2010 Football World Cup Graphs

Analysis

• Centers of the network: Gerrard (4), Terry (6), Barry (14), Upson (15), Milner (16)

• The English squad has a decent line up from the point of view of network analysis. There isn't a single player with extremely high centrality, suggesting a good team playing rather than focusing on individual players.
• The work at the midfield, however, doesn't transfer very well to the forwards. The English attack is heavily loaded on Rooney (10), who receives on average three times more passes than Defoe (19). This makes the English attack very predictable and easily stoppable by blocking Rooney (10), who is usually forced to give the ball back to Gerrard (4).
• There is a tendency to move the ball towards the left side of the pitch. A high number of plays start from one of the defenders, often Johnson (2) or Cole (3), and try to find Rooney (10) via either Gerrard (4), Lampard (8) or Barry (14).
• Although Johnson (2) connects frequently with Milner (16), the latter returns the ball more often than passing it to a forward or another midfielder.
• Expected to be the sensation of the World Cup, Rooney (10) has faced a tough defence around him in every single game. As this is not likely to change, England could clearly benefit from finding different attacking options, either by giving a more important role to Defoe (19), or by getting Cole (3) and Johnson (2) more involved in the attack.