About

Half-Space Lab is an independent site for football analysis. Each piece starts with one question about a team, a player or an idea, and answers it with data, charts and a plain-language explanation.

Why the name

Divide a pitch lengthways and you get five lanes: two wings, the centre, and the two half-spaces in between. Much of the most interesting football happens in those in-between lanes, and much of the most interesting analysis happens between the raw numbers and what you see on the pitch.

Where the data comes from

• StatsBomb Open Data (Hudl StatsBomb): free event data released for research and personal analysis. Used for match and tournament deep dives.
• Understat: expected goals (xG) for the top European leagues, used for current-season pieces.

Each piece lists the exact sources it used. Charts are made with Python (pandas, matplotlib and mplsoccer) by the author.

How to read the numbers

Expected goals and similar models estimate the quality of chances; they don't predict results on their own. Small samples (a handful of matches) swing a lot, and each piece says when a finding rests on limited data.