Introducing The Athletic's new player-style pizza charts

New York Times

7 hours ago

Even those with a moderate interest in data will have seen that player pizza charts are a staple visualisation in the world of football analytics.
These graphics can be a valuable starting point in breaking down a player's stylistic profile with a single glance, with this style of visualisation being a key theme at The Athletic over the years, from smarterscout pizza charts to team playstyle wheels.
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This summer, we have had a refresh. Allow us to present our player pizza charts 2.0 — all right, maybe the title could be catchier, but the visual is exciting.
Here, we use Opta data (via FBref) to create some new metrics broken down into defence, possession, progression and attack across Europe's top five leagues — the Premier League (England), Bundesliga (Germany), La Liga (Spain), Ligue 1 (France), and Serie A (Italy).
However, rather than the same metrics for every player across every position, we now have bespoke graphics with metrics that are most relevant to the respective position.
First, how do you read these player graphics? Much like other pizza charts in The Athletic's suite, each player is given a 'percentile' rating between zero and 99 for each metric. Put simply, the higher the number, the more frequently — or efficiently — the player performs this action compared with their positional peers.
Instead of inundating you with endless 'per 90' numbers, we prefer to strip things back and present the percentile numbers, alloing you to assess a player's stylistic profile easily and quickly.
You may also notice that we have rebranded a few established metrics to ensure we are speaking 'football language' throughout and not drowning you in any technical terms.
So let's walk you through what we have, alongside some examples…
Front-foot defending — this looks at how often a player goes hunting for defensive actions, measured as tackles attempted, challenges attempted, fouls committed, interceptions plus blocked passes per 90 minutes. To account for the opportunity to perform such actions, this metric is adjusted for a team's possession.
Tackle success — this looks at the percentage of tackles won as a share of all tackles attempted, challenges attempted and fouls committed.
Back-foot defending — this looks at more reactive defensive actions, measured as blocked shots and clearances per 90 minutes. Again, this metric is adjusted for a team's possession.
Loose ball recoveries — this shows how often a player retrieves the ball when neither side has it. A good proxy for a player's inclination to hoover up potential danger or anticipate where the ball is going to land to restart their team's possession.
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Aerial volume — simply a player's aerial duels contested per 90 to indicate their propensity to compete in the air.
Aerial success — you will have guessed this one. The percentage of aerial duels won as a share of total aerial duels contested.
An easy example to run through is Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk. As illustrated below using last season's stats, the centre-back regularly competes for headers (Aerial volume, 79 out of 99) and is one of the best in Europe in winning those battles (Aerial success, 94 out of 99).
Regularly Liverpool's defensive safety net, Van Dijk's back-foot defending ranks highly (91 out of 99). Somewhat surprisingly, he does not always come out with the ball when he makes a challenge (Tackle success, 31 out of 99), often committing low-risk fouls that still manage to kill the opposition's attack.
As a bonus defensive metric, we have also included the following for full-backs:
One-v-one defending — this looks at the percentage of dribblers tackled as a share of total dribblers challenged. A frequent task for any full-back and a good proxy for their defensive solidity.
Having finally been given a run of games in a Tottenham Hotspur shirt, full-back Djed Spence showed himself to be near-immovable in a one-v-one situation, with the strength and athleticism to swat most wingers to one side when they dared to cross his path.
Link-up play — the percentage of short or medium-distance passes as a share of total passes made. Often teases out the technicians whose job it is to keep the play ticking over in a metronomic fashion.
Ball retention — the percentage of passes completed as a share of total passes attempted. It might not be the sharpest of tools, but it shows a player's inclination (or tactical instruction) to look after possession.
Launched passes — the percentage of long-distance passes as a share of total passes made. While purely stylistic, you will often — but not always — find that players operating for direct teams rate highly for this metric.
Surely the best example for this season is Paris Saint-Germain's quadruple-winning midfielder Vitinha. With an ability to evade pressure, he looks after the ball like his life depends on it (Ball retention, 98 out of 99), predominantly keeping those passes short (Link-up play, 98 out of 99) but not shy to ping a cross-field ball when the situation allows it (Launched passes, 67 out of 99).
Creative threat — this is a combination of a player's expected assists (xA) and actual assists per 90 minutes, with an 80 per cent to 20 per cent weighting towards xA to provide a more accurate view of a player's creative process rather than restricting it to the outcome.
Cross volume — the number of crosses made per 100 touches in the attacking third.
Dribble volume — the number of dribbles attempted per 100 touches. This accounts for a player's opportunity to perform this action, rather than purely highlighting those operating for dominant teams.
Pass progression — the number of progressive passes as a share of total passes made. This shows a player's inclination to make a progressive pass when given equal opportunity.
Carry progression — the number of progressive carries as a share of total carries made. This shows a player's inclination to make a progressive carry when given equal opportunity.
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Progressive receptions — the volume of progressive passes received as a share of total passes received. This is often a good proxy for a player who likes to stay high and wide or ghost between opposition lines to find a pocket of space.
An obvious yet interesting example is the mercurial talent of Florian Wirtz, Liverpool's new playmaker. His creative numbers at Bayer Leverkusen were easily among the best in Europe (Creative threat, 96 out of 99), but the data shows he is more than just an output monster.
A low 'Pass progression' rating (37 out of 99) is likely due to his sheer involvement in Leverkusen's play last season (Link-up play, 99 out of 99) — showing his all-round game to get on the ball. Often receiving in advanced areas (Progressive receptions, 72 out of 99), Wirtz is brave in asking for the ball with bodies around him — desperate to play the killer pass and not simply pull wide to deliver a hopeful ball (Cross volume, 37 out of 99).
Goal threat — this is a combination of a player's expected goals (xG) and actual goals per 90 minutes, with a 70 per cent to 30 per cent weighting towards xG to provide a more accurate view of a player's ability to generate chances.
Shot frequency — the number of non-penalty shots per 100 touches. This can tease out those who only have eyes for goal from those who contribute more widely to their team's attack.
Box threat — the number of touches in the penalty area as a share of total touches in the attacking two-thirds of the pitch. This often separates the roaming false 9s from those who stay between the width of the six-yard box.
Shot quality — the average quality of a given chance, denoted by xG per shot. This is often a good measure of a player's ability to get into good areas to score and can have good predictive value for future performance.
A good example is one of Europe's most coveted strikers, Alexander Isak. With attacking output that is in the elite category (Goal threat, 89 out of 99), it is interesting that the 25-year-old is not all about shooting volume (Shot frequency, 70 out of 99) — most likely because he is drifting into spaces to offer a creative threat and not just stay between the width of the posts (Box threat, 80 out of 99).
Could he improve the quality of those efforts? Possibly (Shot quality, 80 out of 99), but being such a well-rounded striker means that he cannot always help to create a chance and be on the end of it at the same time.
Keep an eye out for more of these visualisations on The Athletic, across the transfer window this summer and into the 2025-26 campaign. And if you have any thoughts, feel free to post them in the comments section below.
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