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The most startling revelation of the week emerged from Brendan Rodgers’ sacking at Liverpool.

It wasn’t that his replacement Jurgen Klopp likes heavy metal. Or was a Reds’ fan as a boy.

No, the most eye-popping ­information aired in the past seven days was a report detailing the influence some bloke with a laptop has over the club’s owners, Fenway Sports Group.

They pay ­someone called Michael Edwards £300,000 a year to advise them on which statistics to look at when ­making policy decisions.

Never mind what Rodgers might have thought – but I suppose that does not matter now. The barely believable part of all this is that Edwards is in no way, shape or form alone in his position.

At Aston Villa, a similar bloke with a laptop, Paddy Reilly, has infiltrated the upper echelons and is now charged with making similar recommendations.

It is Reilly who oversaw the invasion of the French Foreign Legion into Villa Park this summer. His salary too is well into six figures.

An experiment that is going so well the club has won just one match in the Premier League this season and Tim Sherwood is two games from the sack.

At West Brom, there was a team of them – before Tony Pulis arrived.

A room at the club’s training ground was surrendered to banks of TVs and hard drives in which track-suited geeks record and interpret data from more games than you can shake a stick at.

For all the effect they have, it’s ­nothing better than a con.

Justin SetterfieldOld school: Pulis rules the roost at Albion
I have used the three clubs above as examples. But these people are in place at every club in the Premier League, with varying degrees of influence.

Unfortunately, for the likes of ­Edwards, all the analysis in the world didn’t stop Emre Can from booting the ball into his own defender at Everton, allowing Romelu Lukaku to level.

And all the passing accuracy figures in the world don’t matter to a Villa team that can barely pass water.

And all the data about the latest whizz-kid in Kazakhstan doesn’t matter if the Baggies waste £10million on Brown Ideye – a striker, I’m informed, that no one ever saw play in the flesh.

It is this generation of computer nerds – and every Premier League club has them – who are spinning the ­football- obsessed public a line in order to make themselves part of the ­‘marginal gains’ elite.

As if regurgitating a ­breakdown of the passes completed, crosses delivered and blocks made makes them look good. It doesn’t matter one iota. Not one.

Statistics themselves cannot tell you whether those passes were backwards, forwards or sideways. Furthermore, if they are being used as a basis for ­signing players, we really are in trouble.

What should be key components of any scouting mission? You might think the player’s athleticism would count.

You can get that from data – despite the fact that it’s far better to don your big coat and sit in a cold stand for two hours actually ­watching them play.

What about a player’s character? Their hunger? Their determination? Their positional sense? Their ability?

Are they brave? Do they take the ball in tight situations when their side is losing? Does anyone want to put in the hard yards anymore? And that includes managers, too, some of whom have favourite agents on speed-dial.

Do these boffins speak to their ­contacts in the game who might point them in the right direction or, even better still, say, ‘Don’t touch him with a bargepole?’

Nah, if you can’t get it from the ­computer, it doesn’t matter. Let’s face it, if the target can run an average of 12km a game with a body-fat index of 4.5 per cent, he’ll do for us.

Twelve months ago, everyone was waxing lyrical about Brentford’s model.

Don’t see too many doing likewise now that half of their players have buzzed off from the Bees and Mark Warburton is proving his coaching ­credentials again up at Rangers.

If you asked me who has been the most consistent centre-half outside the top four for the last five years, my answer would be Swansea’s Ashley Williams.

I don’t care what statistics say. I’ve watched him countless times. He’s a leader and Crystal Palace were right to try and prise him away in the summer.

I accept unreservedly that some ­analysis has a use. If there is an issue with goals conceded at set-pieces, that can be worked out on the training ground. Or if a ­full-back doesn’t cover the near post.

I get that – so clearly to dismiss it all as rubbish would be over-the-top.

But to have entire buying policies at clubs dictated by boys and girls who can trot out a compelling PowerPoint ­presentation before owners who are desperate to base their entire business plans on them is an utter nonsense.

