New study delves into the decision-making of football players during a game

With countless factors influencing their in-game actions every second – from the manager’s tactics to the pressure of the opposition, and even external elements like the weather or the crowd – how do players process this wealth of information to gain an advantage over their opponent?

In the study, 15 male professional football players were interviewed from the Premier League and Championship, who have competed internationally at either Under 17, Under 19, Under 21, or senior level. They were asked about factors influencing their in-game decision-making and the ways in which they adapt to gain an advantage over their opponent during a match.

The paper, published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise (PES), revealed four key themes that influence players’ in-game behaviour and decision-making, highlighting how controlling these elements can lead to better choices on the pitch.

Being unpredictable

Players actively pursue unpredictability through the strategic use of deception, disguise, and deliberate manipulation of their action sequences to be ‘hard to read’:

“I try to dribble with both feet, so when you dribble with both feet it does help massively. If you dribble with two feet it plays a trick on the mind of the defender, it doesn’t give him enough time to say “oh where is he going to go”, so if you keep dribbling with two feet you are still going in a straight line, but just that confuses the defender.”

“Sometimes I know if I have played him three times in a row then he might know what I am going to do so then I am going to change it … I can make him think that I’m going to do it again, so maybe take the ball up on one side and then when I see he starts pressing turn it over quickly or switch the ball.”

Option generating and invitation

Players employ tactics to create opportunities and capitalise on the options that invite their behaviour presented during the game, emphasising the importance of performing actions that align with their individual abilities:

“This season I’ve realised people want to double up on me, when I get the ball there’s like more than one player around me, that means someone’s free, so I have to play one touch sometimes or two touch, or maybe entice them in so maybe have my first touch in my feet to make sure they think that he can get close to me, the closer they get the more space to open up, so I can play in behind or someone else is going to be free.”

“I haven’t got a great long shot. So when I’m in that position, because of that reason, I’ll rather pass it to maybe my striker or my winger, than take on the shot … going back but before when you were asking about decision-making that’s… it’s… little things like that, that show that a player has good decision-making, because he knows that’s not one of his strengths.”

Anticipation and awareness

Players exhibit heightened anticipation and awareness to better prepare for opponents likely action, crucial for making split-second decisions that can turn the course of the game in their favour:

“It is so much more important to scan. So, if you just make the scanning right, you can go from not even a good player, a decent player, to a really good player because the quality that all those guys will have, the quality on the ball at this level, it’s the scanning that can make the difference between if you have the quality or not. If you scan, it can make you take one touch instead of three touches.”

“I think to force my opponent to do things, so into situations where I know I am good, so 1 v 1’s yeah, I think it is all about how can I turn the situation into my favour, into an advantage for me.”

Dictating and controlling the game

A key aspect of gaining an advantage involves dictating and controlling the pace and dynamics of the game:

“If the game has been end-to-end for a couple of minutes, when I get the ball I try to keep it with a few touches and then talk and calm down the team as well. If I pass it to a winger, tell him not to go forward, not try to 1 v 1 with that defender, just to keep the ball with the team for a few minutes and kind of reset the situation.”

“I changed the pace – it might be I just play short or turn the ball from full back to full back or anything like that. Then as soon as I see a chance to break through or anything, I don’t take plenty of touches I just go straight away and try to get into the space or beat the opponent.”

The study revealed that players’ attempts to gain an advantage were predominantly about ‘being unpredictable’ through the use of deception and disguise, as well as deliberate manipulation of action sequences to be ‘hard to read’.

Another key finding was that players do not always seek a universal optimal decision, as their individual action capabilities influence their available options – highlighting the personalised nature of decision-making.

Lead author of the study Harry Ramsey, a Lecturer in Skill Acquisition in the School of Psychology, Sport, and Health Science at the University of Portsmouth, said: “Our findings provide actionable insights for players. For instance, they should aim to embrace unpredictability in their actions and work on developing skills that keep opponents guessing. 

“They should also look to align their actions with their individual skill set to make decisions that are most appropriate for themselves and their team during the game. Also, through skilled anticipation players can learn to influence and shape their opponents’ available options to make them more predictable, and ultimately easier to defend.

“Finally, players should work on enhancing anticipation and awareness by training to anticipate game developments, and to actively position themselves to limit their opponent’s options to make them more predictable, and therefore easier to anticipate.”

Co-author, Dr Matt Miller-Dicks, Associate Professor in the School of Psychology, Sport, and Health Science at the University of Portsmouth, added: “The majority of previous research has been conducted with video-based designs that do not represent the performance environment. These typical approaches leave a gap in knowledge about how performers adapt in-game to set up situations to trick their opponent and gain an advantage.

“Our research provides a deep understanding of the different strategies employed by professional football players in gaining a competitive advantage. The insights into unpredictability, option generation, anticipation, and control have profound implications for assessing decision-making performance in future research.”

This study opens up new avenues for research in sports psychology and performance assessment, offering a valuable resource for coaches, analysts, and sports enthusiasts alike.

It was funded through a South Coast Doctoral Partnership Grant (ES/P000673/1) from the Economic and Social Research Council.

Ends

Notes for editors

A copy of the paper ‘Decision making in action: How professional football players gain advantage’ is available from the press office.

It will be available online from here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S146902922400133X?via%3Dihub

DOI: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2024.102722

For more information contact:

Robyn Montague, Media and PR Manager, University of Portsmouth, Tel: 0798 0419979, Email: [email protected]

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