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An interesting piece on the BBC with regards to technology and how its not only shaping the game now but in the future too . As top level elite athletes have now reached there capacity in terms of speed and strength of course the only way to go is AI
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56164159
I keep asking myself will the game get better with such tools at clubs disposal ?
I think it depends what you class as a better game.Originally Posted by MOZZER2
More technical, fitter and faster players then yes the game is better.
But that means players that are less in touch and accessible to the fan base.
I'd rather the latter as people loved football before they became super athletes.
Without knowing for sure I would predict that the AI would disagree with us giving Bamba his last contract or, potentially, giving Bennett an extension this summer but there is a good chance each move will be beneficial overall as i) it keeps these individuals happy and wanting to contribute to our success even if it's in off the field role and ii) it lets potential new signings know we look after players - Moore indicated he could have got more money elsewhere (will always be true) but he wanted to play for us and now we have our best striker in 10+ years. Moore's example may be more to do with him flourishing at CCS but future players could (should) be looking at how they'll be treated on human level as stats become more and more dominant.
Part B: I'd also predict that Josh Stone's stats last year would be negative and describe him as a player to let go but an inventive and confident manager now has him as CB in his dominant team.
Luton seem to be going for balance between traditional scouting and AI which I agree with, but it's still all about finding the advantage where you can, being confident in your strategy, and minimising any disadvantage. That's what made Allardyce's Bolton relatively successful (am sure there are earlier and better examples) and it hasn't really changed.
Even the most data-driven clubs still rely heavily on the "eye test" i.e. traditional scouting. But it is clear that clubs can get an advantage if they use data well. It doesn't guarantee that every decision is a good one, but we are approaching the point (as happened with american sports) that if you aren't doing it then you are going to be left behind.
Basketball is a great example, they are years ahead of football in the adoption of analytics, and they had exactly the same objections. Legend former pros were wheeledout every week to rubbish the use of data and say that it can never match traditional scouting, but over the years those voices have gradually disappeared - the argument is effectively won.
In football we aren't far off that either - Jim White had a big rant against the use of stats the other day - but he's hardly one of the brightest and best in the game - whereas the likes of Jack Grealish can talk about expected assists as thought it is second nature.
In basketball you can clearly see the effect of data on charts like this:
laort964ty451.jpg
mid range shots are becoming rarer and rarer as they just aren't as efficient. Clubs who caught onto this early had an advantage until everyone else caught up - now if you aren't paying attention to this then you'd be putting yourself at disadvantage compared to everyone else.
I'd say in the case of John Stones, his stats have always been very good, but the use of data has allowed man city to build a system that makes the most out of their players strengths.
I'd say the data would certainly have suggested that offering a 34 year old who was in the middle of recovering from a cruciate ligament injury an extra year might not have been that sensible.
Bamba has been a great player for us but that last contract extension seemed like a bad idea at the time. as it has turned out we've paid him probably upwards of a million quid for a total of 24 minutes of league football
Will use this one to respond to both.
I don't disagree with anything you say - well, apart from Stones' stats last year which I still predict wouldn't have been that good and needed a manager/coaches to see beyond that - but my point was that AI is not the only way to improve a club going forward. In fact I would say that it getting an article on the BBC suggests AI is already old news and the next steps are i) perfecting it - football is still behind other sports and ii) identifying next gap to be filled in order to gain advantage.
Minimse disadvantage: We need to take AI seriously otherwise we'll be left behind by Arsenal having a team of 15 looking a it and other clubs at this level getting on board.
Maximise advantage: if we gain reputation as side in the league with the best "soft skills" then maybe we have tapped into something others haven't thought about too much yet. MM talked about bring smiles back to players and fans, and we know happy players usually play closer to their potential than miserable players. Do football clubs offer/recommend paternity leave for example? Can we introduce that to our club?
But I'm sure smart clubs have already started to identify other ways a club can improve as well as AI. Graham Potter is someone I'd say has an interest in analytics but he first became recognised here for work at Östersund for getting players involved in community work to improve confidence/get them working outside comfort zone etc...
I would have thought that an extra year on his contract was the least he could expect at the time, bearing in mind what he did for us and that he did his ACL playing here, He therefore deserved the time to recover, rather than just cutting him adrift. The club also are interested in him coaching here, so keeping him here was the sensible thing to do, as he was doing his badges. You have no idea what the terms he was given were anyway and are speculating about how much it cost. Without his cancer diagnosis last autumn he could have played this season as well.
on this topic, I noticed today that Preston have poached a recruitment analyst from Barnsley to head up their recruitment process.
Barnsley have certainly been doing some good things on a limited budget recently
We've all watched 'Moneyball', surely?
If this date-method isn't being applied to football, you have to wonder why.
I'm sure a lot of clubs use something similar already.
Great film which everyone should watch before commenting on this thread. I can see how it would fit in football.
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