Performance Evaluation in Football Goals, assists, clean sheets. These numbers come to mind first when we try to evaluate a football player. Scored 30 goals in the season — he's good. Made 15 assistive passes — a valuable player. But football has long ceased to be such simple mathematics. In 2026, performance evaluation is a complex cocktail of traditional statistics, big data analysis, neural networks, and even psychological tests. How to understand who is truly beneficial for the team and who is just "padding numbers"? Goals and assists: the classic that has not become outdated The main performance indicators for forwards and attacking midfielders are goals and assistive passes. It is considered that a top striker should score at least 0.5 goals per game. In the 2025 Premier League, Erling Haaland had a 1.2 goals per match rating — a phenomenon. Assists: for wingers, the norm is 0.3-0.4 assists per game. However, goals and passes do not always reflect the real contribution. A player may score 10 goals, but all of them in already won matches, without affecting the result. Therefore, the statistics are supplemented with "goals in key moments" (in the first halves, at 0:0, against top teams). Expected Goals (xG): statistics of moment quality The most popular advanced indicator today is xG (expected goals). It measures the quality of a shot: from what position, with what foot, at what angle, after what pass, considering defenders. xG from 0.1 to 0.3 is considered low, 0.3-0.6 — medium, above 0.6 — high. A player who scores more than his xG (for example, 20 goals with xG 15) — exceeds the norm, is considered "cold-blooded". Those who score less (10 with xG 15) — are unrealized. In 2026, xG is used everywhere, even in amateur leagues with the help of mobile applications. Expected Assists (xA) and key passes Like xG, there is xA (expected assists). It measures how well a player creates moments for teammates. A pass to an empty goal has a high xA. But there are also "key ... Читать далее