u down with obv: goalkeepers

From expected goals to pass accuracy to distance covered, approximately six-hundred billion zillion data points are tracked during a match. Most of these numbers are divvied between basic counting stats, information for sports science and performance programs, and advanced analytics. All this data swirling about can make it difficult to get an accurate profile of a player, which is why I very much dig StatsBomb’s On Ball Value (OBV) metric.

OBV is measured separately among a variety of actions players make throughout a game. Categories tracked are Shots, Passing, Dribble & Carry, Defensive Action, and Goalkeeper. The best way to think about OBV is ‘how does a player’s interactions with the ball help their team score a goal, or increase their chance of conceding’ – yes, negative OBV exists. Oof.

So I thought well this is just super neat maybe I should review the 2023 NWSL season by position group to discover the players with the highest total OBV per 90 and see which actions allowed them to have the biggest positive impact on games. So I did.

In this series I’ll go position by position to spotlight the top-5 players in total OBV per 90 for the 2023 NWSL season. Then we’ll dive in even further to see what exactly made each so valuable to their team. Some are obvious, but there are def surprises.

Up first, those chaotic goal-hating terrors: The Goalkeepers!