GHANA REPORT PART 2: STATISTICAL AND TACTICAL ANALYSIS OF AKONNOR’S BLACK STARS PLAYER POOL

Published on: 03 March 2020

Background

In football, the national pool places unique constraints on international managers who must make do with players available to them and cannot sign new players – unlike their club counterparts.

However, the national pool also presents unique opportunities for coaches. International football windows are often immensely brief, opponents are usually known far in advance and can, thus, be scouted for strategy. That knowledge can be applied in the squad selection. Refreshingly, national pools also provide far greater freedom in squad selection than any club manager receives. Rather than 23 players, a manager may have 70 viable options.

 For these reasons, an intimate knowledge of the national pool is of immense importance. That knowledge, though, is easier to gain for some than it is for others.

 Take the current world champions, France. Coach Didier Deschamps has 421 players to choose from Europe’s top five leagues (Serie A, Ligue 1, La Liga, the Bundesliga and the Premier League) which have a heavy data and statistical coverage for easy player monitoring. These leagues are also just short trips away from France.

 New Ghana coach C.K. Akonnor, meanwhile, faces a very different challenge. In all likelihood, the majority of players to be selected for his first squad ply their trade outside the country. Most are in Europe but some are as far afield as China, Mexico and the United States.

 The ability to gather knowledge on those players is therefore much more of a challenge. Yet, that knowledge must be gathered in order to give the Black Stars the best chance of success. By understanding the options available, the team can make smarter decisions about squad selection.

 Furthermore, for teams like Ghana, their international programme makes an awareness of a wealth of different options absolutely imperative.

 When playing oppositions in CAF tournaments and World Cup qualifying, Ghana often see a lot of the ball. Consequently, they are allowed to play a possession-orientated game and are required to break down compact, low-blocks in attack.

 In World Cup games, however, the team often needs to play a more counter-attacking style. These two styles do not necessarily suit the same player types. By having more knowledge about more players, tailored squad selection is easier.

 The required information gathering process can receive significant assistance by utilising statistics and data.

In Part 2 of the African Sports Centre’s Ghana Report, we will use data to analyse the outfield players in Ghana’s national pool, highlighting the most striking players and characteristics. In doing so, we hope to identify players’ strengths and weaknesses. 

If you missed Part 1 of our Ghana Report, which used data and technology to analyse Ghana’s performances under Kwasi Appiah, it can be found here.

 

Methodology

Using Wyscout’s player database, we identified 258 Ghana eligible outfield players and analysed their raw data from competitive matches in the past year (ending February 9th 2020). We used the data in two ways: We analysed the pure raw data and then combined various raw statistics to create compound measures that we refer to as “attributes”.

These attributes enabled us to capture more raw data points on each player while being able to produce clear radar diagrams identifying player style, strengths and weaknesses. By using these methods, we were able to better understand the profile of each player in the national pool. On radars where an “average” player appears, this is the average of the attributes of players at the relevant position in the national pool.

 It is worth noting that we have not adjusted for league strength. To do so without substantial contextual information and research would risk creating major issues with the data set.

 Therefore, it is important to stress that (as with all sports data), the conclusions reached are not definitive. Players whose numbers look outstanding compared to average but who play in a lower quality league may not be capable of delivering those performances at an international level. However, such players may be worth exploration and further research. This is the exact point of using this data. It is not to enable you to pick a squad. It is to guide and assist the understanding of the national pool.

 Additionally, players who ply their trade outside our data coverage are not considered in the piece; it is for this reason that Ghana-based players do not feature in this report.

 

To continue reading this article, please click on this link to access full content on ASC website.

https://ascafro.com/2020/03/02/ghana-report-part-2-statistical-and-tactical-analysis-of-akonnors-black-stars-player-pool/

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