BJMB
Brazilian Journal of Motor Behavior
Special Issue:
Cognitive and Ecological Approaches to Sports Skills
!
Júnior, Aquino,
Machado
2020
VOL.14
N.5
171 of 179
Tactical performance in soccer: The importance of choosing and properly applying
tactical assessment tools
JOÃO A. S. JÚNIOR
1
| RODRIGO AQUINO
2
| JOÃO C. MACHADO
3
1
Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, MG, Brazil.
2
Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, Espírito Santo, ES, Brazil.
3
Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, AM, Brazil.
Correspondence to:!João Cláudio Machado. Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
email: jclaudio@ufam.edu.br
https://doi.org/10.20338/bjmb.v14i5.210
HIGHLIGHTS
• This paper highlights that the performance
indexes of FUT-SAT and TSAP assessment
tools did not present significant correlation.
• It is extremely important the correct choice of
the assessment tools to be used, considering
their characteristics and limitation, as well as
their relation with tactical content to be
emphasize during learning process.
ABBREVIATIONS
CB Conquered balls
DTPI Defensive TPI
FUT-SAT System of Tactical Assessment in
Football
GTPI Game TPI
IE Efficiency index
LA Place of Action in the Game field
LB Lost balls
NB Playing a neutral ball
OTPI Offensive TP
OB Offensive balls
PB Volume of Play
PD Performance Score
QR Quality of tactical actions TPI
Tactical Performance Index
RA Actions Outcomes
RB Received balls
RP Core Tactical Principles performed
SS Successful shots
TSAP Performance Assessment in Team
Sport
PUBLICATION DATA
Received 21 10 2021
Accepted 30 11 2020
Published 01 12 2020
BACKGROUND: Several tactical assessment tools have been proposed to evaluate players’ tactical performance
in more representative contexts.
AIM: Investigate the associations between the results from different tactical assessment tools, TSAP and FUT-
SAT, in youth soccer players.
METHOD: Twenty-seven male U-11 soccer players participated in the study (mean age = 11.02 ± 0.78 years).
The players' technical-tactical performance was analyzed using the Team Sports Performance Assessment
Procedure - TSAP. The players' tactical performance and behavior were assessed using the Football Tactical
Assessment System - FUT-SAT. Pearson's correlation test was used to analyze the association between the
performance indexes obtained through both assessment tools.
RESULTS: With the results obtained, it was possible to verify that both assessment tools' performance indexes
did not present a significant correlation.
CONCLUSION: Through these results, it is possible to conclude that it is extremely necessary for the correct
choice of the assessment tools to be used, considering their characteristics and limitations, as well as their
relation with tactical content to be emphasized during the learning process.
KEYWORDS: Soccer | Assessment tools | TSAP | FUT-SAT
INTRODUCTION
The analysis of the tactical context in soccer is an important demonstration of the
player's perception of the environment in an attempt to adjust his/her actions according to
the emergence of the game’s demands.
1
Players and team’s cooperation and opposition
in the search for space management during the performance of specific tasks directly
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affect the contextual dynamics of a soccer game and players’ decision making.
2
These
relationships are highly unpredictable in the game context, requiring players to have a high
level of perception of relevant sources of information and calibration of their actions based
on a set of individuals, task, and the environment constraints.
1,3
In this sense, the soccer
game has a complex nature, resulting from the amount of constraints in the game and the
randomness of the situations/problems that players and teams need to face.
4
Determining soccer players' tactical understanding is an important aspect of
analyzing game performance, since a better tactical understanding helps players adapt
their actions (intra-personal and interpersonal coordination) to the problems that emerge in
the game context. However, we need to use appropriate assessment tools to evaluate the
soccer player's tactical performance. Researchers and coaches have been looking for a
reliable and consistent tool for tactical assessment, supporting the implementation of a
player-centered and game-based teaching and training process.
5,6,7
For this, it is
necessary to establish precisely the relationships between the evaluated and trained
contents.
