CIES Football Observatory

n°262 - 13/05/2019

Performance

Production champions: Napoli, Olympiacos, Leeds, and who else?

Issue number 262 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the three best and worst teams per league in terms of points that they should have achieved according to their pitch production. Virtual points were projected according to a statistical model including shots taken and conceded (both on target and from the box), as well as the percentage of ball possession.

With respect to the indicators selected, Napoli and Atalanta should have achieved more points than the Italian Serie A champions Juventus. However, Massimiliano Allegri’s players were much more efficient. In the Greek top division, both Olympiacos and AEK Athens had a greater pitch production than champions PAOK. Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United tops the production rankings in the English Championship.

According to pitch production, Lucien Favre’s Borussia Dortmund should only have ranked fourth in the German Bundesliga behind Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen. The Ruhr team was thus particularly efficient. In Turkey, İstanbul Başakşehir virtually outranks Beşiktaş and Galatasaray. More data is available in the CIES Football Observatory Performance Atlas powered by InStat data.

Virtual number of points per match according to pitch production

Season 2018/19, domestic league matches until 07/05/2019

Editors: Raffaele Poli, Roger Besson and Loïc Ravenel

Contact: football.observatory@cies.ch