graph compares each PL team's last 9 games against the rest of their season. Since Michael Carrick took over, Man United are the most in-form team in the league, Man City drop to fifth by xG, and Liverpool struggle to convert third-best xG difference into points

As soon as Newcastle abandoned their 4-5-1 mid block and dropped deeper, they became considerably more solid defensively against Chelsea. No more free space between the lines for Palmer. Good adaptation. Chelsea need a better one-on-one specialist on at least one flank

Player scatter plots are now live on markstats.club
Compare any two metrics across the entire league for players in a similar position. Highlight any player in the distribution to tell a story visually

For those who follow the match report bot here on Bluesky. Individual match pages are now live on markstats.club

For every match across all top five leagues. Cumulative xG timeline, head-to-head metrics (xG, xT, field tilt, buildup completion, high turnovers & more). Still completely free

For the second leg, Barca should look to drop Newcastle into 4-5-1. Which is their greatest vulnerability. Newcastle, meanwhile, should look to avoid that by maintaining their man-to-man press.

You can suffer under pressure at St James' Park, fine. But how is your pass completion rate in buildup lower than a "route one" side's? One of the worst Barca performances of the season

More than half of Premier League teams have adopted a more direct approach with the ball this season compared to last year, with Man City showing the most dramatic shift so far

New season, new reminder that you can follow a bunch of smart soccer people here

My favourite visual of the 2024–25 season is "Serie A pressing efficiency". You can now create the same type of graph yourself with markstats.club

Some of you may already have access to markstats.club 2.0. We’ve moved from WordPress to React, and one new feature lets you create scatter plots right in your browser. Check it out if you have access

This post is not about Amorim. I should've phrased it better 😅

Man United and Spurs were in similar, if not identical, situations: a generally poor season ended with a sudden knockout success. Yet the managers were judged in completely opposite ways

Ange Postecoglou tenure at Spurs: instant impact followed by a gradual decline

If Inter stays brave tonight, they can leverage their biggest strength: effective buildup and press resistance. As PSG typically presses high m2m, opportunities to create artificial transitions will likely arise. Set pieces might offer another edge

Manchester United 2024-25 compared to 2023-24:
They have a less effective high press, but overall open-play defense improved massively from "catastrophic" to "slightly above average". An open-play attack and buildup quality have not remarkably changed

"Glasner's defensive masterclass" looks like this by the way. Basically the worst game of the season

Crystal Palace is one of the most effective defensive PL teams. Their mid-block restricts opponents’ access to the final third and danger zones. However, today’s match was a complete contrast. Palace allowed 16 shots from the penalty box and 24 entries into the danger zone

Are you prepared for a flood of "Glasner's defensive masterclass" and "Pep's overthinking" hot takes?

A chaotic, open game with frequent transitions is the best *this Real* can hope for against *this Barcelona*

Why won’t Carlo Ancelotti just let his players express themselves? 🙃

Chelsea excels at attacking space, creating fast-break opportunities through natural turnovers and artificially (baiting opposition press). Sharper decisions with the ball in the second half against Liverpool could have led to a couple more goals

Carlo Ancelotti: Gives his players flexibility and freedom to “express themselves”
The players: Cross the ball into the penalty box instantly

💙🤍

Since Ruben Amorim’s appointment, Manchester United has lost possession in the dangerous buildup areas more often than any other Premier League team except Crystal Palace

@whitecapsfc.com are the best team in the league right now, even considering factors like schedule difficulty and home advantage. This season, they feel like a much better-coached team in and out of possession

This is honestly one of the most comprehensive, one-sided beatings I've ever seen in an MLS game.

And the 'Caps are doing it on short rest and without multiple starters, including their best player.

Image from markstats.club

Image from markstats.club

Image from markstats.club

Image from markstats.club

Vancouver 5 : 1 Austin

▪ xG: 4.43 - 0.79
▪ xThreat: 1.8 - 0.98
▪ Possession: 52.0% - 48.0%
▪ Field Tilt: 54.8% - 45.2%
▪ Def Action Height: 49.1 - 43.5

True. Scatter plots would definitely add the extra dimension