Stats: Who Leads the K-League in Possession?

(From SPOTV via youtube.com)

Does possession matter?  Are teams who have more possession at the top of the table?  

With the international break, most teams are off over the weekend.  With just over a third of the season having been played, I thought it would be interesting to look at how teams are doing statistically.  Utilizing kleague.com, I have made this chart showing the amount of possession each team averages and their league position.  

K-League Classic: Possession

Rank	Team	Possession. (%)	Position in League
1	FC Seoul	52.69	2nd
2	Suwon Bluewings	52.27	9th
3	Ulsan	51.02	4th
4	Sangju Sangmu	51.01	7th
5	Gwangju FC	50.74	6th
6	Suwon FC	50.52	10th
7	Jeonbuk Motors	49.63	1st
8	Incheon United	49.11	12th
9	Jeonnam Dragons	48.92	11th
10	Jeju United	48.75	5th
11	Pohang Steelers	48.48	8th
12	Seonganm FC	47	3rd

Not surprisingly, FC Seoul top the league in possession.  The reason that it is not surprising is because traditionally, Seoul have adopted an orientation based on possession.  However, up until last week, Seoul were never first and either third or fourth depending on their opponent with either the Suwon Bluewings or Ulsan leading the league.

This year Seoul have played a more direct style and it is only in half of their games where they have had 55% or more of the ball.  Two of those, against Incheon and Suwon FC, they won the games.  In the games that they have lost, versus Jeonbuk and Pohang, they had the ball 56% and 64% of the time, and in last week's draw against Jeonnam they had the ball 59% of the time.

My point is that just because a team has the ball does not mean they are likely to score.  In the K-League this year, often times the team with a significant advantage in possession has ended up losing the game because this advantage is usually a result of being behind and chasing the game.  Again, utilizing kleague.com, I have made a table of games where there was a 10% difference in possession between the teams and the result.  

K-League Classic 2016 Possession versus Results

Fixture	Possession	Result
Jeonbuk-FC Seoul	44-56%	1-0
Seongnam-Suwon Bluewings	41-59%	2-0
Pohang-Gwangju FC	56-44%	3-3
Sangju Sangmu-Ulsan	44-56%	2-0
Gwangju FC-Jeju Utd.	55-45%	1-0
FC Seoul-Sangju Sangmu	45-55%	4-0
FC Seoul-Incheon Utd.	55-45%	3-1
Sangju Sangmu-Suwon FC	45-55%	1-1
Incheon-Seongnam	55-45%	2-3
Suwon Bluewings-Pohang	55-45%	1-1
Gwangju FC-FC Seoul	55-45%	1-2
Jeju Utd.-Sangju Sangmu	40-60%	4-2
FC Seoul-Suwon FC	55-45%	3-0
Sangju Sangmu-Pohang	43-57%	2-0
Ulsan-Jeju	55-45%	0-1
Ulsan-FC Seoul	55-45%	1-2
Sangju Sangmu-Jeonbuk	55-45%	2-2
Pohang-Jeju Utd.	45-55%	1-0
Incheon-Ulsan	57-43%	0-1
Ulsan-Seongnam	57-43%	0-3
Suwon FC-Jeju Utd.	59-41%	2-5
FC Seoul-Pohang	64-36%	1-3
Ulsan-Pohang	56-44%	0-0
Sangju Sangmu-Incheon	55-45%	4-2
Sangju Sangmu-Seongnam	59-41%	2-3
Suwon Bluewings-Ulsan	64-36%	2-4
Incheon-Gwangju FC	43-57%	0-1
Seongnam-Incheon	56-44%	0-1
Jeju Utd.-Ulsan	57-43%	1-2
Gwangju FC-Suwon FC	45-55%	1-0
FC Seoul-Jeonnam	59-41%	1-1
Jeonbuk-Sangju Sangmu	55-45%	3-2

This is a rather simple table, but my argument is that teams with higher possession rates such as Incheon United, might be a result of frequently losing and having to chase teams to get back into the game.  In the end, I guess possession in and of itself does not matter too much.  More important is how teams use the ball when they have it.  A team like Seongnam, which has the least amount of possession in the K-League, is in third place.  Often times, they are more successful when their opponent has the majority of the ball as the table above shows.