Football often requires players to receive the ball in restricted space, surrounded by opponents. 

Absorbing that immediate pressure and successfully maneuvering the ball into less contested areas has become a key ability in order to control the game’s flow and potentially generate opportunities.

Escaped Pressure quantifies this capability. It measures how consistently a player receiving within the most congested areas of the pitch actively decreases the pressure level the team is under.

By tracking sequences that commence under high or very high pressure and strict space constraints, and conclude with a successful release into lower-pressure environments, this metric isolates players who function as pressure releasers.

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Applied use case

Advanced Midfielders

‍Identify advanced midfielders who excel at receiving in congested spaces in the pockets. These are the players who consistently retain possession under high pressure, in limited space, effectively breaking the opposition's pressing flow.

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Metric Definition

Escaped Pressure tracks a player's ability to receive the ball in extremely tight, highly-pressured areas and successfully maneuver or pass the ball into a situation with less defensive pressure.

Specifically, it measures possessions that start from a pass reception under High or Very High pressure, with Hard or Very Hard Space Constraint, and conclude with the overall pressure dropping to Medium, Low, or None.

The Overall Pressure Degree is driven by four key components: the time defenders have to close down the ball carrier, the space available to the receiver, the ease of passing options, and the technical difficulty of the reception.

Each of these is assessed on a five-level scale, from Very Easy to Very Difficult.

These elements are then combined into a single, model-based metric — the Overall Pressure Degree — expressed on a scale from None to Very High.

If you’d like to dive deeper into SkillCorner’s Playing Under Pressure Framework, check out the full explainer and video below.

Know more about SkillCorner’s Playing under Pres