8
Among the assessment tools validated for tactical assessment, we highlight both
the Performance Assessment in Team Sport (TSAP) and the System of Tactical
Assessment in Football (FUT-SAT) tools.
9,10,11
The TSAP was developed by Grehaigne et
al.
10
to be applied in a pedagogical context. The assessment's focus is the performance of
technical-tactical actions (specific skills) in a tactical context of play.
9
In TSAP, players'
actions are evaluated only with ball possession, providing a set of performance indicators,
such as Volume of Play, Efficiency Index, and Performance Score. Despite not considering
players’action without a ball possession, TSAP has an important advantage, which is the
possibility of being applied in different team sports, such as soccer, basketball, and
handball.
10
The FUT-SAT assessment tool is another important instrument frequently used in
scientific research and in a professional context (soccer clubs, youth academies, etc.).
This assessment tool was validated by Teoldo et al.
11
and aims to assess the players'
tactical performance and behavior in representative contexts. The FUT-SAT allows
analyzing, evaluating, and classifying the offensive and defensive tactical actions
performed by soccer players with and without the ball possession based on core tactical
principles. With the support of software developed specifically for this instrument, this tool
provides a more assertive assessment based on the ball’s and the player's positioning and
movement. The FUT-SAT provides important indicators, such as the Tactical Performance
Index (TPI), as well as the quality/efficiency of the tactical behaviors performed by the
players.
5
Although both instruments evaluate player's tactical performance, it is difficult to
determine the choice of the most appropriate tool to assess young soccer players since
this choice is crucial for the planning, systematization, and application of a player-centered
and game-based teaching and training process. These assessment tools can support
coaches and researchers in monitoring players’ tactical development, providing training
contexts more adjusted to the players' intrinsic dynamics.
12
Therefore, this study aimed to
investigate the associations between the results obtained from different tactical
assessment tools, TSAP and FUT-SAT, in youth soccer players. The present study
hypothesizes that both instruments can provide divergent results since both were
developed to evaluate different tactical contents. Thus, throughout the teaching and
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training process, it becomes essential to understand better which instrument to use to
objectively monitor players' tactical development, considering the tactical contents to
emphasize during the training sessions.
METHODS
Twenty-seven U-11(11,02 ± 0,78 years) men youth and recreational soccer
players participated in this study. A brief explanation of the study procedures was provided.
Only the players whose parents signed the free and informed consent, previously
approved by the Ethics Committee in Research with Human Beings (N.
41423415.5.0000.5020), participated.
Tactical Analysis
To evaluate players’ tactical performance, we used two assessment tools:
Performance Assessment in Team Sport (TSAP) and the System of Tactical Assessment
in Football (FUT-SAT).
System of Tactical Assessment in Football (FUT-SAT)
The FUT-SAT protocol is performed during a 3vs3 small-sided game, played in an
area 36 meters length by 27 meters width, in which each team has three players plus the
goalkeeper, who defends a goalpost with 6x2 meters. The test lasts four minutes,
respecting all soccer official rules, except for the offside rule.
7
After the teams' composition,
the players received numbered vests and were allocated in pre-defined positions for the
start of the game, seeking to facilitate further analysis. Players received a brief explanation
of the test and were subsequently given 30 seconds for test adaptation.
The aim was to evaluate players’ tactical actions (with and without possession of
the ball) according to the ten core tactical principles of football, five of which are offensive
(Penetration, Offensive Coverage, Width and Length, Depth Mobility and Offensive Unit)
and five are defensive (Delay, Defensive Coverage, Balance, Concentration, and
Defensive Unit) (for more details on the definitions of each principle, see Teoldo et al.
11
).
The games were filmed using a digital video camera (Lumix DMC-FZ200,
Panasonic Australia) to analyze the players’ tactical actions. The digital videos were
transferred to a computer and analyzed through Soccer View 1.0 software, specific for
FUT-SAT test, which allows the projection of spatial references on the playing field,
facilitating the rigorous evaluation of players’ positioning and movement. Subsequently, the
data were recorded in a Microsoft Office Excel 2007 spreadsheet (Microsoft® Corporation,
USA).
