Using Rstudio to gauge a Singapore Premier League Match: Lion City Sailors V Albirex Niigata(17 Sept 2021)

Multi-Media: Coding & Statistics
Rstudio Football/Soccer Match Analysis

(17/09/2021 - Lion City Sailors V Albirex Niigata)

(Credits: Straits Times)

We have one day left before the start of the 2022 Singapore Premier League grind (Community Shield between Lion City Sailors & Albirex). 

So I took the time to analyse one of the biggest matches of last season, the head-to-head match for both the title-chasers. 

Lion City Sailors. Albirex Niigata.

It was a significant moment in Singapore football's history as LCS became the first Singaporean team to win the league after seven years of dominance from foreign teams. 

The last time the league champions were local was in 2014 when Tampines took the crown. (Credits: transfermarkt.com/singapore-premier-league)

In what resulted as a very dramatic last matchday for the champions. LCS won their last match while Albirex drew theirs to the cheers of the local crowd. The race had gone down to the wire.... and the Lion City Sailors won it. But exactly how have they won it?

Are LCS really that good to replicate it for the 2022 season? Let's take a look at the stats I've collected and coded using Rstudio for this. We will be using the data I've collected for this match between these two on 17/09/21.

Total Shots Data

Firstly, let's check both these teams data, comparing their shots.

Table 1. Total Shots 

The table above shows the combined total of shots from both teams. There's a total of 14 players who had shots at goal in total and is reflected on the y-axis. On the x-axis we can see what type of shots were produced. Judging from this, we can see that Albirex had far more shots than LCS but the latter had better goal conversion with 1 goal from 3 shots on-target. Meanwhile Albirex had 1 goal from 6 shots on-target(goal+saved+woodwork).

Both Taniguchi & Haiqal Pashia led their respective teams in attacking and they deserved to get onto the scoresheet. 

Taniguchi: 5/16 shots incl blocked shots

Haiqal Pashia: 3/7 shots incl blocked shots

Verdict: Should LCS have more chances, they should theoretically do better in-front of goal. That being said, the LCS goalkeeper could also be having a very good day in front of goal. Albirex had better domination & supply and should have won the game.

 

Set Pieces

Table 2. Set Piece areas (this graph shows the TOTAL COMBINED set piece from both teams in both halves.The "arrow" in the header shows the direction of attack)

Table 2 shows the locations where setpieces were earned by each team on which part of the pitch. Once again, Albirex dominated in this regard, having a total of four set pieces on each half. Take note: the size of the circles highlights if it's 1st or 2nd half.

First half: LCS only had one "threatening" set piece while all four of Albirex's set pieces were in threatening areas. 

Second half: LCS had no threatening set pieces. Albirex had three set pieces close enough to goal to be threatening.

Verdict: Both these teams boast good dead-ball specialists in Tezuka & Shahdan. Despite this, only Tezuka had good chances to threaten from set pieces but sadly didn't take it. A total of 7/8 set pieces were in threatening areas, but none was converted by the white swans.

Key passes per half

Table 3. Key Passes are dominated by LCS

Key passes is defined here as being a through-pass on goal OR a pass that breaks the line of defence for a good transition opportunity. 

Table 3 shows LCS's turn to dominate. i.e. they had 8 key passes in the 1st half when they were bringing the game to Albirex. In the 2nd half LCS dropped deeper to defend but still managed more key passes than Albirex on the counter-attacks. 

Verdict: There's an abundance of opportunities in the 1st half for LCS in a healthy combination of key passes from varied areas of the pitch. In the 2nd half, there were more long-range passes as they were locked on their side of the pitch(with two exceptions). 

Crosses per half

Table 4. 1st Half crosses 

Table 5. 2nd Half crosses 

Once again Albirex dominated proceedings by out-crossing LCS by a whopping 25 crosses across two halves. 

Upon closer inspection, for LCS in the 1st half, 8/9 of their crosses comes from their right-flank. Only one cross came from the left-flank. Perhaps that was the plan all along was for Pashia to attack the crosses coming in from the right-flank.As was evident, there were two clear-cut crosses for Pashia to finish from, with one being the goal.  

Verdict: There's almost no contest here as Albirex butchered the Sailors in this department. They kept the Sailors on their toes by having varied abundance of crosses for their attackers to pounce on. Unfortunately, the lack of good heading presence was not on both teams' roster. 

Despite that, I'll be looking forward to LCS's new signing Shin-Wook who is 1.98m. Perhaps he will be the one to fill up this gap. On the other end, Tadanari Lee who will play for Albirex this season stands at 1.82m. So it will be exciting to see both of these teams slug it out with their target-men.

Interceptions

Table 6. 1st Half interceptions

Table 7. 2nd Half interceptions

One thing we can infer from this heatmap of the interceptions is this: LCS is pretty solid in defence. They have intercepted Albirex for a total of 60 times through both the halves, in both cases, doing more interceptions than Albirex. It would seem that comparing to Albirex, the Sailors are adept at breaking up attacks within their own half than their opponents. This might looks like they're weak, but...

I personally feel that this is a good attribute to have for a league leader; to be able to withstand "sieges". Because let's face it, on the Asian champions league level, a Singapore team would need to defend more stoutly. Case in point, In 2021, Tampines Rovers who had their maiden year in ACL,  were humbled for all of their matches. I think this is thanks to them not being to defend effectively.

