This aims of this study were to a) explore the effects of the situation variables
Match Location, Quality of Opposition and Match Status on team strategy through
playing style for three varying level English Premier League (EPL) teams and b) to
compare the overall team strategy for each of the these teams through Social
Network Analysis (SNA). Opta (Perform Group, London) passing data was
analysed from 12 matches for each team from the 2017/18 EPL season. Using
UCINET, network visualisations were produced with players fixed as nodes and
weighted arrow heads for passes. With this, team and individual player measures
were also calculated. The results show large differences within team strategy
playing under different situation variables and between varying level teams. The
findings emphasise the need to provide match analysis with consideration of
situation variables and aid the new approach of using SNA for match analysis.
Future research should aim to provide a more comprehensive analysis of teams
using a greater sample to further investigate team strategy with consideration for
additional information such as shots and goals or possession origin.