The game analyzes were performed in reference to the test observation protocol
that takes into account four factors: i) Core Tactical Principles performed (RP), ii) Place of
Action in the Game field (LA), iii) Quality of tactical actions (QR) and iv) Actions Outcomes
(RA).
2
From this analysis, the Tactical Performance Index referring to the tactical principles,
game phases (Offensive TPI [OTPI]; Defensive TPI [DTPI] and game (GTPI)) were used.
The higher the value of OPTI, DPTI and GTPI, the better the player's tactical performance
will be. For the calculation of the indices, the following equation was used:
Tactical Performance Index (TPI) =
S
tactical actions ((RPxQRxLAxRA))/amount of actions
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Performance Assessment in Team Sports - TSAP
The TSAP, proposed by Gréhaigne, Godbout and Bouthier
10
, was used to analyze
players' technical-tactical performance. In the TSAP, such players actions with ball
possession were recorded: i) Conquered balls (CB); ii) Received balls (RB); iii) Playing a
neutral ball (NB); iv) Lost balls (LB); v) Offensive balls (OB); and vi) Successful shots (SS).
Subsequently, for each player, the following indicators were calculated: i) Volume of Play
(PB), this being the amount of times the player obtained possession of the ball, that is, the
sum of the totals of CB and RB (PB = CB + RB); ii) Efficiency index (IE) = (CB + OB + SS)
/ (10 + LB)); and iii) Performance Score (PD) = (IE * 10) / (PB / 2). Regarding the
mentioned indexes, the higher the value, the better the players' tactical performance.
Data and reliability analysis
Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to verify the data distribution. Pearson's
correlation coefficient was used to express the correlation between the variables obtained
through the FUT-SAT and TSAP tests. According to Hopkins
13
, the magnitudes of the
correlation coefficients (90% confidence interval) were considered trivial (r≤0.1), small (0.1
<r≤0.3), moderate (0.3 <r≤ 0.5), large (0.5 <r≤0.7), very large (0.7 <r≤0.9) and almost
perfect (0.9 <r≤1.0). The significance level of p ≤ 0.05 was adopted. In addition, players
were classified in two ways: i) using the Tactical Performance Index (IPTJ) obtained from
the FUT-SAT as a criterion; ii) using the Performance Score obtained from the TSAP as a
criterion. They were then organized into three groups: Group 01, composed of the nine
players with the best performances; Group 02, composed of the nine players with
intermediate performance; Group 03, composed of the nine players with the worst
performance in the tests. Thus, the relative frequency was used to verify the percentage of
players classified in the same groups, considering the ranking of players obtained by FUT-
SAT and TSAP. The SPSS software was used to perform statistical tests. To analyze data
reliability, the observer trained for three months to use both instruments. Cohen's Kappa
coefficient was used to calculate reliability. The value of 0.902 and 0.946 was found for the
inter and intra-observer analysis, respectively.
RESULTS
Table 1 shows that mean, and standard deviation values are presented from
players’ tactical performance obtained through both assessment tools used (T-SAP and
FUT-SAT).
Table 2 presents the associations between the performance indicators obtained
through both assessment tools (T-SAP and FUT-SAT). It is possible to highlight only
significative associations between performance indicators obtained by the same
assessment tools, not observing significative relations between performance indicators
from both instruments.
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Table 1. Descriptive values (means and standard deviations) of performance indexes obtained by
FUT-SAT and TSAP.
Table 2. Pearson correlation between performance indicators from both assessment tools FUT-SAT and
TSAP.
Table 3 presents the information regarding the percentual of players grouped
according to the results obtained from FUT-SAT and TSAP. Thus, we highlight that only
44,4% of players were grouped as skilled players (Group 01) using both instruments.
!
Table 01 – Descriptive values (median and standard deviation) of performance indexes obtained by FUT-SAT and TSAP.
