You can paint a picture of the game in numbers that way, obviously, but it wont be particularly reliable or informative. The fact that an action has happened on the pitch isnt nearly as interesting as knowing where on the pitch it happened. Bayern analyst Michael Niemeyer told me that Pep Guardiola was not interested

The Catalan is not a numbers man but a visionary, in the literal sense: his fanatical search for paths towards the opposition goal, for spaces and numerical superiority is more readily facilitated with the help of pictures. Guardiola and his generation honed their expertise by watching countless hours of videos. The near-future is likely to see the emergence of data analysis geniuses but they will almost certainly be outsiders. For them to get anywhere in football, a few more rules might need breaking first. EXPECTED ASSISTS AND EXPECTED GOAL CHAIN Trainors analysis of Dortmunds failings in 2014 produced a series of new metrics that attempt to provide clues about the games inner machinations. The quantification of certain situations such as PPDA, a measure of pressing intensity has become one of the key analysis trends in recent years, more often than not derived from work done by obsessive members of the global data undergr

New metrics frequently look at attacking play. Scoring goals, the games aim, has traditionally taken centre stage, but assists have become increasingly of interest, too. As early as 2012, Devin Pleuler who now works as an analyst at Toronto FC developed the concept of Expected Assists (xA). They measure the probability of a pass being an assist. Calculations are based on the destination of the pass, on the type of pass and other factors. This model is not reliant on whether a shot comes off. All passes are taken into account. Expected Assists have since become an established metric; data providers collate its numbers. The following table shows the ten best players for assists in the Premier League in 201718. Chances created is a metric exclusively calculated by OptaPro. Source: OptaPro Comparing Expected Assists, a measure of passing quality, with actual assists, makes for a clearer picture. Kevin De Bruyne, the best assist-giver in the league, benefited a lot from the finishin

The opposite was true of Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas at Chelsea. Xherdan Shaqiris numbers, meanwhile, would have been one of the reasons why Liverpool bought him from Stoke City. You can go one step beyond Expected Assists and have a look at the players involved in the passing chain leading up to a shot at goal. It sounds complicated but isnt really: whoever was involved in an unbroken spell of possession is assigned the resulting shots Expected Goals value. That includes goalkeepers setting up an attack with a throw or a defender playing the first of 11 subsequent passes before a shot is taken. The metric is called Expected Goals Chain (xGC). Source: Opta The xGC top 20 of players who played at least 600 minutes in one of Europes big five leagues is mostly made up of attacking players, as one would suspect. But there are also defenders, like Philipp Lahm and Joshua Kimmich. In an effort to identify creative players that might