Pressing Intensity: An Intuitive Measure for Pressing in Soccer
This work addresses the need for more precise pressing metrics in soccer analytics, offering tools for coaches and analysts to improve defensive strategies, though it is incremental in building on existing models like Spearman's Pitch Control.
The researchers tackled the problem of imprecise measurement of pressing in soccer by developing a framework that quantifies pressing intensity using positional tracking data and a time-to-intercept measure, resulting in a dynamic and interpretable metric for analyzing defensive pressure.
Pressing is a fundamental defensive strategy in football, characterized by applying pressure on the ball owning team to regain possession. Despite its significance, existing metrics for measuring pressing often lack precision or comprehensive consideration of positional data, player movement and speed. This research introduces an innovative framework for quantifying pressing intensity, leveraging advancements in positional tracking data and components from Spearman's Pitch Control model. Our method integrates player velocities, movement directions, and reaction times to compute the time required for a defender to intercept an attacker or the ball. This time-to-intercept measure is then transformed into probabilistic values using a logistic function, enabling dynamic and intuitive analysis of pressing situations at the individual frame level. the model captures how every player's movement influences pressure on the field, offering actionable insights for coaches, analysts, and decision-makers. By providing a robust and intepretable metric, our approach facilitates the identification of pressing strategies, advanced situational analyses, and the derivation of metrics, advancing the analytical capabilities for modern football.