Recoveries
When we lose the ball, how fast do we get it back — and what happens next?
PPDA measures how hard we chase the ball. This measures whether the chasing works.
Recover
52%-2.3
of lost possessions are back at an Aberdeen foot within 10 seconds
vs 54.0% in every other season · 10.4s to a first touch, but 22.1s to genuine control · 3.4m of ground given up
Secure
59%+2.0
of recoveries are still ours 10 seconds later
vs 57.1% in every other season · 49% are lost again inside 15s
Attack
5.8%+0.7
of recoveries produce a shot within 15 seconds
vs 5.1% in every other season · 17% reach the final third · 8% reach the box
⚠ Two clocks, both shown above: first touch is any Aberdeen contact after the loss, control is a touch that sticks rather than bouncing straight back out — and takes about twice as long. Neither is the counter-press rate, which counts only tackles and interceptions and so reports a different-looking number for the same instinct.
Fast recovery rate (10s), match by match
2026–27 · green win, gold draw, red loss · click a bar to open that match below
Hea
Dun
Ran
Cel
Kil
Mot
Hib
2026–27 — Possession Recovery Profile
7 matches · p = percentile vs all 192 since 2021-22, higher is better
Recover
Median time to first touch
10.4sp23
Median time to control
22.1sp28
First touch within 5s
29.0%p24
First touch within 10s
51.8%p31
In control within 10s
32.9%p39
Recovery height (att. third)
24.3%
Territory conceded (median)
3.4mmean 7.5mp56
Secure
Post-recovery retention 5s
75.2%p70
Post-recovery retention 10s
59.0%p63
Immediate re-turnover
49.3%p65
Counterpress candidate rate
3.7%p53
Attack
Progression within 10s
25.7%p60
Final-third entry within 15s
17.2%p57
Box entry within 15s
8.0%p65
Shot within 15s
5.8%p64
How far the opponent got
2026–27 · after each Aberdeen turnover, the furthest the opponent reached before we won it back
38%got out at all · 2.6% managed a shot
62%
15%
13%
Contained62.562%
Moved 10m+4.44%
Crossed halfway14.915%
Our final third12.813%
Our box2.83%
Shot2.63%
Duels, and how the ball changes hands
2026–27 · 7 matches
46%-3.0
Aerial duels won
101 won · 114 lost
63%+3.3
Tackles won
84 won · 50 dribbled past
37%-3.1
Take-ons won
29 won · 53 lost
Change shown against every other tracked season.
How we get it back
78%
Won a duel8.89%
Intercepted5.35%
Loose ball8.08%
Arrived from a mistake77.878%
Tackles and interceptions are both the ball actively won. This split sits within 3pp of the same shape in all six tracked seasons, so read it as how possession changes hands in this data generally — not as a verdict on this side.
How we lose it
76%
12%
11%
Misplaced pass75.976%
Bad touch11.712%
Beaten in a duel10.611%
Offside1.82%
Also near-constant season to season. The useful read is that being beaten in a duel is a small share of it — we give the ball away far more often than we are taken off it.
Who wins it back
2026-27 · 270+ minutes · tap a column to sort. Volume and xT denied are largely positional — the rates and xT made are the read: a forward winning 4 a game high up, most of them fast, is a different contribution from a centre-back winning 18 deep.
| Player | Rec/90 | Fast | Kept | →Shot | High | xT made | xT denied |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dan Happe DC · 78 in 6 | 18.57 | 42% | 58% | 4% | 3% | 0.174 | 1.86 |
Stuart Armstrong Sub · 75 in 7 | 17.95 | 69% | 52% | 9% | 44% | 0.287 | 0.56 |
Nesta Guinness-Walker DL · 119 in 7 | 17.62 | 41% | 62% | 4% | 24% | 0.060 | 0.81 |
Chris Cadden DR · 115 in 7 | 16.86 | 47% | 53% | 5% | 42% | 0.046 | 0.63 |
Afeez Aremu DMC · 94 in 7 | 16.75 | 78% | 50% | 4% | 22% | 0.132 | 0.49 |
Lewis Mayo DC · 79 in 6 | 15.00 | 32% | 65% | 3% | 8% | 0.007 | 1.20 |
Gavin Molloy DC · 43 in 5 | 13.48 | 40% | 51% | 5% | 19% | -0.003 | 0.75 |
Connor Ronan AMC · 46 in 5 | 12.14 | 74% | 39% | 9% | 33% | 0.055 | 0.33 |
Mats Knoester DC · 37 in 4 | 10.95 | 49% | 68% | 0% | 3% | 0.029 | 0.98 |
Marius Müller GK · 72 in 7 | 10.29 | 14% | 75% | 1% | 0% | 0.059 | 2.49 |
Toyosi Olusanya Sub · 27 in 7 | 4.83 | 93% | 70% | 15% | 70% | -0.004 | 0.07 |
Kevin Nisbet Sub · 18 in 6 | 2.97 | 61% | 56% | 17% | 22% | -0.004 | 0.19 |
This match
vs
@ Hibernian
19 Sept 2026 · 141 lost possessions · p = percentile vs all 192
Draw
Recover
Median time to first touch
7.5sp90
Median time to control
17.0sp66
First touch within 5s
38.3%p91
First touch within 10s
61.7%p95
In control within 10s
38.3%p72
Recovery height (att. third)
25.7%
Territory conceded (median)
4.2mmean 6.0mp39
Secure
Post-recovery retention 5s
77.1%p82
Post-recovery retention 10s
64.3%p86
Immediate re-turnover
42.9%p91
Counterpress candidate rate
5.0%p77
Attack
Progression within 10s
23.6%p46
Final-third entry within 15s
16.4%p52
Box entry within 15s
8.6%p72
Shot within 15s
4.3%p40
How far the opponent got
@ Hibernian · after each Aberdeen turnover, the furthest the opponent reached before we won it back
38%got out at all · 0.7% managed a shot
62%
17%
14%
Contained61.762%
Moved 10m+4.34%
Crossed halfway1717%
Our final third14.214%
Our box2.12%
Shot0.71%
Time to recover
Recovery zone
What happened next
0 of 0 lost possessions shown
Compare
vs
58 games · 1.34 ppg
36 games · 1.44 ppg
9.5s
Median recovery time↓
9.4s
53.6%
Fast recovery rate (10s)
54.6%
31.5%
Fast recovery rate (5s)
32.7%
20.3s
Median time to control↓
18.9s
4.7m
Territory conceded (median)↓
3.3m
3.0%
Counterpress candidate rate
4.0%
59.7%
Post-recovery retention (10s)
51.7%
49.5%
Immediate re-turnover↓
56.3%
16.8%
Final third within 15s
17.0%
7.1%
Box entry within 15s
6.4%
5.2%
Shot within 15s
4.7%
Per game — which for a team is the same as per 90, since a team always plays the full match. Better value in green; ↓ lower is better; ~ style rather than quality, so neither value is marked — playing more long balls isn’t better or worse than playing fewer. Matches missing a metric are skipped rather than counted as zero, so a side with partial coverage isn’t dragged down — a dash means we hold no data for that side, not that the number is nil. Recovery-time metrics are the mean of each match's own figure, not a single pooled calc — a handful of very long unresolved recoveries can pull a mean higher than the median suggests, so read the median line as the more typical game.
7 matches · 2026–27 · data: WhoScored event data · updated 19 Sept 2026 · Recovery = any Aberdeen touch after a loss, timed to the second. Counterpress candidate = the stricter, StatsBomb-style definition (tackle/interception/recovery within 5s, opponent ≤2 touches) — not yet video-verified. · how the numbers work · glossary