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
53%-0.5
of lost possessions are back at an Aberdeen foot within 10 seconds
vs 54.0% in every other season · 9.8s to a first touch, but 20.2s to genuine control · 4.1m of ground given up
Secure
58%+1.3
of recoveries are still ours 10 seconds later
vs 57.1% in every other season · 51% are lost again inside 15s
Attack
6.7%+1.5
of recoveries produce a shot within 15 seconds
vs 5.1% in every other season · 19% reach the final third · 9% 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
St.
St.
Dun
Fal
2026–27 — Possession Recovery Profile
11 matches · p = percentile vs all 196 since 2021-22, higher is better
Recover
Median time to first touch
9.8sp36
Median time to control
20.2sp35
First touch within 5s
30.6%p35
First touch within 10s
53.5%p41
In control within 10s
34.6%p50
Recovery height (att. third)
25.1%
Territory conceded (median)
4.1mmean 7.9mp40
Secure
Post-recovery retention 5s
74.7%p67
Post-recovery retention 10s
58.4%p58
Immediate re-turnover
51.1%p53
Counterpress candidate rate
3.6%p48
Attack
Progression within 10s
28.2%p74
Final-third entry within 15s
18.6%p65
Box entry within 15s
8.8%p72
Shot within 15s
6.7%p71
How far the opponent got
2026–27 · after each Aberdeen turnover, the furthest the opponent reached before we won it back
36%got out at all · 2.0% managed a shot
64%
14%
12%
Contained64.464%
Moved 10m+5.15%
Crossed halfway14.114%
Our final third12.312%
Our box2.12%
Shot22%
Duels, and how the ball changes hands
2026–27 · 11 matches
49%+0.3
Aerial duels won
180 won · 178 lost
64%+4.3
Tackles won
120 won · 69 dribbled past
36%-4.2
Take-ons won
45 won · 83 lost
Change shown against every other tracked season.
How we get it back
9%
77%
Won a duel8.59%
Intercepted5.05%
Loose ball9.29%
Arrived from a mistake77.277%
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
78%
11%
10%
Misplaced pass77.778%
Bad touch10.811%
Beaten in a duel10.110%
Offside1.51%
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 · 97 in 7 | 19.57 | 46% | 54% | 4% | 3% | 0.201 | 1.78 |
Nesta Guinness-Walker DL · 196 in 11 | 18.53 | 46% | 59% | 6% | 26% | 0.107 | 0.74 |
Jack Milne Sub · 73 in 7 | 18.51 | 53% | 60% | 4% | 6% | 0.131 | 1.22 |
Chris Cadden DR · 189 in 11 | 18.06 | 46% | 52% | 4% | 37% | 0.071 | 0.64 |
Stuart Armstrong Sub · 116 in 11 | 17.06 | 68% | 50% | 14% | 47% | 0.269 | 0.45 |
Gavin Molloy DC · 104 in 8 | 16.80 | 43% | 55% | 7% | 13% | 0.080 | 0.93 |
Afeez Aremu DMC · 129 in 11 | 16.54 | 79% | 50% | 6% | 24% | 0.209 | 0.48 |
Lewis Mayo DC · 96 in 7 | 15.32 | 31% | 63% | 2% | 6% | 0.010 | 1.20 |
Mats Knoester DC · 81 in 6 | 15.06 | 43% | 69% | 4% | 4% | 0.154 | 1.06 |
Connor Ronan AMC · 72 in 8 | 11.93 | 79% | 40% | 10% | 38% | 0.104 | 0.27 |
Brad Lyons DMC · 53 in 4 | 11.72 | 68% | 59% | 4% | 30% | 0.089 | 0.32 |
Lewis Smith Sub · 55 in 9 | 11.70 | 75% | 76% | 15% | 58% | 0.143 | 0.16 |
Findlay Marshall Sub · 37 in 5 | 10.95 | 65% | 57% | 14% | 57% | 0.119 | 0.20 |
Marius Müller GK · 115 in 11 | 10.45 | 19% | 70% | 3% | 1% | 0.119 | 2.35 |
Ayoub Mouloua Sub · 35 in 10 | 8.20 | 94% | 69% | 11% | 46% | 0.051 | 0.19 |
Tony Yogane AML · 24 in 6 | 7.69 | 67% | 83% | 4% | 42% | 0.005 | 0.12 |
Toyosi Olusanya Sub · 34 in 9 | 4.94 | 85% | 68% | 15% | 65% | 0.033 | 0.10 |
Kevin Nisbet Sub · 31 in 10 | 3.07 | 71% | 58% | 23% | 39% | 0.030 | 0.15 |
This match
vs
vs Falkirk FC
28 Oct 2026 · 180 lost possessions · p = percentile vs all 196
Loss
Recover
Median time to first touch
8.0sp76
Median time to control
20.0sp39
First touch within 5s
37.8%p90
First touch within 10s
59.4%p83
In control within 10s
33.3%p43
Recovery height (att. third)
19.7%
Territory conceded (median)
3.5mmean 5.3mp54
Secure
Post-recovery retention 5s
69.7%p35
Post-recovery retention 10s
50.6%p19
Immediate re-turnover
64.0%p1
Counterpress candidate rate
3.3%p41
Attack
Progression within 10s
26.4%p66
Final-third entry within 15s
20.8%p82
Box entry within 15s
8.4%p69
Shot within 15s
7.3%p77
How far the opponent got
vs Falkirk FC · after each Aberdeen turnover, the furthest the opponent reached before we won it back
36%got out at all · 1.1% managed a shot
64%
21%
12%
Contained63.964%
Moved 10m+1.72%
Crossed halfway20.621%
Our final third12.212%
Our box0.61%
Shot1.11%
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.
11 matches · 2026–27 · data: WhoScored event data · data through 28 Oct 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