Conclusions from Bolton

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Blades Analytics

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Only connection i could think of worth noting, appreciate they see this as a big game due to League 1 rivalry but quite frankly we surpassed them along time ago
 
Welcome to the forum Blades Analytics

Really enjoy reading your tweets and I forced myself to watch the Alan Partridge show as you were on it. Thought you came across very well and impressed with the detail. Since followed this up by reading your post on Up the Blades and listening to the Blades Pod.

Will have a look at this this afternoon
 
SwissBlade said:
Welcome to the forum Blades Analytics

Really enjoy reading your tweets and I forced myself to watch the Alan Partridge show as you were on it. Thought you came across very well and impressed with the detail. Since followed this up by reading your post on Up the Blades and listening to the Blades Pod.

Will have a look at this this afternoon
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Cheers mate! appreciate the words! hope you enjoy will be recording a new pod this afternoon as well!
 
Amazing stuff, brings a whole new dimension to match reports. Quick query, are you aware how many other clubs do and utilise this, and is there any danger of it being used against us ?
 
blademark said:
Amazing stuff, brings a whole new dimension to match reports. Quick query, are you aware how many other clubs do and utilise this, and is there any danger of it being used against us ?
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All clubs will produce this. I worked at some clubs while at university many years ago and they were doing this then. Each Championship team have a team of performance analysts so i'm probably broaching nothing too new here just more to try and engage us fans in why things went well...or badly but more well at the minute
 
Blades Analytics said:
Afternoon S2

First post in here so please be gentle as no doubt there will be some strong views on the kind of stuff i produce! However if you do have an interest then here is my analysis from Clayton Donaldson Derby:

https://www.uptheblades.com/latest-articles/2018/8/28/conclusions-from-bolton-0-3-blades

Any thoughts or feedback appreciated as always, which is a horrific setup for some comments but i'll risk it!
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Quality content. Blades-centric football nerdery is always going to be a winner for me. You may even convert me into an #endadefenda one of these days...

Be interested to hear how you thought Leon got on before he came off on Saturday.
 

Blades Analytics said:
Afternoon S2

First post in here so please be gentle as no doubt there will be some strong views on the kind of stuff i produce! However if you do have an interest then here is my analysis from Clayton Donaldson Derby:

https://www.uptheblades.com/latest-articles/2018/8/28/conclusions-from-bolton-0-3-blades

Any thoughts or feedback appreciated as always, which is a horrific setup for some comments but i'll risk it!
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Great article. Love the podcasts. I've been listening since Beans was a solo artist ;)
There was just one problem with the new website, you didn't answer my question about the "Freeman vs Baldock" article.
That's ok because I can badger you about stuff on here now instead :)
 
Eric Cartman said:
Blades Analytics are you employed by the club or consulted on any basis, I might have missed it if so? Or is it entirely a hobby?
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At the moment I am not its a part time hobby. I do some profiling for various agencies of their players when they are trying to sell them to other clubs and also help out with some analysis at a non league club local to me. Hopefully one day something united related!
 
Fantastic stuff - love it!

One thing that I'm sure you're aware of is that the 'average' positions map doesn't really tell us a lot about the actual shape. You mention that we look very centralised, "packing the middle of the pitch". However, the nature of 'average' doesn't necessarily mean that it's the most common area. If Sharp spent 50% of the time hugging the right touchline and 50% hugging the left touchline, his 'average' position would be right down the centre, but that wouldn't reflect what actually happened. Likewise, a striker who comes back to defend corners and free kicks will appear to be playing a bit deeper than the other striker. In your diagram, it looks as thought Clarke, Sharp and Duffy were all in roughly the same area but, in reality, they were constantly pulling the Bolton defence into all sorts of areas, dragging them out wide to create space for others.

Another question: I'm aware that most clubs do this sort of thing routinely (and you say you've been doing it for a few whilst at university). Do you think (or know?) that there are any old school managers still out there who completely disregard this sort of stuff?
 
Sothall_Blade said:
Great article. Love the podcasts. I've been listening since Beans was a solo artist ;)
There was just one problem with the new website, you didn't answer my question about the "Freeman vs Baldock" article.
That's ok because I can badger you about stuff on here now instead :)
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Haha Beans did a great Job on his solo I used to love them myself! Happy to oblige any badgering.....on stats anyway
 
Blades Analytics said:
All clubs will produce this. I worked at some clubs while at university many years ago and they were doing this then. Each Championship team have a team of performance analysts so i'm probably broaching nothing too new here just more to try and engage us fans in why things went well...or badly but more well at the minute
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Very true. I know someone who was involved early on with Opta Sports, when they started to produce stuff for Sky and the PL they were already doing analytics for most major clubs.
 
Ots
Geordie Blade said:
Fantastic stuff - love it!

One thing that I'm sure you're aware of is that the 'average' positions map doesn't really tell us a lot about the actual shape. You mention that we look very centralised, "packing the middle of the pitch". However, the nature of 'average' doesn't necessarily mean that it's the most common area. If Sharp spent 50% of the time hugging the right touchline and 50% hugging the left touchline, his 'average' position would be right down the centre, but that wouldn't reflect what actually happened. Likewise, a striker who comes back to defend corners and free kicks will appear to be playing a bit deeper than the other striker. In your diagram, it looks as thought Clarke, Sharp and Duffy were all in roughly the same area but, in reality, they were constantly pulling the Bolton defence into all sorts of areas, dragging them out wide to create space for others.

Another question: I'm aware that most clubs do this sort of thing routinely (and you say you've been doing it for a few whilst at university). Do you think (or know?) that there are any old school managers still out there who completely disregard this sort of stuff?
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Its a fantastic point you raise and your quite correct. In terms of a players actual movements I can track them by action location so I can see where they produce most of their action's and heat maps show all ground covered and raise awareness of main areas covered but you're right, none of these can show exactly what happened. Reason for that is simple really, football is behind the curve on tracking data. Especially in the public sense. Until then we have to just use what we have to best illustrate our points but excellent pickup mate.

In terms of managers, I have good friends analysing clubs in full knowledge the manager isn't that interested but coaches are and training is tailored to that effect. In this day and age if you don't use analysis you're behind the curve immediately
 

Cheers for this, as someone who tries to look past the obvious numbers for a hobby (albeit in a different sport) it's always great to see specific Blades-related analysis like this
 
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