Leicester City FC won the English Premier League: a network analysis of the team for the season 2015-2016

Resumo

Aim: It is crucial to examine Leicester City FC's passing networks in the 2015-2016 English Premier League season as it provides detailed insights into player interactions within the team. Methods: Analysis of all 38 matches against 19 opponents, utilizing the OPTA database, revealed an average of 264.42 passes per game (SD = 72.65), totaling 10,048 passes between players. Gephi software (version 0.9.2) was employed to compute network metrics. One-way ANOVA was used to assess the influence of match location, performance, and opposition ranking on macro network metrics, as well as the influence of players' positions on micro network metrics. Results: Results demonstrated statistical differences between match locations and certain macro network metrics, indicating varying player interactions based on match locations and opposition levels. However, no statistical differences were found between team performance and examined macro network metrics, or between players' positions and micro network metrics. Conclusion: This study's main findings suggest that Leicester City FC exhibited distinct player interactions depending on match locations and the level of opposition during the season. Practical implications of these findings for coaching strategies or team performance analysis are worth exploring.