For there is only one piece of data that determines the direction any club is taking: The scoreline.

And as long as I live, that ain’t gonna change. No matter what the geeks say.

Each morning, when Liverpool's principal owner John W Henry and director Michael Gordon wake up in Boston, their inboxes ping with emails from the club's head of technical performance.

Michael Edwards, who is based at Liverpool's Melwood training ground, has become FSG's go-to guy in England after aligning himself with the data-driven model of the group's baseball team, the Boston Red Sox.
This cosy relationship with FSG, dropping the owners emails throughout the day and increasing his power at the club, led to a strained relationship with former manager Brendan Rodgers.

Edwards encourages staff to use his nickname 'Eddie', giving a matey feel to the working environment. It is understood Rodgers has another name for him.
Edwards fell perfectly into place with FSG's Moneyball strategy, the statistical model designed to extract maximum value in the transfer market. Clearly, with the club 10th in the league and paying up to three times the going rate for players, it needs refinement.
Despite a lack of playing experience at any relevant level, Edwards, who earns £300,000 a year, has a big say on Liverpool's notorious transfer committee. He would arrive for meetings with Rodgers, managing director Ian Ayre, chief scout Barry Hunter and head of recruitment Dave Fallows armed with the latest data on potential targets.

The committee have yet to explain how they came up with the figure of £29million to sign Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino from Hoffenheim, who finished eighth in the Bundesliga last season.
Divock Origi, billed as 'a world-class talent' by Rodgers when he was signed from Lille, could not even come off the bench in the club's last two league games. There are countless other errors.
After each Liverpool game Edwards emails analysis and data to the club's owners in America, detailing where the match was won and lost. It has made for grim reading this season.

Liverpool's transfer committee have yet to explain how they came up with the figure of £29million to sign Roberto Firmino
Divock Origi has failed to make an impact since joining Liverpool

Edwards has used his relationship with FSG to strengthen his hand at the club, becoming a trusted source of information to a group of people who are obsessed with statistical analysis.
There is a relationship with Bill James, the American stats guru who is employed by the Red Sox to provide Henry and Gordon with data for their baseball team.
Edwards can tap away at a laptop and within seconds tell you how many assists the 24-year-old Turkish left back Eren Albayrak has made for Rizespor this season (four).

Edwards and his team of analysts have invented a new language for football. Strikers are all about goal expectancy, chances created and the percentage of successful passes in the final third. Old-school managers just want to know if the boy can put the ball in the net.
Defensive midfielders are judged on interceptions and the number of challenges won in the centre of the pitch.
The increasing influence of analysts, young men who have no experience of scouting or recruiting players, has meant the end of the road for good football men such as Mel Johnson. He was the scout who recommended Liverpool sign talented young winger Jordon Ibe from Wycombe but was sacked, shamefully, in November 2014. Former academy director Frank McParland has also left.

Instead a new breed sits in air-conditioned offices, cutting up videos from matches all over the world and burying their heads in the stats. Edwards, along with his vast team of analysts, constantly monitors the opposition, providing detail about playing positions, style, routines, set-pieces and other important matchday information.

They profile players based on their last 10-20 appearances, gathering information and helping Rodgers build a presentation for his players before matches that was usually a maximum of 10 pages on each team. It is a useful, but far from infallible, tool.
Edwards, who is in his late thirties, began his career as part of the video analysis team at Portsmouth before leaving to work with Harry Redknapp again when he became Tottenham manager.
There, Edwards struck up a relationship with Ian Graham at Decision Technology, a data firm collecting statistics on players from all over the world.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy paid Decision Technology a fortune each season for their services, trusting their analysis and using Edwards, in his newly created role as head of performance analysis, to make sense of it all.

