Read This article it is very worrying what is happening at our club with this analyst It's an article by Sam Wallace http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...pproach-in-hope-of-returning-to-big-time.html part of the article: Madl’s performances have scored highly in an analytical model devised by an influential figure at the club, the director of statistical recruitment, Craig Kline, an American analyst brought in by Tony Khan, the son of the club’s billionaire American owner Shahid Khan. He has devised his own statistical model in which all potential signings are assigned a “target rating” purely on the basis of the data provided by Opta to the club on around 30 different leagues. Kline has been unwilling to share the formula behind his rating, although his model does not involve watching games himself. He is a numbers man. I think what I said in jest has actually happened someone who makes judgments like on computer games has a big influence on our team.
I haven't read the article and although I feel the manager must has the final decision on who he wants/like I don't have an issue with going all data statistics based, Brentford have done it to quite frankly amazing effect, the other team I know doing it is the small village team of Forest Green who are close to being promoted to the football league, Sam Allardyce has always admitted to being a big user of the opts stats to look at potential signings. If the manager feels he needs a right back who gets forwards, puts crosses in and has lots of pace and work rate.. What's the issue of using the stats to help narrow it down? The bonus of using the stats is you can see a players performance over long periods whereas if scout him by just eyes over a month you may be watching him in the middle of a purple patch. For me in this day and age when you can measure everything from ground covered to tackles made and successful passes I have no issue with this approach AS LONG AS once you think you have found a player the manager takes over scouts him and makes the final decision, stats can tell you a lot but not everything!
Agree with much of what you saying Cookie. And continuing on Allardyce as a good example (I mentioned in the parallel thread to this one about reading his book and being impressed), he did an awful lot more that use stats just for signing players. Sometime around November/December either SurlyC or silkship posted about a guy who introduced analytics to soccer in the USA. Can’t find the post or remember the chaps name I’m afraid. However what I do recall from reading his autobiography was that Allardyce first discovered the advantages of statistics as a player, when he spent a year in the United States playing for the Tampa Bay Rowdies in 1983 and from that very same person. Allardyce was then among the first to use analytics as manager - at Bolton in 2000, what he called his ‘stats-centred methodology’. The key though, was that Big Sam used them to help him win matches. Sure stats on a player’s fitness was a part of that but the Allardyce approach was holistic in the sense that he combined football information and player information to see how best he could foil/get one over on the opposition. The article in this link explains some of that in more detail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...eveals-life-Hammers-numbers-game-Big-Sam.html As you’ll see from that Allardyce teamed himself up with three others; each with different but relevant experience – his own was as a player. When Slavi joined us he brought his own match analyst, Alberto Escobar. On paper at least there’s no reason why Craig Kline, with his player performance stats analysis, can’t fit in and form our very own ‘Gang of Three’. Proof of the pudding whether they’re all on the same page will of of course be our results – which as I’ve already said was all that Big Sam was interested in.
If you take the stats that we are feed from our own web site that show during most games we have had the majority of possession (sometimes 60+%) and our accurate passing has a lot of times been over 75%, it would equate that our players who create these stats should be very high up in any Analysts methodology of a player they should be buying for their club. Subsequently Fulham should be putting a the selling price of these players up and make them sign long contracts. If you just looked at just the stats you'd think the likes of Barcelona and top Premier teams would be looking at all our players. But we know in reality the possession we have is controlling the ball and keeping possession across the back in our own half with out any pressure from opposition who have fallen back into defense. For instance our stats against Wolves was 66.6% Possession - 84% Passing Accuracy - 9 Shots 2 on Target (Wolves 33.3% - 66% - 12- 3). My own eyes told me that Wolves were more of a threat during the game than us, yet if I hadn't seen the game and went on the stats the conclusion might be that we were the dominant team. So perceptions of just using stats to find players that are playing in totally different European leagues, and who's team mates could be the cause of them having good stats could be very precarious. Stats have their place in football but lets hope that because Tony Khan Craig Kline have this background that they do not take over and dominate our club, as the statisticians I've meet are so convicted to their methods, that their passion sometimes is to the detriment of the argument, in this case it will be our club.
Well 'Stato' Kline's time here didn't last long or end well. According to the latest story by Sam Wallace he has packed his bags and is off back home - "Fulham’s American data analyst Craig Kline has been sent back to the United States, with his drive to put the Championship club on the road to an analytics-based transfer policy appearing to be over for now. Telegraph Sport understands that the American law graduate, who was given the title “director of statistical research”, was told on Wednesday that he would no longer be working at the club’s Motspur Park training ground." Link to full story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...analyst-Craig-Kline-sent-back-to-the-USA.html It was kind of noticeable that while Tony Khan had plenty to say on twitter about Michael Madl's signing he was completely silent about all the business transacted on Deadline Day.
