Coaching a Year One Team In College

By Seyi Matthew

After 4 games, 17 goals conceded and 3 goals scored, I am beginning to feel the pressure that comes with coaching a team. Not that there are high expectations of a team that was just newly formed about a month ago, but the feeling that you are not pulling in the right direction as a coach. It's an issue of personal scrutiny.

I decided to go into football coaching after playing as a right back in my second year in college and then, I was introduced to a football lover who had gathered year one college students to form a football team. All that was left was a coach who would mould the team into a formidable one and of course, I landed the job.

This is how the league works in my college. There are six teams in the league - Panthers, Stars, Wolves, Spurs, Hale End and the team that I am in charge of, Young Boys FC. Panthers and Stars are year four teams and mostly have players who have been playing together for about four years now. Wolves are a year three team, Spurs and Hale End are year two teams while my club has players that have just known each other for barely three months. This is not to make light of the zero points accumulated after four games but it is the reality of the club's situation.

Being novel to the coaching set up, I started to learn about training drills as all I knew about beforehand was football tactics. In coaching, you have to make your team fit. You begin to introduce different forms of drills that would ensure that your players are physically ready for every game. There is the mental aspect as well. You have to make sure your 23-man squad is in an ideal mental state. I constantly remind my players that there is no pressure as they are in their first year and that too much isn't expected from them. Whether that is an encouraging reminder or not, I cannot tell. Not yet. 

There are times in training that fights break out among the players and as a coach, you just have to make sure it is resolved as soon as possible. You don't want your squad harmony disrupted.

I started our first match against Stars in a defensive 4-3-2-1 formation. The aim was not to win, but to showcase the talents and skills of my players and yes, my tactical acumen. We were trashed 7-2, the players didn't follow my tactical instructions, they kept falling out of positions, they created another formation on the pitch and the only excuse I could make for them was that they had relatively little football intelligence. 

The next training session was about passing triangles and the importance of creating triangles while passing. While training, I constantly shout when I'm speaking so that everyone hears me clearly and understand the importance of what I'm talking about. Sometimes, you are irritated by the sluggishness and indifferent behaviors your players portray in training and other times, you are impressed by their output and you believe you are doing a great job. It's an issue of back and forth.

Our next match was against Wolves, a very highly coordinated team. Safe to say, the most coordinated team in the college's league off and on the pitch. I once played for Wolves in my second year but they were formerly called Vallse and now, they have fresh blood and are under new management. The formation for this match was a 4-2-3-1. The aim was to attack and to show no signs of respect for the opponents. It was 0-0 at half time and everyone was impressed. I was impressed. The team owners were impressed. The players showed that they were up to the task but after two major goalkeeping errors, we lost 2-0. It was a very interesting game with frequent attacking threats from both sides and the high tempo made it a game to remember. We signed a player from year three after that game because he thought this was a team he could enjoy playing in. 

Our next match was against Hale End who had been playing really poor and we were favourites to win that game 4-0 or 5-1 but we lost. We lost 0-1 and it was a sorry case. We still had 0 points after we could have picked up a point from the year-two team. It was like the world came crashing down. People beginning to say things all around you. "Why did you start him"?, "Why didn't you stick to the previous formation"? and so on. I wonder how the pressure is for coaches when their world class teams lose. 

Oh, I forgot to mention that a player on my bench walked out on the team after I substituted in a particular player in the match against Stars FC. He claimed the player wasn't good enough to be playing in the league games. There are times when you are faced with issues of man management. You want to satisfy this player, that player, every player. I had a tète à tète with  the player that walked out because he is a very skilled player. I still wanted him to be a part of the team despite the awful attitude he pulled off. After a talk that seemed productive due to the fact that he said he would stay, he still left the team for Panthers. I don't blame him. Who wouldn't want to play for the year four team? It's an issue of choice.

Pardon me as I also forgot to mention how Stars FC wanted to buy two of my key players on the transfer deadline day. One of the players involved is the captain of the team. The last hour of the deadline, I had a meeting with the management of Stars and they tried to persuade me to sell the two players they wanted. They mentioned that they like the way they play on the pitch. I refused. It was a straight no. Besides, the offer they put down wasn't inviting at all. They spoke to the players to try to force their way out of the team, but neither of my players wanted to leave. I was scared for a moment though.

Our last match was against Panthers. It ended 7-1. The player that left us to join them played the whole 90 minutes. The team looked unmotivated. They played slowly. I could sense tension building up between some of my players and now, I have to find a way to restore squad harmony to its ideal state.

