The manner in which free kicks are approached in football makes it one of the most wasteful actions in the game. When they are taken successfully, they are memorable and picturesque. However, successful free kicks are few and far between. In this post I'll discuss some underlying numbers of free kicks, the examples from games that I have analyzed for this blog, and why I believe that the women's game has a great opportunity to target this inefficiency.
The player who took the highest number of free kicks in the men's top 5 European leagues between the 15/16-18/19 seasons was Lionel Messi with 164 attempted shots. Messi was also the player with the most goals scored from a free kick with 18. It would make sense that Messi would score the most goals since he had so many attempts. Second and third on the most free kicks attempted was Dani Parejo with 69 attempts and Miralem Pjanic with 63 attempts. They scored 7 and 9 goals respectively. (Data taken from Fear the Wall & originating from Sofa Score). The numbers also aren't great when looking at free kicks on a league sample size.
Excerpt taken from Soccernomics.
The notion of passing on a free kick where players would normally attempt a shot on target seems to be gaining some traction off the field, but not on it. Even though there are some free kick set ups that it seems painfully obvious that passing is the right decision.
In the photo above, Christopher Nkunku, the player who attempted the free kick, missed the target.
Every time there was a free kick in the women's games that I analyzed for this blog, they attempted to shoot on goal each time. There were only 17 free kicks, which is a small sample size, but it falls in line with the data trends of free kicks in larger samples.
Another thing that stood out to me was that some of the free kicks were taken from angles and at distances that seemed ambitious at best. This was the case in the Manchester Derby when City had two different free kicks in difficult shooting areas, but decided to attempt shots anyways.
The attempt in the first frame went high and over the crossbar, and the second attempt went into the keeper's hands.
In terms of free kicks, it's a basic fact that men are bigger and stronger than women and are more likely to produce more powerful and accurate shots. Even with that advantage though, men's free kick conversion rates are horrible. As mentioned earlier, I think the women's game has an opportunity to take a different approach to free kicks. Much of what we see in the women's game is copy and pasted from the men's game, both on and off the field. However, that is not always for the better. What works in the men's game is not always going to work in the women's game. I would love to see more women's teams be creative and smart with free kick opportunities. It would require going against the status quo, but as women's professional football is still in its infancy, incorporating different variations and decision making on free kicks could make it a staple in the game moving forward.
Comments