The influence of match status on the conditional characteristics of tactical sprint actions in professional soccer players.

This study aimed to analyse the influence of the match status on the conditional characteristics of tactical sprint actions among Spanish professional soccer players, considering playing positions. Thirty-two Spanish male professional soccer players from a LaLiga Spanish Second Division (LaLiga SmarthBank) team participated in this study. Actions above 85% of the players' maximum velocity were analysed based on their tactical purpose. These findings provide valuable information regarding the tactical aspects of sprinting in soccer, emphasizing the influence of playing positions and match status on the distribution of tactical sprint actions. No effects of match status were observed for any game phase. However, when tactical actions were individually studied, it was observed that the maximum velocity in Chase actions was higher when the team was winning, while in Press actions, the maximum velocity was higher when the team was losing and in in Run in behind/Penetrate, the maximum velocity was higher in drawing situations compared to losing situations. No effects of match status on the distance covered during sprinting were observed, and regarding duration, significant differences were only observed in Recovery run actions. In addition, the influence of match status is higher when playing positions are considered, although the within playing positions analysis revealed significant differences only in CM players. These findings provide valuable information for the design of specific training drills considering playing positions, suggesting the need to analyse the previous match in order to structure the training load of the microcycle in a comprehensive manner.

Examining tactical sprint actions and distribution among playing positions attending to match status in soccer: Implications for specific training.

The study aimed to analyze the tactical sprint actions performed by Spanish professional soccer players, considering their playing positions and the match status at the time of each action. Thirty-two Spanish male professional soccer players from a LaLiga Spanish Second Division (LaLiga SmarthBank) team participated in this study. Actions above 85% of the players' maximum velocity during 42 official matches were collected by an optical tracking system ChyronHego® and were synchronized using Mediacoach software (LaLiga, Madrid, Spain). Then, actios were analyzed trough an observation instrument designed to assess the type of tactical action performed by players. Central defenders (CD) and wide defenders (WD) were mainly involved in recovery runs. Central midfielders (CM) also frequently performed recovery runs and pressing actions. Wide midfielders (WM) were often engaged in runs in behind/penetrate actions, while forwards (F) had a diverse range of sprint actions, including pressing, runs in behind/penetrate, and breaking into the box. It was observed that F performed fewer chase actions than expected. On the other hand, CD, WD, and CM engaged in a greater number of recovery run actions than expected. CD also performed more close down/interception actions than expected, while CM, WM, and F performed fewer close down/interception actions than expected. When their team was losing, WM performed more recovery run actions than expected. CM made more runs with the ball when their team was winning CD showed a higher frequency of breaks into the box when their team was winning. These findings provide valuable information regarding the tactical aspects of sprinting in soccer, facilitating the design of specific training tasks that not only address the physical demands associated with each playing position but also considering the tactical context in which sprints occur.

Influence of Players' Maximum Running Speed on the Team's Ranking Position at the End of the Spanish LaLiga.

The maximum running speed that a football player can attain during match play has become one of the most popular variables to assess a player's physical talent. However, the influence of a player's maximum running speed on football performance has not yet been properly investigated. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of a player's peak/maximum running speed on the team's ranking position at the end of a national league. A second aim was to investigate differences in maximum running speed among playing positions. To fulfil this aim, the peak/maximum running speeds of 475 male professional football players were recorded for 38 fixtures of the Spanish first-division league (LaLiga) from the 2017-2018 season (7838 data points). Players' peak running speeds in each match were assessed with a validated multicamera tracking system and associated software (Mediacoach®). Players' maximum running speed was established as the fastest running speed they attained during the entire season. Most players (53.5% of the total) had a maximum running speed in the range of 32.0-33.9 km/h, with only three players (0.6%) with a maximum running speed of over 35.0 km/h. Overall, forwards were faster than defenders and both types of players were faster than midfielders (33.03 ± 1.35 > 32.72 ± 1.32 > 32.08 ± 1.63 km/h; p < 0.001). There was no association between teams' maximum running speed and ranking position at the end of the league (r = -0.356, p = 0.135). The correlations between teams' maximum speeds and ranking position were low for defenders (r = -0.334, p = 0.163), midfielders (r = 0.125, p = 0.610), and forwards (r = -0.065, p = 0.791). As a result, the variance in the ranking position at the end of the season explained by a team's maximum speed was of only 7.5%. Finally, as an average for all teams, players' peak running speeds remained stable at ~30.7 ± 0.6 km/h throughout the whole season. These results suggest that successful and less successful football teams have squads with players able to obtain similar maximum running speeds during match play throughout the season. Hence, players' maximum running speeds have a poor association with the team's ranking position at the end of the Spanish professional national league.

Physical Demands of Top-Class Soccer Friendly Matches in Relation to a Playing Position Using Global Positioning System Technology.

The aim of this study was to examine the physical demands imposed on professional soccer players during 11-a-side friendly matches in relation to their playing position, using global positioning system (GPS) technology. One hundred and eleven match performances of a Spanish "La Liga" team during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 pre-seasons were selected for analysis. The activities of the players were monitored using GPS technology with a sampling frequency of 1 Hz. Total distance covered, distance in different speed categories, accelerations, and heart rate responses were analyzed in relation to five different playing positions: central defenders (n=23), full-backs (n=20), central midfielders (n=22), wide midfielders (n=26), and forwards (n=20). Distance covered during a match averaged 10.8 km, with wide and central midfielders covering the greatest total distance. Specifically, wide midfielders covered the greatest distances by very high-intensity running (>19.8 km·h-1) and central midfielders by jogging and running (7.2-19.7 km·h-1). On the other hand, central defenders covered the least total distance and at high intensity, although carried out more (p<0.05-0.01) accelerations than forwards, wide midfielders, and fullbacks. The work rate profile of the players obtained with the GPS was very similar to that obtained with semi-automatic image technologies. However, when comparing results from this study with data available in the literature, important differences were detected in the amount of distance covered by sprinting, which suggests that caution should be taken when comparing data obtained with the GPS with other motion analysis systems, especially regarding high-intensity activities.