Expected Goals: The story of how data conquered football and changed the game forever

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One noteworthy assertion that Tippett makes is that ‘clinicalness’ is arguably a myth, as an ability to convert a shot does not vary greatly between professional soccer players. However, how clubs work with all the "newly" available data is so well kept secrets that it wasn't really a theme in the book. The authors failed in this task to the extent that they never even defined the expected goals model from which the book derives its title. Its/meaning resistance is explained by the fact that data comes along and it’s a different way of interpreting football. Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2022Football has always measured success by what you win, but only in the last twenty years have clubs started to think about how you win.

Smith believes Liverpool’s triumphs under Klopp were crucial to data being more widely accepted in football. The problem though is there is no central club and character in Oakland and Billy Beane respectively to really make it as effective a book as MoneyBall.Alongside this fact is that baseball had records going back many years before Beane and his merry band of analysts hit upon the OBP (On Base Percentage) importance. After seven seasons at Anfield, the Brazilian is set to depart for free in the summer, though his overall worth to the club in that time has been extremely good value for money.

I have left a few souls exasperated when they tried to use data to try to convince me that CR7 is the goat. Clubs did things because that is what they had always done, and even owners new to the game seemed to allow themselves to be shaped by that herd mentality.By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. Anyone looking at reading this would be much better served by Ryan O'Hanlon's Net Gains which engages with the field as a whole and doesn't take the story told by clubs as gospel. As a data scientist, math, numbers, algorithms, and the hidden patterns woven in data, have pretty much guided my understanding of the world around me and given me a fulfilling, comfortable career. This felt very much like a book trying to prove that data has indeed 'conquered football and changed the game forever', yet not really managing to convince with a clearcut case study that proves it beyond doubt. Neuware - Football has always measured success by what you win, but only in the last twenty years have clubs started to think about how you win.

One area it is easy to see the evolution is through the types of signings we are seeing coming into the Scottish game now with a slew of foreign players being signed presumably off the back of data trends which link in with the type of player being sought who would be available for a fraction of the cost of a Scottish or English counterpart. This book indirectly makes sense of that decision and a few other things that have happened at the club as they have sought to integrate data analysis into their decision making and transfer policy.

He adds that “it has this exclusionary language and this vaguely excluding, intimidating academic air.