What is PPDA: Passes per Defensive Action?
What does PPDA stand for?
PPDA stands for “Passes Per Defensive Action”.
Passes per Defensive Action (PPDA) is a metric used to measure a team’s pressing intensity. It is calculated by dividing the number of passes completed by the opposition by the number of defensive actions taken by the team.
However, this is typically only calculated in the opponent’s final 60% of the pitch.
A lower PPDA indicates that a team is pressing more aggressively, while a higher PPDA indicates that a team is pressing less aggressively.
How is PPDA calculated?
PPDA is calculated by dividing the number of passes completed by the opposition by the number of defensive actions taken by the team. The formula is as follows:
PPDA = (Opposition passes) / (Team defensive actions)
Defensive actions include successful and failed tackles, interceptions, and fouls.
So if the opposition had 397 passes, and your team had 6 interceptions, 17 tackles, and 4 fouls: the PPDA would be 397 / (6 + 17 + 4) = 14.7
What you can learn from PPDA
PPDA is a more advanced stat that provides some useful insights into a team’s pressing intensity. Here are a few examples of what you can learn from PPDA:
- PPDA can help you identify teams that are pressing more or less aggressively.
- PPDA can help you identify teams that are playing a high-risk, high-reward style of football.
- PPDA can help you identify teams that are struggling to defend against long, risky passes.
Overall, PPDA is a useful metric for measuring a team’s defensive efficiency, but it should be used in conjunction with other metrics to get a complete picture of a team’s defensive performance.
Premier League Team’s Average PPDA
As of March 21st, Liverpool has the lowest PPDA during the 2023/24 season with 8.1. Followed by Tottenham, Arsenal, and Brighton.
3 of the teams with the lowest PPDA are in the top five of the premier league table, and three of the highest PPDA teams are in the bottom five. This would indicate a correlation between pressing intensity and team performance.
Benefits of using PPDA
There are several benefits to using PPDA as a metric to evaluate defensive performance. First, PPDA is a simple and easy-to-understand metric. This makes it easy for coaches and fans to track and compare defensive performance over time.
Second, PPDA is a good measure of how well a team is defending against transitions. Transitions are when the ball changes possession from one team to the other, and they are often the most dangerous moments in a game. A high PPDA indicates that a team is allowing the opposition to complete a lot of passes in transition, while a low PPDA indicates that a team is limiting the opposition’s ability to transition into dangerous attacking positions.
Third, PPDA can be used to identify individual players who are performing well defensively. A player with a low PPDA is likely making a lot of tackles, interceptions, and blocks, while a player with a high PPDA is likely allowing the opposition to complete a lot of passes in transition. Coaches can use this data to identify players who need to improve their defensive contributions.
Drawbacks of using PPDA
However, there are also some drawbacks to using PPDA as a metric. PPDA can be misleading if a team is playing a very defensive style of football. A team that is sitting back and defending deep will likely have a lower PPDA than a team that is playing a more attacking style of football. This is because the team that is sitting back and defending deep will have fewer opportunities to make defensive actions.
Additionally, PPDA does not take into account the quality of the passes that are completed by the opposition. For example, a team that allows the opposition to complete a lot of short, easy passes in the defensive third will have a lower PPDA than a team that allows the opposition to complete a few long, dangerous passes.
A team with an efficient attack will also be able to complete more passes in transition, even if the defending team is doing a good job of defending.
Insights you can learn from PPDA
PPDA can be a useful tool for evaluating a team’s defensive performance, especially when they do not have the ball. It provides you with a quick analysis of a team's approach to pressing their opposition without watching video analysis.