With some players complaining about playing time, some complaining about the league's officiating, some feeling left out, some becoming relaxed and uninterested and possibly some feeling too important, it is important that I step in to set all of these in order if the team is going to progress at all.

Our next match is against Spurs and its a very special one for me as I face a fellow coach who happens to be a close acquaintance. This is his second year of coaching Spurs and so I guess it's an issue of no pressure.

Crystal Palace: What Has Changed Really?

By Matthew

06 October, 2022 • 1:45 GMT

I have found Crystal Palace pretty interesting ever since former Arsenal Midfielder, Patrick Viera, took over at the south london club. When he became Head Coach at Selhurst Park, every palace fan was expecting a revolution. I was expecting one as well. The club had been previously managed by a very conservative and pragmatic Roy Hodgson. Roy would have palace sit deep in a  4-4-2 formation, capitalise on opponents mistakes, turn possession over, counter and then, of course, pass the ball to Zaha - who desperately wanted out of the club at some point.
As expected, the Viera revolution is here. Attacking football left, right and center. Players showing off their dribbling prowess and the team now pressing than ever. What I, personally, find interesting is how this attacking revolution has not really translated into points and a much higher league table finish for Palace. Last season, they finished in 12th place with 48 points. The season before, they finished in 14th place with 44 points and in Roy Hodgson's penultimate season, they finished 14th with 43 points. So what has really changed for good since Viera's appointment in July 2021? Fans who like their team playing entertaining football are definitely enjoying what they see compared to the past few seasons but what major impact has this 'positive football' had?

One thing that catches the eye is how Palace have turned to younger players. In the 2021/22 season, the Crystal Palace board seriously began to focus on recruiting younger players. They had also spent around £20 million pounds on their academy. What they really did was to not renew expired contracts of more than 9 squad players and then, they went after fresh legs.
In the 2019/20 season, the average age of the club's squad was 29.4 years old. In the 2020/21 season, it was 29.1 years. Coinciding with when Viera came in, the average age dropped significantly to 27.1 years and presently this season, it's at 27.6. Marc Guehi, Conor Gallagher (loan, now returned back to Chelsea), Michael Olise et al. were among the young players that landed at Selhurst Park.
Just for the records, I was obsessed with Gallagher at some point last season.

With younger players sticking around, one would presume that the team's pressing intensity should practically increase but what do the stats tell us?
In the 2019/20 season, Crystal Palace had attempted 6252 pressures and won just 1698 leaving the success rate at 27.2%. The next season, they attempted 5700 pressures, won 1502, and had a success rate of 26.4%. Last season, when the average age dropped, they attempted 6041 pressures, won 1809 and had a success rate of 30%. This statistic provided is merely a descriptive one and we can't really deduce too much from it, as it is lacking some form of context. But what we can see from it is that last season was the period the team had the best success rate in applying pressures on opponent teams compared to the previous two.

Image Credit: Crystal Palace Football Club

Let's look into the currency of football - goals.
Crystal Palace scored 50 goals last season. The three clubs that immediately sat above them on the league table - Brighton, Wolves and Newcastle - scored 42, 38 and 44 goals respectively.
Crystal Palace scored 39 goals two seasons ago (excluding own goals).
Three seasons ago, they scored just 29 goals (excluding own goals).
Since the Viera era began, there is no doubt that Crystal Palace having been finding the net more often than when they were under Roy Hodgson. But another metric to scrutinise is the expected goals metric (xG). xG can tell us the amount of goals a team is supposed to score and then we can compare it with with the number the team actually scored.

The season with the 50 goals scored, they had an xG of 50 goals. This means that Palace clinically made do with the chances they created. The season with the 39 goals scored, they had an xG of 35 goals. This means that Palace scored 4 more goals than they should have. The season with the 29 goals had an xG of 34. It is evident that in Viera's pioneer season, the team created more chances than they did in Roy's last two seasons. An xG of 50 compared to 35 and 34 means Palace are truly a more attacking side. They are creating more chances than they did under their former manager. That is a fact! But anyways, with the team more interesting going forward, the defence haven't really Improved too much and aren't really different from the Crystal Palace of two or three seasons ago. Unfortunately, they concede too many goals. Maybe this provides the answer to why the Veira revolution hasn't picked up many points as I, personally, feel they should be picking.

Note: All statistical data provided are for the Premier league only, doesn’t include any other competition Crystal Palace partake in and are provided as at the time of writing.

