Leveraging the Chain on Goals Model in Football: Applications for Attack and Defensive Play
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors1. ABSTRACT
a) It would be beneficial to explicitly present the statistical analyses performed.
b) It is not clear how the four practical concepts have been quantified.
2. INTRODUCTION
a) The introduction adequately connects the historical context to the study's objective, but there are several statements made without being supported by bibliographic references. Examples include lines 33–35, 49–51, 54–59, and 60–65. I suggest the following references to assist the authors:
i) Lames, M. (2023). Performance analysis in game sports: Concepts and methods. Springer.
ii) Davis, J., & Robberechts, P. (2023, July). Expected Metrics as a Measure of Skill: Reflections on Finishing in Soccer. In Proceedings of the 10th Workshop on Machine Learning and Data Mining for Sports Analytics.
iii) Cavus, M., Stando, A., & Biecek, P. (2023). Glocal Explanations of Expected Goal Models in Soccer. arXiv preprint arXiv:2308.15559.
b) The presentation of the "chain on goals model" is quite superficial. More detail is required on how this model differentiates itself and its significance needs better justification.
3. MATERIALS AND METHODS
a) The mention of the unavailability of free data requires further clarification regarding access and transparency.
b) The reference to ethical committee approval is positive but too general (details such as the institution and ID are needed).
c) The categorization of variables is clear, but the connection between the "practical concepts" and the data, as well as their scientific validation, is insufficient. It is recommended to remove the practical concepts entirely from the manuscript.
4. RESULTS
The effect sizes (Cohen’s d) for the Independent Student’s t-tests should definitely be reported to demonstrate whether, beyond statistical significance, the findings have practical significance as well.
5. DISCUSSION
The discussion is well-organized and follows a logical sequence. However, some sections present information overly succinctly without sufficient elaboration or justification supported by bibliographic references.
6. LIMITATIONS
The fact that the study follows a static rather than dynamic method could also be added (e.g., Pratas, J. M., Volossovitch, A., & Carita, A. I. (2018). Goal scoring in elite male football: A systematic review. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise 13(1), 218-230).
7. PRACTICAL APPLICATION
The emphasis on recruiting better forwards in the Spanish men’s league is overly simplistic, and many would question how such a league could be considered lacking in quality forwards.
8. GENERAL
The bibliographic references throughout the text should be placed before the periods.
Author Response
The responses to Reviewer 1’s comments are provided in the attached PDF document
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsSoccer data analysis is becoming more and more important in modern soccer. This paper analyzes the Spanish men's and women's soccer leagues by applying the "Goal Chain Model" to reveal the differences between the leagues and the influence of related factors on the game, which provides a reference to improve the performance of the teams. Overall, the article has certain academic value, reasonable research methods, clear conclusions, introduced from the development of soccer data, analyzed through reasonable methods to draw conclusions such as the weakness of defense in the Spanish Women's League and the importance of PV and xG in different leagues, and the source of the data has a certain degree of reliability; however, there are some limitations and improvements that can be made, including the scope of the study is limited to the Spanish League, the depth of the application of the model is not enough, and there are grammatical and terminology errors in the writing.There are grammatical and terminological errors and formatting irregularities.It is recommended that the authors further expand the scope of the study and deepen the application of the model on the basis of revising the grammatical errors and improving the formatting in order to improve the overall quality of the article.Since the application of the goal chain model to the offensive and defensive phases of soccer matches, it would improve the quality of the article if the text could be supplemented with more precise correlation analyses and reflections on it.
1.The scope of the study only focuses on the Spanish soccer league and does not consider other European or global leagues, which limits the generalizability of the findings.Different leagues differ in terms of player level, game style, competitive environment, etc. It is difficult to generalize the data based on a single league to a wider soccer field, and it cannot fully reflect the application effect of the goal chain model in different contexts.
2. Despite the introduction of the goal chain model and the analysis of related indicators, there is a lack of in-depth discussion on how to effectively transform the model results into practical tactical guidance and player training strategies.It fails to fully explain how coaches and technicians should formulate targeted improvement measures based on the team and player performance analyzed by the model, such as insufficient guidance on the application of specific training contents and tactical adjustments.
3. Only one season's data is used, and the sample size is relatively small.The results of soccer matches are affected by many factors, such as player injuries, in-season tactical adjustments, team personnel changes, etc. The data of a single season may not be able to cover all possible situations, and it is difficult to accurately reflect the long-term, general pattern, thus reducing the stability and reliability of the research conclusions.
4.Although "defensive vulnerabilities" is used semantically to express defensive weaknesses, "defensive weaknesses" is commonly used in the field of soccer, which is more concise and professional.
5. The citation of table numbers is not standardized, for example, Table 1 only appears in the Methods section and is not cited in the Results or Discussion section in a logical order, which results in the correlation between the table and the main text not being obvious in the reading process, and makes it difficult for readers to quickly understand the role and significance of the tabular data in the whole research discussion.This makes the overall structure of the article not close enough, affecting the effectiveness of information transfer.
6, the picture is not clear, it is recommended to replace the original picture with a clearer one.
7、The p related to variability in the article is not italicized, which needs to be corrected.
Author Response
The responses to Reviewer 2’s comments are provided in the attached PDF document
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe manuscript addresses an interesting and topical issue by applying the ‘Chain on Goals Model’ to the analysis of offensive and defensive phases in football. This approach has potential to provide new perspectives on team and individual performance, and the focus on advanced data is particularly relevant to the Applied Sciences audience. However, there are some areas that need more clarity and insight to improve the scientific rigour and impact of the work.
Introduction and Background:
Limited theoretical background: Although the manuscript cites previous research, the discussion of how the ‘Chain on Goals’ model differs or improves on other approaches is too superficial. It would be useful to include a more detailed comparison with traditional or alternative metrics.
Unclear objectives: The objectives of the study should be better articulated in the introductory section. Clearly specify what the model brings that is new compared to the existing literature.
Methodology:
Choice of normalisation: Although normalisation of data for 90 minutes is mentioned, there is a lack of detail on how this affects the results compared to non-normalised data.
Restricted sample: The exclusive use of data from Liga F and LaLiga limits the generalisability of the model. This should be mentioned more clearly in the limitations.
Results:
Weak correlations: The correlation between variables (e.g. movement without the ball and offensive quality of the player) was ‘trivial’. It would be useful to discuss more in depth the significance of this weak correlation and its impact on the application of the model.
Visualisations: The graphs presented (Figures 1 and 2) are not informative enough. Provide a clearer analysis to interpret the data and relationships depicted.
Discussion:
Limited interpretation: The discussion of the differences between the two leagues could benefit from more detail, e.g. considering differences in the level of competition, available resources, or style of play.
Weak practical implications: The practical section suggests general improvements, such as recruiting better goalkeepers or strikers, but does not specify how to apply the results to training contexts.
Limitations and Future Developments:
Lack of detailed discussion of methodological limitations: For example, the choice of exclusively Spanish datasets and the dependence on a single data provider should be emphasised more.
Author Response
The responses to Reviewer 3’s comments are provided in the attached PDF document
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Authors,
Congratulations on addressing all the shortcomings of the first version of the manuscript. You just need to pay a little attention to the order of references. For example, reference 14 is before reference 13.
Author Response
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Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsNo more comments
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Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe authors have addressed all my concerns
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