Descriptive Values
OTPI
Mean
39,7478
Standard deviation
7,83371
DTPI
Mean
34,0444
Standard deviation
4,8399
GTPI
Mean
34,5393
Standard deviation
3,87367
Volume of Play
Mean
7,5185
Standard deviation
3,15461
Efficiency index
Mean
0,248
Standard deviation
0,17347
Performance Score
Mean
6,2393
Standard deviation
2,86429
!
Table 02 – Pearson Correlation between performance indicators from both assessment tools FUT-SAT e TSAP.
CORRELATIONS
OTPI
DTPI
GTPI
Volume of
Play
Efficiency
index
Performance
Score
OTPI
Correlation
-
-,387
*
(moderate)
,682
*
(large)
,140
,257
,231
p
-
.020
<.001
.416
.131
.175
DTPI
Correlation
-,387
*
(moderate)
-
,136
-,152
-,027
-,099
p
.020
-
.428
.376
.877
.565
GTPI
Correlation
,682
*
(large)
,136
-
,100
,208
,180
p
<.001
.428
-
.562
.224
.295
Volume of
Play
Correlation
,140
-,152
,100
-
,510
*
(large)
,856
*
(very large)
p
.416
.376
.564
-
.001
<.001
Efficiency
index
Correlation
,257
-,027
,208
,510
*
(large)
-
,881
*
(very large)
p
.131
.877
.224
.001
-
<.001
Performance
Score
Correlation
,231
-,099
,180
,856
*
(very large)
,881
*
(very large)
-
p
.175
.565
.295
<.001
<.001
-
* The correlation is significative at p level of p ≤ 0.05; OTPI: Offensive Tactical Performance Index; DTPI: Defensive
Tactical Performance Index; GTPI: Game Tactical Performance Index
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Moreover, 55,5% of the players were classified as less skilled players (Group 03) from
results obtained both by FUT-SAT and TSAP instruments.
Table 3. Percentage ratio between Game Tactical Performance from FUT-SAT and Performance Score
from TSAP.
DISCUSSION
The present study aimed to investigate the associations between the results
obtained from different tactical assessment tools, TSAP and FUT-SAT, in youth soccer
players. The results obtained highlighted no significant associations between performance
indicators from both assessment tools (TSAP – Volume of Play, Efficiency index, and
Performance Score; FUT-SAT – OTPI, DTPI, and GTPI). It was also possible to observe
that a high percentage of players was grouped differently regarding their tactical level,
considering their results in both tests. Thus, the assessment tools must be selected
carefully to plan the training of the tactical demands for young soccer players. The
possibility of establishing a connection between the results of the evaluations and the
contents taught in the training sessions is one of the main characteristics that a test must-
have, allowing its systematic use and the performance of evaluations that help to monitor
the teaching process and the player’s development.
5
These characteristics are important to
make a decisive contribution to the players' developmental process, which allows for a
better methodological orientation of the teaching and training process.
The evaluation is essential during the teaching and training process in soccer.
14
However, it is necessary to consider each assessment tool's characteristics and potential,
as well as the periodicity in their application.
5,15
Considering the findings of this study and
other previous research, we can highlight that these assessment tools possibly evaluate
different tactical content,
15
demanding caution in using both instruments in the teaching
and training process in soccer. Thus, below we highlight some important aspects to
consider when choosing the tactical assessment tools for young soccer players.
First about the specificity of the assessment tools. TSAP has the characteristic of
evaluating individual performance concerning the technical components (specific skills)
and tactics of each player in situations of the offensive phase, considering players’ actions
with ball possession.
9
This strategy is based on composite variables (Volume of Play,
Efficiency Index, and Performance Score) in an attempt to weigh actions taken according
to the context and specifics of the game.
5
On the other hand, FUT-SAT allows the
assessment of offensive and defensive tactical behaviors performed by players (with and
without ball possession) based on the core tactical principles of the soccer game.
11
In this
sense, intending to evaluate the players’ technical-tactical performance with the ball,
considering the players’ specific skills, the TSAP will be the most suitable. At the same