  

Why West Ham Have Been Brilliant So Far

By Matthew

18 February, 2021 • 3:05 GMT

As at the time of writing, West Ham have played 24 premier league games this season and have racked up 42 points which sees their Points Per Game(PPG) stand at 1.75. Last season after 24 games, the hammers only had 23 points. How quickly has things turned around for them? Well, very quickly, I would say. Currently, they sit 2 points above defending champions, Liverpool, are level on points with Chelsea and just 11 points from log leaders, Man City. Though, I must admit that this 2020/21 season has been very unpredictable mostly due to the void stadia every game week and also, congested fixtures. 

So what has David Moyes done so far? Has he found the right tactical tweaks to his system or have West Ham been a product of luck?  

To begin with, David Moyes has successfully shifted the mentality of the club – he took over from Manuel  Pellegrini – from possession based to a more defensive but direct approach of playing. Possession based teams like Man City need quality players who can hold the ball even when under pressure, but since West Ham have not much of such players, they are flourishing playing without the ball. The players sit back and absorb pressure from the opposition, try to break play and then counter – with direct passes rather than short ones. Declan Rice has been very instrumental in this style of play for David Moyes as he connects the midfield and the defence.  Rice – who Frank Lampard had shown so much interest in – plays in a double pivot alongside Soucek and has a very good eye for a pass. 

For a region of about £20million, West Ham brought in Thomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal, Czech Internationals. Vladimir Coufal has played the “flying fullback role” since he joined. He creates attacking threats in the wide areas when he overlaps and is quite good at getting crosses into the opposition box. He has also created the most chances from open play for West Ham this season and surely, this is impressive from a player many deemed was a defensive right back. As for Soucek, he has arguably been the best player for his side this season. One of his strengths lies in how he provides late runs from his deep position when West Ham are in their attacking phase. In few words, West Ham have made good, astute and shrewd signings recently.

Let’s talk about set pieces. For starters, a set piece is usually corner kicks, free kicks, penalties or any other situation when the ball goes dead. West Ham might not have a throw-in coach like Liverpool do, or Arsenal’s Andreas Georgson, but whoever is their set piece coach deserves some accolades. They might not have a free kick specialist like Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse but one thing that data shows us is that at present, West Ham have scored  13 goals from set pieces that are not penalties. This is one of the reasons behind their scintillating performance this season. As if that isn’t brilliant enough, they have conceded the fewest goals from set pieces this Premier League season. Yes, it is safe to say they are masters of set pieces. 

Extensive Data Analysis

PPDA [PASSES PER DEFENSIVE ACTIONS]

PPDA is a data metric used to measure the intensity of how teams press to put it in very simple terms. The higher the PPDA, the lower the intensity of a team’s press and the lower the PPDA, the higher the intensity of a team’s press. Generally, defensive teams - “prime Inter Milan” – usually have a very high PPDA because they don’t press their opponents as they tend to invite and absorb pressure. Like I stated earlier on, Moyes has transformed the hammers into a defensive side, and so, they rank third on the table of teams with a high PPDA this Premier League season. With a PPDA of 17.66, they are behind West Brom(17.80) and Newcastle(17.89). 

GOAL DIFFERENTIALS

West Ham have scored 37 premier league goals already. On the goals scored table, they sit in seventh place and are just 3 goals shy off Chelsea in sixth. Many might try to downplay their brilliant goal scoring due to the fact that about thirty-five percent of these goals have come from dead ball situations but still, goals scored remains goals scored. 

They are eight on the expected goals, xG, table with an xG of 36.02. They are currently outperforming their expected goals by just one goal. This shows that they might not create many high value chances, but one thing they definitely don’t do is to waste the little ones they create.

Having conceded 28 goals already this season from an xGA(expected goals against) of 29.22, they are relatively doing well at the back and not just going forwards. West Ham have a goal difference of 9.

FORMATIONS

Recently, I was checking with a friend, the number of formations West Ham have played with this season and found out that they have played with ten different formations already. 

With the 4-2-3-1, Moyes’ side have played over a thousand minutes (1080), have scored 14 goals and have let in 14 also. 555 minutes they have played with the 5-4-1 formation, have scored 12 goals and have conceded 8. 3-4-2-1 and 3-4-3 are among the formations, they have favoured this season.   

     West Ham's formation in win against Aston                               Villa

SELECTED PLAYERS

Thomas Soucek has scored the most goals for his team despite being played in a deep role. With 8 goals in 2160 minutes played, he has been ridiculously good. He has an xG of 6.24 and an xG per 90 of 0.26.

