This fell somewhere between Soccernomics and one of Michael Calvin's books, as Biermann explored the metrics that are now being used to analyse football, but also gained access to people at the vanguard of using them.

Football Hackers : The Science and Art of a Data Revolution Football Hackers : The Science and Art of a Data Revolution

Really interesting idea is that of Ghosting - a game is played and based on the data feed into the computer previously - the computer offers an ideal route for the player to take in that situation. So for a defender to either close down the opposition or stay put on the 16m area line. And you can see live the difference between the two. Same can be applied to refereeing if we know from which positions referees make the best calls - so with ghosting we could teach referees where to position. How can the contribution of a player who acts like a ‘glue’, in the words of their manager, be measured – someone who brings the whole team together in inexplicable ways? How can humility and industriousness be calculated? But it would be absurd, in this day and age, to look for players without the use of digital pre-sorting facilities.The first of the list I read and probably the one that inspired me to decide and change my major in college. It is a somewhat light book on the analysis side, however it does cover some concepts with examples to a certain extent. The great thing about this book is that it is more than anything motivational. It tells the stories of people who work or have worked in this amazing field and tells us about their ups and downs. If you, as I was, are dubious about wether you like or not Spot Analytics or whether you would like working on this field, I highly recommend giving this book a read. It’s very short, written in a friendly way and full of real life examples of the field. Christoph Biermann has moved in the midst of these disruptive upheavals, talking to scientists, coaches, managers, scouts and psychologists in the world's major clubs, traveling across Europe and the US and revealing the hidden - and often jaw-dropping - truths behind the beautiful game. One of the main flaws was in David Sumpter’s use of behaviours in the natural world amongst organisms in comparison to players on a football field. For example, how animals or insects might congregate together and how this could be read across to the soccer pitch. Prior to the modern era of ubiquitous digital footage of thousands of games and the availability of cheap computing power coming up with better football statistics has not been possible. Charles Reep's simplistic counting of passes being the best known failed example. But today with annotations available for thousands of games a year being done more sophisticated analysis has become possible.

Football Hackers BY Christoph Biermann - Yumpu DOWNLOAD Free PDF Football Hackers BY Christoph Biermann - Yumpu

The future of football will pivot on those who can masterfully balance and interpret both these elements. Final lap of the gruelling lactate test 👟👟👟 @JamesMilner 🆚 @J_Gomez97— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 6, 2019 Over the last couple of decades, statistics has gradually assumed greater importance within the footballing world.

Yet that very scenario faced Ottmar Hitzfeld throughout his stint at Borussia Dortmund between 1991 and 1997. During that timeframe, BVB reached the Uefa Cup [a forerunner of the Europa League] three times, twice competed in the Champions League and won the competition in 1997. Using 21 st Club’s tool – which calculates the historical link between a player’s on pitch actions alongside overall team performance level and subsequently assigning an overall rating – a player who was earning 25% less than the average player on the client’s shortlist and who was better than all but one on the said shortlist, was identified. Introduced a new perspective on the importance of narratives, both human and data-driven, in shaping the football world.

Summer books of 2019: Sports | Financial Times Summer books of 2019: Sports | Financial Times

Yet despite its ever-growing importance in football, the majority of casual fans still don’t fully understand what the expected goals term is, or when to apply it correctly when analysing a player’s performance. Much has been written about the game’s propensity for short-termism; a change of manager has mostly very little lasting impact.In my view, use of such data is an aid to judgement and not a replacement for it. And interestingly that's how Borussia Dortmund used it under Klopp. I wholeheartedly agree with Biermann. Data tells a story. But it is not THE story. It's another tool in the belt.