Passing Network
How to extract data-driven actionable insights using the Passing Network?
Where can you find the Passing module?
The Passing Network is part of the Passing feature. You can find the Passing feature within the Performance Center under Game Analyser.
What is the added value of the sequence feature?
The Game Analyser is a powerful feature that allows users to analyze various aspects of a football match, including Sequences, Passing Networks, and Passing Matrices. The Passing module allows the user to analyze the Passing structure of a team, line or players over one or multiple matches. Unique about this module are the interactive elements that make it possible to analyze passing patterns from multiple perspectives.
How to get started?
When you first navigate to the Passing Network module, you are asked to define your filters. Without any filters selected, you cannot start your analysis.
Open the filter panel by clicking the filter icon on the top right. The panel now automatically slides in from the right side of your screen. In the filter sidebar, you see that there are two types of filters, namely: general and analysis specific filters.
First, start by setting your general filters. In the table below, you can find an overview of the available general filters including a description (see: table 1). When done, you can close the filter sidebar by pressing the X icon on the top right.
Table 1: General filters overview
Filter | Action | Mandatory | Description |
Team | Select one team | Yes | Available teams |
Match(es) | Select one or more matches | Yes | Matches played in the last year |
Player(s) | Select one or more players. | No | Players who played in the selected matches for the selected team |
Time | Select the timeframe within the selected match(es) | No | Time selection within the selected matches |
After selecting the general filters, the interface returns information based on your filter settings. You are now ready to start your first analysis.
Where to look when getting started?
Next to the filter sidebar, discussed in the previous section, the interface consists of three parts as shown in the image below.
Filter top bar
Contains your selected filters. Using the filter topbar you can easily adjust your filter settings by removing one or more filter(s).
Pitch view
Contains a Passing Network in which players are visualized as nodes (points) and passes between players as edges (lines). The location of each node represents the average position of a player based on the passes sent and received. Using the visual variable size, the number of passes involving a player and between players are visualized.
Table view
Contains information of each pass stored in a table. By default, the table is sorted descending based on the time column. You can change the sorting, by clicking on the column header. Per page, a maximum of 20 results are shown. Using the arrow icons above the table, you can scroll through the results.
How to use the pitch view?
The pitch view contains a Passing Network in which players are visualized as nodes (points) and passes between players as edges (lines). The location of each node represents the average position of a player based on the passes sent and received.
The number within each node represents not the number of passes, but is equal to the jersey number of the player. The visual variable size is used to visualize the number of passes. You can find the jersey numbers and names of the players in the legend. Only the players that made minutes during the selected match(es) are shown. If you filter on one or more players, still all players that made minutes are shown in the legend.
Interaction
There are two types of interaction possible. First, you can hover with your mouse over each player. If you do so, the number of passes sent and received will pop-up at the left upper corner.
Secondly, you can also pin a player by clicking on the node representing the player. The network now stays selected even when you move your mouse. You cannot pin multiple players at once. Furthermore, you now also see that the average positions of the players involved are recalculated based on the selection you just made. Finally, it is now also possible to hover over an edge to find more information about the passing relationship between two players.
View Settings
Next to the pitch just below the legend, you can find the view settings. With these dropdown menus, you can change the visualization. A description of each view setting can be found in the table below (see: table 2).
Table 2: View settings
View setting | Description |
Players | Displays the average position of each player selected as a node. |
Zones | Displays the number of passes within and between zones. |
Passing | Only possible when you pin one player. Using this option, the Passing Networks only returns passes sent by the selected player. |
Receiving | Only possible when you pin one player. Using this option, the Passing Networks only returns passes received by the selected player. |
Both | Default option showing both passes sent and received. |
Players
Zones
How to use the table view?
The table view contains the following information about each sequence:
The minute the pass was sent
Sequence start category
Player that sends the pass
Player that receives the pass
Sequence result
Sequence outcome
Depending on your device, you may need to scroll up and down to see the whole table. To prevent information overload, a maximum of 20 results are shown on each page. Use the arrow icons just above the table on the right side to scroll through the results.
Video player
When you click on a row in the table, the video player opens in a new window. Using the arrow icons top right, you can go through all the clips.
Bonus: If tracking data is available the video player not only contains a video clip, but also a 2D animation of the selected moment. Both video and 2D animation automatically starts at the time the pass starts. Using the arrow icons top right, you can easily go through the clips.
How to edit an existing analysis?
You can edit an existing analysis by adding, removing or changing the filters settings. You can directly remove filters using the filter top bar, or configure your filter settings using the filters sidebar.
How to share an analysis?
After creating your own analysis by filtering the data, you can directly share the URL with your colleagues working within the same account. If they open the URL within the Performance Center, it automatically opens the Game Analyser including the already selected filters.
How to export your analysis?
You can export each event as part of a timeline that can be imported in any video analysis tool that supports SportsCode (HUDL, MyVA, NAC Sports, etc.). Navigate to the table view, and select one or more rows using the checkboxes just in front of the timestamp. Then, press the export button at the top right to download the .XML file containing all the events on a timeline.
How to import the exported XML file into your video tool?
Depending on your video tool, you can find a short description below:
MyVideoAnalyzer
After creating a project with the video of the match, import the downloaded XML file via File > Import > Timeline > XML File. You can also drag and drop the XML file directly into MyVideoAnalyzer.
Nacsport
After creating a project with the video of the match, import the downloaded XML file via File > Tools > Import XML File.
Hudl Sportscode
After creating a project with the video of the match import the downloaded XML file via File > Import > Sportscode XML
If you require any assistance or have any questions, please email support@scisports.com and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.