      Thomas Soucek in action for the hammers

Michail Antonio is the team’s recognised striker especially after the sale of Sebastian Haller – pronounced ‘Halayer’ – to Ajax. Antonio has a huge physique which is one of his strength as a striker. He has only managed to play 1083 minutes due to injuries sustained but as made those minutes count by providing 5 goals and 3 assists. 

Jesse Lingard scored two dazzling goals on his debut for the side. 2 goals in 265 minutes is a good way to revive his failing footballing career. Only time will tell if his West Ham move would prove to be a good one or otherwise.

Note: All statistical data provided are for the Premier league only, doesn’t include any other competition West Ham partake in and are provided as at the time of writing.

  

Football Meets Oligarchy

By Matthew

23 January, 2021 • 23:05GMT

“I was bored and wanted a new challenge”, Roman Abramovich told the BBC when he was asked on why he had bought Chelsea Football Club – never knew boredom could make someone buy a football club. Back in 2003, Chelsea was a struggling club owned by Ken Bates who would later go on to buy Leeds United. Chelsea was in debt and since on-pitch performances weren’t good enough to bring in much revenue, the club was struggling to meet up with its interest payments. Abramovich engrossed in buying a football club, probably to get out of boredom, Chelsea in need of a buyer who would pull it out of its potential bankruptcy, a match was about to be made in heaven.  

Many clubs were offered to Abramovich; Portsmouth FC, the red side of Manchester and then the club he would eventually buy, Chelsea. According to sources, the deal was finalized in just 15 minutes. Why did he choose Chelsea? Why wouldn’t he? One, Chelsea is located in London, a great place to ply all kinds of trade, and then he probably wanted to showcase his Billionaire status since Chelsea desperately needed cash at that time. So, who is Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich? 

Abramovich was born in Saratov, Russia in 1996 into a low class Jewish family who were originally from Lithuania and was raised by relatives since he was orphaned at the age of 4. He started work as a street trader and then worked as a mechanic at a local factory. In 1986, there was an economic and political restructuring of the Soviet Union, a reform called “perestroika”. Seeing this reform, he ventured into different businesses one including the sale of imported rubber ducks from his abode in Moscow. He later ventured into the trading of oil - the source of the resources he obtained to become an oil merchant remains obscure. At that time, Oil business was risky and not many went down that lane, but those that took the risk including Abramovich, were rewarded heavily. In 1993, he had made enough money to be considered as a business partner by many other rich Russian business men. Boris Berezovsky also known as Platon Elenin - most probably a pseudonym - a mathematician, former member of Russian Academy of Sciences and a wealthy man who had made his first fortune from selling locally produced cars, beckoned on Abramovich. He wanted him and Abramovich to bring many of Russia's oil companies under one organisation that they would own and control. Abramovich agreed and their business plan was a success.

         Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich

As at this point the Soviet Union had collapsed and Russia had entered its post communist time, Boris Yeltsin was Russia's first post communist president. In 1996, Yeltsin kicked off his re-election election campaign but something was missing, he needed money. Realising this, he called on Russia's biggest oligarchs, a group Abramovich belonged to - oligarchs are very wealthy people who also have political powers and then run the country to an extent. He told them he would implement privatisation of state assets if they would assist him financially and influence the media to ensure he got re-elected. Yeltsin won the election and as promised, sold most of Russia's assets to the oligarchs at a fraction of their market value. It was reported that Berezovsky and Abramovich bought a particular state asset worth $3 Billion for just $100 million. The oligarchs became politically affluent and wealthy at a time Russia was suffering from economic depression. Before the end of his tenure, Yeltsin was ill and was forced out largely because he was despised by Russia's citizens.

Vladimir Putin was the man to become Russia's next president and had promised the public that he would smash the oligarchs and bring all their assets back under state control. Many of the oligarchs didn't see Putin as a threat and started to work out a political reform. Abramovich, not underestimating Putin, quickly became an ally of the man many of the oligarchs had despised. The aftermath of their despise? Their assets were seized and they were jailed on the charge of tax fraud. Abramovich retained all of his assets but had to abandon any plan of a political reform, something he never really wanted anyway. Also, Abramovich pumped cash into Putin's projects, built him a palace and bought him a 57m yatch worth £25 million, all of these Abramovich denied.

