Design and validation of a Specificity level assessment tool for preferential simulation situation in football

Abstract

The aim of this study was to design a tool to evaluate the level of specificity of Preferential Simulation Situations (PSS) in football. The level of specificity was evaluated from the own structural variables of the PSS themselves. One hundred PPS performed by a professional football team were analyzed during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. The statistical model generated a vector with 28 numerical components, then the distances of each vector with respect to the reference, in this case the match, was calculated, in order to normalize this value in a range between 1 and 10 (1 being low and 10 being high specificity related to the match). The results indicate that the specificity level assessment tool allows categorizing and grouping the PSS studied according to its internal logic. The use of this tool allows to objectify the level of specificity of the PSS, which could help coaches with programming, design and analysis intervention programs to optimize the players’ performance in formative and professional football.