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Phil Chapple - From Frying Pan to Fire

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/fulham/12131412/Forget-Moneyball-Fulham-are-taking-Football-Manager-approach-in-hope-of-returning-to-big-time.html

Looks like Phil Chapple has escaped from one set of laptop wankers only to wind up stuck with another one!

While I believe their is a place for statistical analysis in player recruitment, some owners seem to be overly sold on it these days.

Comments

  • Will be interesting to see how this pans out
  • Using data is probably a great way of lining up some potential targets for scouting, providing the person analysing the data is briefed on what type of player a manager is looking for. I'm all for using technology to assist with making decisions, but I don't think you should be letting the technology make decisions for you.

    This 100%

    The stats should alert the scouting team, who in turn go and watch the player, who then make the decision
  • Using data is probably a great way of lining up some potential targets for scouting, providing the person analysing the data is briefed on what type of player a manager is looking for. I'm all for using technology to assist with making decisions, but I don't think you should be letting the technology make decisions for you.

    "Computer says no..."
  • A Player's stats and the comments on a fans' website is probably a good indicator of a whether a player is worth looking at or not but nothing will beat being at a match and watching him play a few games
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  • It only makes sense if you are comparing like with like, clearly the Championship is the standard of the top flight in Belgium, Holland probably most of France.
  • There are conflicting views on why Fulham did not re-sign midfielder Steve Sidwell, a former player, on loan this month. Sidwell ended up at Brighton although sources have told Telegraph Sport that a deal to take him to Fulham had been agreed but was subsequently abandoned when the 33-year-old did not score highly enough on Kline’s statistical model.
    Weird. And has been said before, it's tough to compare the pace and toughness, together with the sheer desperation, of the Championship with anywhere else; there's no other second tier like it. (The nearest would be Germany, I guess, but Bundesliga 2 isn't an economic basketcase.)
  • When I worked for a massive US sports broadcaster there were some in the USA who genuinely believed this kind of statistical approach was the be all and end all. I once argued that it was not that simple to predict matches, for example, by this means as it could not take into things such as the impact of a dodgy curry or a row with a girlfriend etc. We were told, as fact, this did not matter. A lot of money was poured into the system and the man who ran it. Amazingly, it didn't work and was quietly binned.
  • As people are saying, statistics only tell part of the story.

    Surely every manager wants to build a team - comprising players who support and bring the best out of each other, together capable of achieving or at least being competitive in their league.

    No computer analysis is able to reveal how a bunch of very different personalities can blend together.
    And that performances are confidence driven.


  • Stats can play a part, but the more open play there is, the less they really tell you. Baseball is full of advanced stats, but that's because it's essentially a one-on-one situational sport. Pitcher vs. batter. There's a lot that can be found in the stats about players tendencies in certain situations.

    It really doesn't tell you as much in open play situations. There are just too many variables. So it is useful to identify players to scout, but until you see them play, you really don't know anything.
  • I wonder what Matthew le tissier's stats would look like
  • In cricket, players like Vaughan and Trescothick would never have been picked for England based on their county stats, but were picked by Duncan Fletcher because he looked at them and sense they could step up to international game.

    That's not something that a laptop can pick up.
  • I reckon this will become a bigger issue as more 'non-football' people become team owners. In their real-life businesses they want to see hard, quantifiable data before they invest. They are not prepared to go on, as they perceive it, the 'hunch' of a scout.
  • shirty5 said:

    A decent book on this subject by Michael Calvin.

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Nowhere-Men-Michael-Calvin/dp/0099580268

    Yes, it's quite a balanced account. I can understand owners wanting to bring some science into the process, but a good scout to me is still worth his weight in gold.
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  • Agree with most of what's been said. What surprises me most on these scientific recruitment strategies is that no one seems to bother building up a psychological profile of the players. Whether that be by the old fashioned meeting the player a few times, talking with trusted and wide group of people in the game on his character or just a fucking simple psychological profile. Sure things go wrong, but at least making sure the individual has the character to battle when you're not at a club that can give you everything.

    We lucked out on not getting Delort, but no one seems to have picked up on his difficult and quick to quit attitude.

    You have to say that the club's organisation under Powell and Chapple signed many players who looked and were able to perform in difficult circumstances. Shame they didn't get much money at all in the champ.

    With regards to American sports you get the frequent option to release and trade players. Where contracts are shorter or where they can be cancelled quickly, statistical analysis can provide a basis for a decent strategy, but it's a strategy within a pyramid that is directly comparable in terms of performance parameters: It's one league where they must perform, they may get on the practice squad from Japan but they'll only get a short chance in the big leagues if at all.

  • Should just start rumours about potential targets leaving and then check the selling club's forums.

    If there's a lot of ffs and caps lock ranting then he's the next Scott Parker so sign him up. If they're in fits of laughter at the prospect of another mug club taking him on then he's probably the next Ali Dia so best not to proceed.

    (Joking....please don't implement this Katrien)
  • Fulham's latest manager, Jokanovic, doesn't seem too enamoured with the club's recruitment policy and the role of this American data analyst, Kline. Apparently the latter was introduced by the son of the American owner.

    This is clearly not going to end well.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37145459
  • Blucher said:

    Fulham's latest manager, Jokanovic, doesn't seem too enamoured with the club's recruitment policy and the role of this American data analyst, Kline. Apparently the latter was introduced by the son of the American owner.

    This is clearly not going to end well.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37145459

    I wonder how Phil Chapple fits in with this laptop analyst...
  • Blucher said:

    Fulham's latest manager, Jokanovic, doesn't seem too enamoured with the club's recruitment policy and the role of this American data analyst, Kline. Apparently the latter was introduced by the son of the American owner.

    This is clearly not going to end well.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37145459

    I wonder how Phil Chapple fits in with this laptop analyst...
    As the man said at the top of the thread, out of the frying pan, into the fire. It can't be much fun for Phil working under that regime.

    At least Brentford had the sense to modify their approach last season. If Fulham fail to do so, they could find themselves in trouble, especially now they've lost their two best strikers from last season.
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