           Vladimir Putin and Roman Abramovich                                  (background)

Berezovsky refused to be a friend of Putin and thus, his fallout with Abramovich. Berezovsky also said that Abramovich and Putin conspired against him and  took away his fortune. The issue was addressed in court where Abramovich and Putin were vindicated and Berezovsky found to be a false witness. About a year later,  Berezovsky was dead - believed to be suicide. The state later bought Abramovich's asset rather than seize it, for $13 Billion in 2005.

Abramovich a governor of a Russian province from 2003 to 2008 has been a key ally of Putin and his suffering from it presently as he is currently banned from entering the UK - a different story entirely - and unable to visit his club. From very humble beginnings to becoming a man who would eventually buy a football club out of boredom, Abramovich has probably been  Russia's biggest oligarch.

Soccermatics: xG, Expected Goals

13 January 2020 • 2:59 GMT

Whether we like it or not, stats, data, mathematics are now a big part of football. How do we explain a doctor of particle physics being an integral part of a football club? Someone said, " football isn't rocket science but scientists are driving it in that direction". Some fans see data revolution as a threat rather than as a tool. Unsurprising, I fall into this group probably because I never really liked Maths - I mean, it was a miracle if I had a B in maths and if I had a D, it was expected. But why would some see it as a threat? Simple. Because when simple things become too complex, we displace the simplicity of it. Football is a simple game but where is the simplicity when I have to be a maths guru to understand it?

One of the evangelists of data in football is Matthew Benham, owner of Brentford Football Club who is also the owner of SmartOdds, a betting company. Of no doubt, betting companies make so much use of data, stats and Benham has also brought in the ideology to his club. As much as it hurts to admit, Brentford have been a successful club being run on this data revolution and are closing in on promotion to the Premier League.

There are many data metrics in football today. Some are used to analyse games - xG, xA, PPDA - while some are used in scouting and recruiting players - moneyball. So today's piece of writing is on xG, expected goals.

In football, every shot that a player shoots is given a quality value of 0-1. This value tells us if the shot should have become a goal clearly or if it was to difficult to become a goal, just like probability in maths. Before the invention of Expected Goals, there was an assumption that in every 10 shots a player takes, at least one must result in a goal. But this assumption has become outdated because there is no account of what types of shots they were or how far the shots were from goal. So what then is an expected goal?

An expected goal, xG is a data metric that measures the probability of a shot resulting in a goal using a considerable number of factors. Factors like, the distance of the shot from the goalpost, the angle of the shot( a tight angle or an open angle), was it a 1V1 situation, was it an headed goal or not and so on. There are different xG models today. While some take into consideration whether the player took the shot with his stronger foot or with the weaker, some don't. Some also take into consideration if the player was closed down by several players while taking the shot and some don't. Like I said or wrote, there are different xG models. There is no xG model that takes the player taking the shot into consideration, if it was Messi or Batshauyi. There is no such bias. According to the Opta model, the closer the shot is to the goalpost, the higher the xG.

         photo credit: Nouman

In this scenario, Tammy Abraham scored this goal. According to the Opta model, the shot had an xG of 0.10 which is a low value xG. A low value xG shot is less likely to result in a goal. The shot had a low value xG because Abraham was closed down by two players and the angle of the shot was a tight one. This means Abraham outperformed his expected goal by 0.90. An xG of 0.10 also means that in every 10 shots, only one would result in a goal. An xG of 0.02 means that in every 100 shots, only two would result in a goal. An xG of 0.80 means in every 10 shots, 8 would result in a goal. Simple, isn't it?

          Heung-Min Son is outperforming his xG

This season after 16 appearances, Heung Min Son has racked in 12 premier league goals but his xG of 5.39 according to the Understat model tell us that he should have scored 5 goals and not 12. This means Son is outperforming his xG by 6.61 (12 - 5.39). In simple words, Son should have only scored 5 goals but he has scored 12. This makes Son a very clinical striker and probably the most clinical in the Premier League. But let's not get carried away, this could mean Son is a very clinical striker or that Son has just been lucky. Also, it is quite impossible for a player to keep outperforming his xG by this margin. 

Also according to the Understat model - I use the Understat model a lot, well  because it's free - Sheffield United have scored just 8 goals this season despite having an xG of 16.8. This tells us they are underperforming their xG by 8 goals. In simple words, they should have scored 16 goals but they have only managed to net 8. This means that Sheffield have really poor strikers or that their strikers have been extremely unlucky.

