Match possession stats

[Kiltie]

When you see it stated that during a match, say, possession was 52% to one side and 48% to the other; how does anyone know how that's measured or judged?

I'm imagining a bloke with a button / trigger thing in each hand.

[Cupramax]

Interesting, ive often wondered how they do this, be funny if it is a bloke with a button

[BlackST]

Opta now record possession in a football match by means of an automated calculation based on the number of passes that a team has in a game. We have two analysts, each monitoring one of the teams and they log each event in a game, totalling between 1600 and 2000 events per match.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

BlackST said:

Opta now record possession in a football match by means of an automated calculation based on the number of passes that a team has in a game. We have two analysts, each monitoring one of the teams and they log each event in a game, totalling between 1600 and 2000 events per match.

Interesting. How does the number of passes account for a player dallying on the ball in defence for 15 secs, or taking the ball to the corner flag and holding it for 10 seconds before getting challenged.

A stat I'd really like to see is "time ball in play" which I guess would be less than an hour. Perhaps you could mention it to Opta!!

[London424]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Interesting. How does the number of passes account for a player dallying on the ball in defence for 15 secs, or taking the ball to the corner flag and holding it for 10 seconds before getting challenged.

A stat I'd really like to see is "time ball in play" which I guess would be less than an hour. Perhaps you could mention it to Opta!!

They do record that somewhere...if memory serves you normally get 60-65 mins of ball in play time on average.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

London424 said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Interesting. How does the number of passes account for a player dallying on the ball in defence for 15 secs, or taking the ball to the corner flag and holding it for 10 seconds before getting challenged.

A stat I'd really like to see is "time ball in play" which I guess would be less than an hour. Perhaps you could mention it to Opta!!

They do record that somewhere...if memory serves you normally get 60-65 mins of ball in play time on average.

Thought as much. Still, better than the old days when you only had 1 ball. At the old Stamford bridge, with the dog track, I'd be surprised if we got more than 15 minutes play! Mind you, in those days it was a blessing!

[BlackST]

I don't work for Opta btw, sorry!
That was just a copy and paste job from an article I found