Edwards was head-hunted by Damien Comolli when the Frenchman became director of football at Liverpool, turning down an increased salary of £250,000 a year at White Hart Lane to join the Anfield revolution. Levy was distraught.
Since then he has emerged as a senior figure at Liverpool, empowered by FSG to make the call on big transfer targets after gaining their trust since his arrival in 2011.
His relationship with Rodgers deteriorated shortly after the former Liverpool manager signed a contract worth £6m a year just a week after Liverpool finished within two points of claiming the Barclays Premier League title.
They clashed over transfer strategy, although Rodgers went on record to insist that he always had the final say over the recruitment of players earmarked for the first-team squad.
In the end, Edwards had his number.

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist” – Friedrich Nietzsche.


The battle lines have been drawn, and the armies are setting up their camps. A cold wind blows. Welcome to football’s war zone. Are you on the side of the Football Men, or the Boffins?

To the north, the data analysts and statisticians calculate the probabilities of their ideal time and location to spring an attack. There are hushed discussions over ExpG and regression analysis, drowned out by the sounds of frantic typing and computer fans whirring. They will not sleep tonight.

To the south, the Football Men are waiting in file to choose their suits of armour and weapons. Row upon row of warm coats await their selection, a huge pile of half-chewed pencils to their side. Flat caps are less plenty in number – only the officers are afforded such a privilege.

If that all seems too parodical, it matches the mood of a week in which it feels as if there is a football war brewing. Brendan Rodgers’ sacking as Liverpool manager was always likely to cause great fall-out, but few anticipated this.

That it should be the departure of Rodgers which ignited this feud between football’s two distinct camps of analysis – numbers vs eyes – is bizarre. Lest we forget, this is the coach who once said “if you are better than your opponent with the ball you have a 79% chance of winning the game”. One suspects the captains of both armies would raise their eyebrows at that statement.

You probably know the articles by now. There was that one on Wednesday, one more on Sunday in a similar vein. The dismissal of statistics as nonsense has formed much of the football media storyline this week, at least in part assisted by the news vacuum of the international break. Numbers are ruining football, reads the charge.

You know the responses too. Data analysts moved instantly onto the defensive on social media after their industry was attacked in so obvious a manner and on so mainstream a stage. Neither camp displayed their best side to camera. Preciousness is a difficult look to pull off.

This is a straw man argument that has escalated into a straw man war. Scarecrows are fighting scarecrows, throwing bales of hay at each other from afar.

Every professional football club that can afford to use data analysis, does so. We can presume that they are not all grossly mistaken. The vast majority use such methods for scouting potential signings, and many do so to great effect. Talk of a ‘stats only’ approach is not just overstated, it is almost entirely fictional.

“When we’re looking at players we have instant access to video material or statistical analysis,” said Southampton Head of Football Development Les Reed, speaking to Gary Neville in January. “That’s one way we can compare potential recruits with our own academy players. That helps all of our decision-making.

“We’ve got a fantastic group of eyes-on scouts and fantastic analysts – so the idea is that they can challenge each other all the time. We have conflicting views and debates, but we have enough back-up to say ‘this is right, this is right’. Everybody comes out good friends.”


The picture Reed paints is not one of war, but peace. The conclusions from Football Men that statistics don’t tell the whole story is emphatically backed by any worthwhile analyst. Sworn enemies actually believe in the same principle, but neither accepts that the other can be right.

Yet there is an extra layer to this disagreement. Much of the distrust of statistics is not against numbers per se, but a resistance to what they represent. To many in the game, data analysis breaks down something beautiful into its component parts until it is no longer enjoyable. It’s like having ten tubes of paint on the wall rather than the Mona Lisa.

To the Football Men, there is something inherently romantic about watching a game on a cold (temperature has been an important theme of the week), wet Wednesday night in football’s geographical and literal bleak midwinter. It’s a persuasive argument, too. It is here where football’s magic is to be found, not in the hard drive of a computer. This is the game in its purest form, in parks and playgrounds rather than stadia and studios. Joy is comprised of experiences, not numbers.