There is more to xG as we have xGA (expected goals against), NPxG(Non Penalty expected goals) and so on but in order not to make this look like a maths tutorial, I have decided to round it off here. Don't fret if you didn't quite get today's article, you might just read it all over again or just join the "get rid of stats" campaign. 

How Does The Goal Line Technology Work?

By Matthew

30 December 2020 • 0:15GMT

 Since its introduction in the Premier League's 2013/14 season, Hawk-Eye's Goal Line Technology system has failed just once in over 9000 matches that it has been in operation. Of no doubt, the Goal Line Technology (GLT) has refined football, and so, how does it work?

GLT is basically a cluster of technologies that together monitors the path and movement of the ball and spots when it crosses the goal line. There are 4 major systems of the GLT approved by FIFA and the International Football Association Board (IFAB) which operate mainly by either camera tracking or magnetic field sensors.

•GoalControl

At the 2014 FIFA world cup, Brazil, GoalControl was the GLT system used. The German Company gained approval and certification just before the Hawk-Eye system. Before it was used at the world cup, it was successfully tested at the Confederations Cup and at the FIFA club world cup, 2013.

GoalControl uses camera tracking. 14 high speed cameras are mounted on the stadium roof (7 cameras per goal mouth) to capture the position of the ball in the air and on the ground. The referee receives a notification via his watch when the ball crosses the line.

•Hawk-Eye

Just like GoalControl, Hawk-Eye uses camera tracking. 7 cameras are installed at each goal, usually at the roof of the stadium. A software gathers the information from all cameras and then, tracks the ball in relation to the goal line. A signal is sent to the referee's watch within a second when the ball crosses the line. Ten seconds after, a graphical display of the ball's location is ready to be broadcasted.

Hawk-Eye is the present GLT system of the English Premier League and has been around since 2013.

Seven High Speed Cameras per goal mouth

•GoalRef

German Company, Fraunhofer IIS is the creator of GoalRef, a company that specialises in wireless communications. This GLT system uses magnetic field sensors built into the goal frames to detect the passing of the ball.

•Cairos GLT system

Cairos technologies and Adidas are the producers of this GLT system which also uses magnetic field sensors. In this system, a magnetic sensor is put into the ball. This sensor detects the magnetic field produced by thin wires underneath the penalty box. A computer then tracks the position of the ball using the sensor.

Another GLT system is GoalMinder which uses cameras built into goalposts and crossbars.

The Sheffield United Incident

A foul is being committed. It's a free kick to Sheffield on their left flank. Oliver Norwood is standing over the dead ball, ready to take the free kick and Aston Villa's defence is getting organised. Norwood sends a beautiful ball in, but Villa's goalie, Ørjan Nyland claims the ball in the air. As Nyland reaches for the ground, teammate, Keinan Davis bumps into him and then he is pushed together with the ball beyond the goal line. Nyland quickly presses the ball unto the goal frame, Sheffield United players are celebrating, the ball clearly crossed the line already.

Nyland is seen to have crossed the line with the ball. Photo Credit: Sheffield United TV

To their surprising disappointment, Referee, Michael Oliver doesn't award the goal, his wrist watch hasn't indicated, by vibration, that the ball crossed the line. Inevitably, this decision sparks a lot of controversies.

Hawk-Eye, the company that runs the league's goal line technology, after the match said that the view of the seven cameras were obstructed by the combination of the goalkeeper, defender and the post. Its statement read:

"During the first half of Aston Villa v Sheffield United match at Villa Park, there was a goal line incident where the ball was carried over the line by Aston Villa goalkeeper, No. 25 Nyland.

"The match officials did not receive a signal to the watch nor earpiece as per the Goal Decision System (GDS) protocol. The seven cameras located in the stands around the goal area were significantly occluded by the goalkeeper, defender, and goalpost. This level of occlusion has never been seen before in over 9,000 matches that the Hawk-Eye Goal Line Technology system has been in operation.

"The system was tested and proved functional prior to the start of the match in accordance with the IFAB Laws of The Game and confirmed as working by the match officials. The system has remained functional throughout. Hawk-Eye unreservedly apologises to the Premier League, Sheffield United, and everyone affected by this incident."

In 2013, when it was introduced to the Premier League, it was said that Hawk-Eye's high speed cameras had the ability to remove any player's picture obscuring the ball. It is still not understood why it didn't in this match.

After the match, Sheffield United's coach, Chris Wilder said he didn't know if he had to laugh or cry as he was deeply hurt by the decision. It cost them two points.

Sometimes, there are errors with all the technologies around but Goal Line Technology has been a huge success since its inception.