A match-day analysis of the movement profiles of substitutes from a professional soccer club before and after pitch-entry

Whilst the movement demands of players completing a whole soccer match have been well-documented, comparable information relating to substitutes is sparse. Therefore, this study profiled the match-day physical activities performed by soccer substitutes, focusing separately on the pre and post pitch-...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one Vol. 14; no. 1; p. e0211563
Main Authors: Hills, Samuel P., Barrett, Steve, Feltbower, Richard G., Barwood, Martin J., Radcliffe, Jon N., Cooke, Carlton B., Kilduff, Liam P., Cook, Christian J., Russell, Mark
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Public Library of Science 31.01.2019
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:
Adult
Athletic Performance - physiology
Athletic Performance - psychology
Australian football
Biology and Life Sciences
Engineering schools
Exercise
Health sciences
High speed
Humans
Male
Medicine
Medicine and Health Sciences
Microelectromechanical systems
Motor Activity - physiology
Physical fitness
Physical Sciences
Physiological aspects
Players
Rugby
Running
Soccer
Soccer - physiology
Soccer - psychology
Soccer players
Soccer teams
Social Sciences
Sports injuries
Substitutes
Warm-Up Exercise
United Kingdom > UK
ISSN:1932-6203, 1932-6203
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Whilst the movement demands of players completing a whole soccer match have been well-documented, comparable information relating to substitutes is sparse. Therefore, this study profiled the match-day physical activities performed by soccer substitutes, focusing separately on the pre and post pitch-entry periods. Seventeen English Championship soccer players were monitored using 10 Hz Micromechanical Electrical Systems (MEMS) devices during 13 matches in which they participated as substitutes (35 observations). Twenty physical variables were examined and data were organised by bouts of warm-up activity (pre pitch-entry), and five min epochs of match-play (post pitch-entry). Linear mixed modelling assessed the influence of time (i.e., 'bout' and 'epoch'), playing position, and match scoreline. Substitutes performed 3±1 rewarm-up bouts∙player-1∙match-1. Compared to the initial warm-up, each rewarm-up was shorter (-19.7 to -22.9 min) and elicited less distance (-606 to -741 m), whilst relative total distances were higher (+26 to +69 m∙min-1). Relative total (+13.4 m∙min-1) and high-speed (+0.4 m∙min-1) distances covered during rewarm-ups increased (p <0.001) with proximity to pitch-entry. Players covered more (+3.2 m; p = 0.047) high-speed distance per rewarm-up when the assessed team was losing compared with when winning at the time of pitch-entry. For 10 out of 20 variables measured after pitch-entry, values reduced from 0-5 min thereafter, and substitutes covered greater (p ˂0.05) total (+67 to +93 m) and high-speed (+14 to +33 m) distances during the first five min of match-play versus all subsequent epochs. Midfielders covered more distance (+41 m) per five min epoch than both attackers (p ˂0.001) and defenders (p = 0.016). Acknowledging the limitations of a solely movement data approach and the potential influence of other match-specific factors, such findings provide novel insights into the match-day demands faced by substitute soccer players. Future research opportunities exist to better understand the match-day practices of this population.
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Competing Interests: Hull City Tigers Football Club provided support in the form of a salary for author SB. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0211563