Fast and direct or slow and with many passes. This is how all eighteen clubs will attack in the Eredivisie this season and how that has changed compared to last year.
DIt may not feel like it because of all the international breaks, but more than a third of the Eredivisie season is already over. No fewer than 35 percent of the matches in this campaign have been played. This makes it possible to get an idea of the playing style of all eighteen clubs, and how that has changed compared to last season.
Such a playing style cannot easily be captured in a few statistics and is of course about much more than just the moments in possession of the ball. But it is interesting to see how teams look for attack. Data agency Opta provides insight into this using two indicators: the average number of passes per attack and the speed at which the path forward is started. The latter is measured by the number of meters per second that is bridged towards the opponent’s goal.
If you combine those figures and put them in a graph, you can see whether teams play quickly and directly, or build up slowly and with a lot of passing.
