Reliability of spatial-temporal metrics used to assess collective behaviours in football: an in-silico experiment.

Corsie, Martin; Swinton, Paul Alan

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of spatial-temporal measurements applied within collective behaviour research in football. In-silico experiments were conducted introducing positional errors (0.5, 2 and 4 m) representative of commercial tracking systems to match data from the 2020 European Championship qualifiers. Ratios of the natural variance ("signal") of spatial-temporal metrics obtained throughout sections of each game relative to the variance created by positional errors ("noise") were taken to calculate reliability. The effects of error magnitude and time of analysis (1, 5 and 15 mins; length of attack: <10, 10-20, >20 s) were assessed and compared using Cohen's f2 effect size. Error magnitude was found to exert greater influence on reliability (f2 = 0.15 to 0.81) compared with both standard time of analysis (f2 = 0.03 to 0.08) and length of attacks (f2 = 0.15 to 0.32). the results demonstrate that technologies generating positional errors of 0.5 m or less should be expected to produce spatial-temporal metrics with high reliability. However, technologies that generate errors of 2 m or greater may produce unreliable values, particularly when analyses are conducted over discrete events such as attacks, which although critical, are often short in duration.

Citation

CORSIE, M. and SWINTON, P.A. 2023. Reliability of spatial-temporal metrics used to assess collective behaviours in football: an in-silico experiment. Science and medicine in football [online], 7(3), pages 297-305. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2022.2100460

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 6, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jul 17, 2022
• Publication Date: Nov 30, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jul 5, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 5, 2022
• Journal: Science and medicine in football
• Print ISSN: 2473-3938
• Electronic ISSN: 2473-4446
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 297-305
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2022.2100460
• Keywords: Soccer; Simulation; Position tracking; Dynamic system theory
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1705898