Half-Space
The half-space is the corridor between the central zone and the touchline, a position from which a player can pass in three directions, carry inside and shoot from a good angle.
What it means
It is the standard reference for describing modern attacking shape, because so much progression is designed to end there.
Why it matters
Zonal analysis shows which corridor a team attacks through, and a concentration of progressive passes in the half-spaces indicates an attack designed around the most productive part of the pitch.
Where it is used
Attacking shape analysis, and the description of where a side's progression concentrates.
Where it misleads
The corridor's exact width is a convention, so counts of activity in it are provider- or analyst-specific. It describes a position rather than an action and must be paired with a measure of what was done there.
Key points
- The width of the corridor is a convention, not a measurement.
- It describes a position, not an action taken from it.
- Pair zonal counts with the number of actions into the zone.
- Progress into the half-space is not the same as progress into the box.
- It is read best as a map rather than as a total.
- Descriptions of style should state how many zones were drawn.
The metric is a measurement with a denominator, and the denominator is what makes the figure comparable rather than merely large.