Expected Goals: A Powerful Way to Measure Team’s Performance

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expected goals ruben neves by opta

Source: Opta

Compare expected goals Ruben neves and sanches

Source: Opta

Let’s take, for example, the Premier League season 2023 – 2024 season table. Manchester City secured the Premier League title by scoring 96 goals and conceding 34. Their relative xG metrics were 89.55 for and 37.27 against. These numbers reveal that Man City scored 6.45 goals more than expected and conceded 3.27 fewer goals than expected. A positive difference between Expected Goals and actual goals indicates that the team has efficient forwards who can convert low-probability chances into goals, as well as strong goalkeepers or defenders capable of dealing with dangerous situations.

This observation reflects the reality of Manchester City’s performance. Erling Haaland’s proficiency in scoring goals from challenging positions may account for the variance between actual goals and xG. Examining the data from the preceding four seasons (2019 – 2023), we observe that the league-winning team consistently demonstrated a positive difference between xG and actual goals.

So, one evident conclusion drawn from this data analysis is that teams require players who can convert scoring opportunities from challenging positions and situations, along with defenders capable of preventing easy goals. While this may seem obvious, the numbers confirm its significance. Simply scoring goals in line with a team’s performance isn’t sufficient for winning the league; they must exceed expectations. They need to outperform.

COACH YOUR TEAM TO SCORE MORE GOALS – DATA-DRIVEN ANALYSIS OF EUROPE’S ELITE USED TO CREATE 16 TRAINING SESSIONS

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Data-Driven Analysis of Europe’s Elite Used to Create 16 Training Sessions

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Reliable Expected Goals data can be obtained from various sources such as sports analytics companies, football databases, and even some advanced sports media outlets. Several tools and software are available for xG analysis, including Opta, StatsBomb, Stats Perform and Wyscout that provide detailed xG metrics and visualizations. xG can highlight how well a team is creating scoring opportunities. By analyzing xG values over multiple games, one can determine if a team’s attack is consistently generating high-quality chances. Defensively, xG can be used to assess the quality of chances a team is conceding. A team with a low xG against them is typically good at preventing high-quality shots from their opponents and has great reaction choosing the correct defensive action.