SUFC and Harvard link-up

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

whereas theres only average of 3 goals in most football matches

Are you sure it's not 2.93? Or 3.07? We need to know.

 

[Westran]

From what I can see, the data being harvested and looked into is much more than just who to look for in the next transfer window and how we increase the number of goals scored, 2 snippets stood out to me:

"There's records of the physical output and also tactical analysis on things like crosses and entries into the final third. What we want to do is get a big enough set of data to be able to say if we do 'this' physically, then it leads to 'that'. We should be at that stage within the next few months."

and

"Every single training session, measurements are taken on how far players run, the intensity of their sprints, their decelerations, a whole host of information is being gathered right now," he adds. "We're putting it all down on the spreadsheets and that, in turn, increases the bank of knowledge and information at our disposal.

"What, for example, would be our ideal week in terms of getting ready for a specific match or helping the players develop in general."

We have players wearing vests collecting a whole host of information in every training session, also players are likely to have to fill in their calorie intake. Having this data alongside data collected in scouting the opposition, we can not only look to increase individual performance of every player and units of players, but we can have tailored structure in our preperation for each game. And of course look to identify areeas we are going to need to recruit in.

 

[Blades Analytics]

Apart form holding my hand up waving and say pick pick pick me a couple of things to address on thread...

United currently use performance stats in recruitment & performance analysis. It happens on a daily basis both physical stats and performance metrics. Wilder alludes to it all the time in interviews without specifically saying what stats he's referring too. This isn't new every club the in championship have the exact same sources of data and video available to them. What's being proposed will not be final 3rd entries or the like, there's several sources of data that already record basic on the ball event data metrics like this. United and Wilder like and use Wyscout for example for opposition scouting and data analysis.

In terms of the use of Havard students this will be for the more obscure/predictive data types (like xG a few years back). The race is very much on to find the "next big metric" that can change the game, whether some like it on here or not i can tell you now xG has completley revolutionised clubs and the way performance analysis is conducted. I know this from bits of work i have done for clubs freelance. The other aspect of this is tracking data which is far too complicated for me but in essence you could freezframe any action a player makes, have every single player on the pitch in their positions at their second and analyse their choice of pass/shot to show if it added value to the move or not. Believe me this sounds sh**t but IT IS HAPPENING. Barcelona already have a method for trying this and it's where football is going.

Seen Moneyball banded around a little bit. Moneyball at it's core is the story of a method to find value where other's aren't. That's not particuarly saying we find low value young players and sell them on, someone mentioned Fleck and Duffy examples, that's a great example. The idea of statistics in that methodology is to find the players who on the face of it aren't spectacular and therefore available for less cost than their actual worth, this is where the more obscure, secret, predictive analytics comes in as per above.

I'm biased and probably boring! this a fans forum and i love some of the chat on here! but from a club perspective if anyone thinks stats and data aren't already here and being used every single day in very clever and different ways to help inform decisions then they are wrong

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Apart form holding my hand up waving and say pick pick pick me a couple of things to address on thread...

United currently use performance stats in recruitment & performance analysis. It happens on a daily basis both physical stats and performance metrics. Wilder alludes to it all the time in interviews without specifically saying what stats he's referring too. This isn't new every club the in championship have the exact same sources of data and video available to them. What's being proposed will not be final 3rd entries or the like, there's several sources of data that already record basic on the ball event data metrics like this. United and Wilder like and use Wyscout for example for opposition scouting and data analysis.

In terms of the use of Havard students this will be for the more obscure/predictive data types (like xG a few years back). The race is very much on to find the "next big metric" that can change the game, whether some like it on here or not i can tell you now xG has completley revolutionised clubs and the way performance analysis is conducted. I know this from bits of work i have done for clubs freelance. The other aspect of this is tracking data which is far too complicated for me but in essence you could freezframe any action a player makes, have every single player on the pitch in their positions at their second and analyse their choice of pass/shot to show if it added value to the move or not. Believe me this sounds sh**t but IT IS HAPPENING. Barcelona already have a method for trying this and it's where football is going.

Seen Moneyball banded around a little bit. Moneyball at it's core is the story of a method to find value where other's aren't. That's not particuarly saying we find low value young players and sell them on, someone mentioned Fleck and Duffy examples, that's a great example. The idea of statistics in that methodology is to find the players who on the face of it aren't spectacular and therefore available for less cost than their actual worth, this is where the more obscure, secret, predictive analytics comes in as per above.

I'm biased and probably boring! this a fans forum and i love some of the chat on here! but from a club perspective if anyone thinks stats and data aren't already here and being used every single day in very clever and different ways to help inform decisions then they are wrong

Please keep your contributions coming on here. The part of the article that made immediate sense to my untrained eye was the use of stats to help the transition from youth teams to senior squad, particularly in terms of fitness, physique, etc. Stats can be misused, but should not be ignored. And in this case the human angle must not be lost. I trust Wilder on that balance.

 

[Worksop II]

If Harvard are gonna use Analytics to improve performance, they should start on their own Football Team

Last won a National Championship in 1919 ......

 

[Bannerman]

Major Charles Emerson Winchester III of the 4077 M*A*S*H was a Harvard man.

Im in.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Moneyball at it's core is the story of a method to find value where other's aren't. That's not particuarly saying we find low value young players and sell them on, someone mentioned Fleck and Duffy examples, that's a great example. The idea of statistics in that methodology is to find the players who on the face of it aren't spectacular and therefore available for less cost than their actual worth

Indeed. One of the chief successes in the period Lewis looks at is with some of the older finds – ex Red Sox catcher Scott Hatteberg being converted to a first baseman for example. With Duffy we’ve in effect brought in a career winger and deployed him in a completely new role to what he’d done previously, one that we’re now struggling to find genuine competition for. To an extent we tried to do the same unsuccessfully with Holmes – another traditional winger. If there’s a way of using statistics more effectively to better use what precious resources the club has, I’m all for it.