Evil Number Wizards Taking the Fun Out of the Game

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As I always say, football is played on grass, not paper. There is nothing a stat can tell you that just watching a player can't indicate better.

''There are lies, damned lies and statistics.''
 
SchmoodSpur said:
As I always say, football is played on grass, not paper. There is nothing a stat can tell you that just watching a player can't indicate better.

''There are lies, damned lies and statistics.''
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You can't watch every minute someone plays though, while you can, with numbers, see the trends that stand out.

Watching highlight videos led United to think Falcao was still decent. The numbers warned he was going to be a very, very expensive bust.
 
Juicy Sushi said:
You can't watch every minute someone plays though, while you can, with numbers, see the trends that stand out.

Watching highlight videos led United to think Falcao was still decent. The numbers warned he was going to be a very, very expensive bust.
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On the other side of the coin, they can be equally misleading. Xavi in his prime wouldn't be in the top 20 for goals or assists. Neither would Modric now. But they're still the best CM's of their respective periods.
 
SchmoodSpur said:
On the other side of the coin, they can be equally misleading. Xavi in his prime wouldn't be in the top 20 for goals or assists. Neither would Modric now. But they're still the best CM's of their respective periods.
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They are always the guy behind the guy, the guy who lays it on for the assister, a nightmare in fantasy footy basically get you nothing, like Carrick too in his way, run the game get no points
 
SchmoodSpur said:
On the other side of the coin, they can be equally misleading. Xavi in his prime wouldn't be in the top 20 for goals or assists. Neither would Modric now. But they're still the best CM's of their respective periods.
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But no one in their right mind measures a CM by goals or assists. The kind of analytics done by clubs and specialists goes a hell of a long way beyond that kind of stuff.

Here's a really good video on what analysis gets done on CMs:

 
Burko said:
This is where you need to go for this kind of thing.

MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference | Annual conference on sports analytics organized by the MIT Sloan School of Management

Daryl Morey has been a big supporter of stat-based recruitment.
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Opta/Prozone also have a ton of stuff.

What's great for us (Spurs) is that all of the scouting hires in recent months were guys considered as industry leaders at this stuff, within football. It'll take a while to see all the effects, but it gives us a very good pool of talent to take advantage. Especially compared to the talent levels of other clubs with the same amount of money as us.
 
I have to say I do like reading about players development but it could be because its Friday but...

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Gnutmi said:
What is so unbelievable about using statistics in football. The German national team used stats for the world cup. They even built a million dollar training facility in Brazil and used stats provided by 3 German universities. They admitted it. Do people really think that decisions are made by just watching replays and then giving an opinion? This is a billion dollar industry. If a tool gives a 0.1% improvement that is still a shittonne of money. All they teams in the PL use statistical analysis. City has 11 of these guys. Liverpool has a position called director of research...
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Thank fuck Liverpool have that director of research or they'd be really fucked
 
I gather there's a few stat freaks on here. I mean that in the most positive way possible :dierpochhug:

You guys have messed me up and have me looking at stats. I'll freely admit, I haven't gone that deeply into it yet, so I might be missing a point somewhere. One thing, that struck me immidiately with xG based on shots is that - although it rates shot opportunities in a number of way - it doesn't seem to factor in that better teams has better strikers. I didn't think, it was that big a factor in the grand scheme until I stumbled across this: Joining a superteam like Real Madrid and Barcelona doesn’t guarantee individual success

Long story short: Does anyone know if the above article has been taken a step further, where someone has calculated the correlation/dependency between a team's overall attacking strength and xG?
 
Kafkaesque said:
I gather there's a few stat freaks on here. I mean that in the most positive way possible :dierpochhug:

You guys have messed me up and have me looking at stats. I'll freely admit, I haven't gone that deeply into it yet, so I might be missing a point somewhere. One thing, that struck me immidiately with xG based on shots is that - although it rates shot opportunities in a number of way - it doesn't seem to factor in that better teams has better strikers. I didn't think, it was that big a factor in the grand scheme until I stumbled across this: Joining a superteam like Real Madrid and Barcelona doesn’t guarantee individual success

Long story short: Does anyone know if the above article has been taken a step further, where someone has calculated the correlation/dependency between a team's overall attacking strength and xG?
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Evil Number Wizards Taking the Fun Out of the Game
 
YidoBuckler said:
Stats play a part but what I can't stand is when its seen as the only method of viewing a player or when its rammed down your throat that 'player X' has assisted 15 goals in 20 games, therefore he must be brilliant, without even really watching games.

For example, the assist could be a 5 yard pass in his own half before a player takes the ball 60 yards and smashes it in the top corner.

Use stats by all means, but don't rely on them solely to judge a player.
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I used to love those little meme's that woolwich fans punted telling us walcott was better than bale.
 
Eskimo said:
I used to love those little meme's that woolwich fans punted telling us walcott was better than bale.
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Obviously Lowe believed them too as he let us by back Bale's 25% sell on clause, but kept Theo's intact.
That's what pisses me about Saints fans accusing us of being con men.
Bale was deemed to be a flop left back at the time, that's what they forget.
Theo, well he was the future son of English football wasn't he.
 
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