Friday, November 22, 2024

How To Win the Premier League

 


A fascinating read that explains to the reader the intricacies between football analytics. This is the book I have been looking for ever since coming across Moneyball, which revolutionized analytics in the sport of baseball.

The book uses a romantic story of how Liverpool used analytics to capture undervalued signings of Salah and Firmino to sell itself, but actually goes far beyond that, breaking down the use of stats throughout the field.

For starters, it delves into how analytics is used to break down the probabilities of goal scoring in different situations throughout the pitch. This alone would already be quite interesting, but stats can be used in all areas, and is extended to study player quality, value for money, tactics, off-the-ball movement and to top it off, managerial influence.

Stats are also used to study club finances, and finally the illustration of the wrong use of stats, which is an ever present danger of people looking to extract insight but end up going down the wrong alley.

The writer also issues a warning against individuals looking to beat the bookie, since the bookie has more resources than us. This is something i can attest to from personal experience as well.

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