As you know, We Are Sunderland has a StatsBomb subscription that provides a brilliant resource for our writers to deep dive into the analytics behind Sunderland's season.
StatsBomb is one of the industry leaders in the provision of football data and one of the leading innovators in terms of developing new ideas and models for measuring football performance.
One of their new ways creations and way of measuring how players impact a game, is On Ball Value (OBV). This can be applied across passing, shooting, dribbling and carrying, defensive actions and goalkeeping at both individual player and team levels. Both for and conceded.
READ MORE: Mike Dodds' Patrick Roberts warning and Jack Clarke praise
Below is a brilliant explainer video for how it's calculated and what it means for the Black Cats.
While there hasn't been much to shout about on the pitch in recent weeks, there were signs against Bristol City of the Black Cats of old. Free flowing and exciting to watch - for the first-half at least.
Usually, statistics can be manipulated to suit a narrative, but OBV shows us we're right to be encouraged by Sunderland's first-half display against Bristol City, yet also be conscious of their inconsistency in the second-half.
Originally, when I first starting delving into the side of football analytics, I'll admit to being overawed. In a new age of football, so often things are over complicated, and yet, videos like the one above have piqued an interest.
Still a relatively new concept, StatsBomb are industry-leading experts with clubs across the globe using their data to measure performances and improve their squads. So I, still somewhat of a novice when it comes to crunching the numbers, wanted to share with you an insight into Sunderland's OBV against Bristol City.
Sunderland's impressive first-half
Before we delve deeper into OBV, we'll mention Sunderland's expected goals and expected goals against as a platform to build on. The Black Cats finished the game with an xG of 1.36, to the Robins' 0.68 xG. Mike Dodds' side had an xG of 1.00 by the half-time interval, with Jack Clarke, Jobe Bellingham, Dan Neil and Adil Aouchiche all having good opportunities to score.
Bradley Dack's second-half header - registering at 0.17 - which cannoned off the underside of the bar, Sunderland's best opportunity in the game, but their only real threatening effort in the second-half. A tactical tweak from Liam Manning saw Bristol City revert to a 5-2-3 out of possession in an attempt to stifle the work of Clarke down Sunderland's left, which worked.
When you combine both expected goals, with OBV, it makes for interesting reading. You start to see a correlation between what the eye sees and how that's represented in statistical form.
On Ball Value
OBV in the data below, is a collection of all event types, defensive actions such as clearances, possession based date such as the pass accuracy, attacking metrics such as shots on goal, and more.
We won't delve too deep into all the specific metrics measured below, and for now, will refer to it as OBV. Using the pass maps below, we can see how influential Sunderland players were in their draw with Bristol City.
If the player's circle below is red, like Jack Clarke and Dan Neil, that's representative of the impact they had on Sunderland creating chances, completing defensive actions and how effective they were with the ball in the final third.
It's no surprise to see Clarke's circle highlighted red, given he was his usual impressive self in the first-half, Sunderland's main threat in the final third. However, when we look at the right-hand image below, his colour changes to blue, showing his drop off in the second-half. That's maybe to be expected given his time out injured, but also shows, as supporters know too well, that when Clarke struggles, or is absent, then Sunderland tend to struggle themselves.
One constant throughout the game, which perhaps went under the radar. Was the performance of Neil. Combining both defensive and offensive actions, the Sunderland academy graduate has the most consistent display from anyone who took to the pitch in red and white against Bristol City.
Recommended reading:
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Mike Dodds explains surprise absence from matchday squad against Bristol City
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Mike Dodds disappointed by Sunderland's 0-0 draw with Bristol City
If a player's circle is blue or green, that means they have a negative On Ball Value. Again, it's something a number of Sunderland head coaches have spoken about, being better on the ball.
Although there were vastly improved from the defeat to Blackburn Rovers, there can be no denying the Black Cats have lacked that ruthlessness when they have the ball.
The overall OBV shows outlines Sunderland's creative talents, but also that there's plenty of work to be done in the final third, with the other Black Cats attacking players if they want to turn this current poor run of form around.
It should also act as a warning to the Sunderland hierarchy, that although they've invested in young talents who may still turn good, at present, they aren't at the level to mount a serious promotion charge.
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