Benrahma and Watkins look far too good for the Championship. I think both of them would have no problems thriving in the Prem. Hadn't watched much of Mbuemo, and he's been quite wasteful today/looked short of confidence. But I googled him and saw that he's 20 years old, signed from the French second division at the start of this season and has 16 goals in 45 games this season - not bad at all. Would be interesting to see how they all develop.
Yeah the whole BMW have been unreal this season, Brentford's scouting network is brilliant. Allows them to massively punch above their weight. The guys on here will tell you I've wanted Watkins at Spurs ever since his Exeter days, just run a search on our transfer threads for posts me by and the word 'Watkins' and you'll likely see how obsessed I've been . I keep an eye on Exeter due to having family in East Devon, was obvious back then he was destined for bigger things. He's one of those players with zero weaknesses; right foot, left foot, good header, physically strong, bit pacey, skilful, ability to shoot from range and versatile too, this is his first season as a proper centre forward too, often played just off the striker on cutting inside from the wing.
One thing that I've noticed about Watkins is his work-rate. He's pressing from the front, getting back to defend and win the ball back when his team are out of possession. If you want to do well in the top flight, work off the ball is so important. Also, I hate to break it to you, DH, but seems like he's a boyhood Arsenal fan... If Lacazette leaves this Summer, I absolutely wouldn't turn my nose up at this fella.
Such a stupid time to try a flamboyant flick by Jansson. They've been so comfortable and he goes and does that. He's made life unnecessarily difficult for Brentford.
Swansea put together a decent passing move but Rhian Brewster opts to shoot low from the edge of the box, straight at David Raya. His team-mates are suggesting he had better options either side of him. I think you mean "He's brilliant, he's going to score 206 goals when he gets a chance in Norbert's side next season"...
Everyone makes mistakes I guess, lol. He definitely won't be short of options though that's for sure should Brentford fail to come up.
FT. Brentford are off to the play-off final against either Cardiff or Fulham. Thoroughly deserved. Whoever wins in that other game is irrelevant to me. Really want Brentford to get promoted. Fulham have been in and around the Prem for many years, but for Brentford, it's been 70+ years. Will make a nice change to have them in here. And I really like what their manager has done. Good group of players too.
I don't think they do it by scouting....they do it by science. Looking for proper stats that tell you which clubs are outperforming and which of their players is responsible. See https://www.google.com/amp/s/talksp...rtest-club-championship-leicester-fa-cup/amp/ It is nice to see the usual bullshit being ignored and the results improving. No rubbish there about the manager needing to choose his own players....you just put in a system that gets him the best players available for the budget and let him coach.
Was a good read, I think it sound likes they mix it all together to get the perfect combination. "It's not that data tells you who to pick, data can tell you where to look" would imply to me that their stats/ data system points them in the right direction and then from there on it's more down to the human side (scouting assessment/ manager/ coach analysis) to make the final decision on any potential signings.
Probably correct. But you only scout players if the data tells you to. That eliminates a lot of dross and observer bias early on in the process. The owner has a physics degree from Oxford and is simply using scientific processes that he has applied in other areas.
From my understanding of modern scouting that’s exactly it - the stats create the shortlist, say a top 10 players on certain metrics, then it’s the ‘eye test’ to decide who actually gets the nod.
I suspect that at Brentford they usually agree the stats outcome in the eye test though. They wouldn't let a human who has watched a player 10 times or fewer overule stats on 100 or more games without really testing the logic.
It's Damien Comolli's method. It's not bad as a basis for scouting, but it shouldn't be the whole product.