This is especially so because in the SPL, they are known to attack relentlessly.  Perhaps in the SPL, this can be done effectively, but on a bigger stage, if the attacking talents are weaker than the opponents, Tampines will have to resort to defending effectively. And I think after their humbling at the ACL, Tampines returned to the SPL to try to change their tactics to incorporate emphasis on defence.  We can see this "adjustment period" during their losing streak afterwards. Despite this, Tampines have looked stronger in defence, especially after holding Albirex to a draw in the last few games of the season.

Verdict: You have to give credit to Albirex for testing the Sailors. And credit to the Sailors for being able to just absorb their opponents attack. That being said, LCS will have to move their impressive interceptions tally higher up the pitch. If they can manage to do that, they will be within 1 key passes away from a goalscoring opportunity. Right now, the midfield area is left empty. Which brings us to...

Possession

Table 8. This is a graph of the pitch divided into 6 parts. The arrow shows the attacking direction.

Table 9. This is a graph of the pitch divided into 6 parts. The arrow shows the attacking direction.

Let's look at LCS first. The two halves tell differing tales of how the Sailors managed this crucial game. In the 1st half, the bulk of their possession is lost in the 2/6 of the pitch. This is dangerously close to their goal. This could be because they were attacking quite frequently leaving space in-behind. 

The 2nd half shows an impressive LCS record of 0-13% possession lost  within their side of the pitch. But they need to better cover the 3/6 area of the pitch where they lose 2nd highest posession on. In hindsight it's easy to say that that's the reason why Albirex's long-range key pass from that area found Taniguchi for the equaliser. But if LCS managed that part of the pitch better perhaps they would've won. Now let's look at Albirex.

Table 10. This is a graph of the pitch divided into 6 parts. The arrow shows the attacking direction.

Table 11. This is a graph of the pitch divided into 6 parts. The arrow shows the attacking direction.

Looking at both tables 10 & 11, I can infer the superiority in attack by the white swans. A fine example of "the best defence is a good offence". By attacking they've managed to keep their posession-lost count to low figures within their own half.  Look at their 2nd half performance whereby they lose possession in LCS's penalty box means there's alot of traffic going on away at the other end. If Albirex can keep possession in the 6/6 area of the pitch, there's no doubt they can conjure more goals. 

Verdict: Whichever team that has the ability to not lose possession in key areas of the pitch will usually fare better. Albirex is far far better in this respect. The only thing is if they can keep that possession that they bring into the opponents half, they'll surely be a force to be reckoned with. LCS will have to emulate Albirex's 2nd half performance if they are to have a good chance of retaining their title especially with Hougang and Tanjong Pagar bolstering their squad with quality this year. 

Passing heatmaps

Table 12. The Sailors look to attack from the wings.

Table 13. LCS is being seiged by Albirex for the entire 2nd half

Generally both these tables show LCS having the bulk of their passing action very close to their goal. But upon closer inspection, in the first half, LCS looks like they stayed away from attacking the middle of the pitch. The heatmap shows a crescent-like shape with most of their attacks culminating from the flanks. 

Whereas the heatmap for the 2nd half shows concentrated passing within their own half. The Sailors looked locked within their half. And their passing numbers dropped by half. 

Table 14. Albirex right-wing  has some seriously busy traffic.

Table 15. Albirex totally dominated the game in the 2nd half. But finishing was not their strong suit

Wow. Look at the first half. 192 passes. Boy, do the white swans know how to pass. Most of their attacks came from the right-flank specifically. Perhaps that could be why Haiqal Pashia had lesser opportunities to cross from his flank. Albirex captain Hashioka really did good work combining with Yu En to threaten the right-side. Despite this, the LCS penalty area is left pretty much untouched. It could be that Albirex doesn't have a tall target-man and/or a creative midfielder, hence penetration was sorely lacking despite a good showing. 

In the 2nd half, Albirex was more aggresively attacking both flanks. Once again, their lack of penetration is really telling. They press really high up the pitch and is a half-chance away from a goalscoring opportunity. With a team that has less focused players, Albirex will surely have scored more especially pouncing on 'slip-ups'.  

With a completely new lineup for Albirex, We just have to wait and see how their 2022 season goes. But Tadanari Lee should be their answer upfront this year. 

Verdict:  LCS will have alot to do this year if they want to retain their title, especially in linking their passes outside of their half.  We will just have to look to seeing the new signings impress. It is exciting to see how their attacking trio Maxime Lestienne, Kim Shin-wook, Diego Lopes will do especially in keeping all the action higher up the pitch to relieve stress on the defence. 

Meanwhile for Albirex, I think their squad for last season was pretty solid comparing to other seasons. If they can pass around like how they did in 2021, then with Tadanari at the front, they will be the team to beat. 

Final Conclusion/Findings

I can't say much for Albirex as their 2021 players are replaced except a handful. But for the Sailors, with alot of quality additions in their squad, they must improve on every area apart from their stout defence especially if they want to push past the ACL group stages. Every point matters in a tournament where only the group winners advance. Anumanthan, Diego Lopes, Shahdan, Gabi, Maxim, Shin-wook, Song ,Pashia & Faris has to start retaining posession in the attacking third if they want to get something out of this.

On the local front, Tampines, Albirex, Hougang & Tanjong Pagar look to challenge LCS and it wont be an easy task. But should they improve their attack, they would be the team to beat, not Albirex this time.

© 2022 Fadly.M.H.Wychowvski