It is that last sentence which has, sadly or otherwise, become irrevocably lost. Football is a results-driven business. When the result becomes king, efficiency becomes of paramount importance. If a blend of statistical analysis and ‘eyes-on’ (to use Reed’s term) allows for greater accuracy in decision-making, it becomes a no-brainer. It doesn’t matter about your notions of romance; football sold its heart a long time ago.

There are faults on both sides of the argument. Data analysts are regularly guilty of having blind faith in their work, just as the vice versa is true. But that is precisely why both can make a happy marriage. Think of it as a team of chefs, not ‘too many cooks’.


Unfortunately, future successes and failures are now celebrated and mourned for point-scoring purposes. If Brentford crash and burn, people will crow. If Jurgen Klopp succeeds with Liverpool’s transfer committee, shouts of “I told you so” will drown out the songs on the Kop. Some are guilty of supporting their own visions and ideals more than most support their own clubs.

The truth is obvious to everyone else: No method is perfect. That’s precisely why football remains so loved and addictive. It is the eternal hunt for a non-existent perfect formula.

The use of statistics has, at least to some extent, bastardised our opinions. They have become the social media argument-winner, the over-simplification of complicated concepts. ‘Shock stats prove that Mata is Premier League’s best finisher,’ farts out the headline, cue the rolling of one million eyes.

Again, the sensible ones in both camps sit in agreement. Of course this is vacuous nonsense. It’s also a thousand times removed from how clubs are using data.

Sport’s unique allure is that it is part art form, part science. It is also a game of endless opinions. We each prefer different players, different goals and different styles, so it stands to reason that we have vastly different opinions on how art and science should cohabit. The only true mistake is to think that there is a right way, and an only way.

Nihilist:
On the over-reliance on Statistics in football.

Dhellake:
A lot of sense in this, imagine analysing Mikel, Cleverly and the likes from numbers alone, this guys sometimes completes up to 90% of passes attempted, but like the writer said, The computer won't show if the passes are sideways or backwards or forward.

Some of this clubs can be so dumb, spend £10m on a player they've never seem in flesh.


Great for the guys producing the numbers though, I don't mind doing that kind of job

Dhellake:
A lot of sense in this, imagine analysing Mikel, Cleverly and the likes from numbers alone, this guys sometimes completes up to 90% of passes attempted, but like the writer said, The computer won't show if the passes are sideways or backwards or forward.

Some of this clubs can be so dumb, spend £10m on a player they've never seem in flesh.


Great for the guys producing the numbers though, I don't mind doing that kind of job

JigsawKillah:
Hazard scored and missed from the penalty spot on Saturday.


Dude really needs help

AdeLaNa1:
How do u score and still miss?? Unless he had two PKs??

JigsawKillah:
yes
he had 2pks, scored the first then missed the second

Dhellake:
C your mouth like better Tactician, Every thing Simeone is doing right now, José already did better 9-12years ago, Fairly Good players?? What were those boys José used in winning UCL for Porto.

Every single soul also expected Athletico to challenge again for the title last season after winning 2 seasons back but they finished empty-handed even after spending to help the team.

Simeone is great guy, he's only close but he's not even so close

Swerve Abeg

Spy360:
Here you go again...

Simeone lost some key players in his team even after winning the title...




One of such is the key striker in Chelsea whom JM ran after like a hungry dog. How has his career turned out? Isn't he the same player some fans now tag 'fat pig'?

Another is Felipe Luis, JM signed him from Simeone, what happened? Mou must have wondered how Simeone used him so successfully after he hardly started a game for Chelsea and had to be sent back to Simeone.

Let me repeat, Mou has no tactics. He depends on the ingenuity of his stars, and when the chips come down, everyone is confused.

Imagine, Bergovic, Ivanovic, Fabregas, Costa, Hazard, Oscar. These are the best, he has no excuses.

Why can't he use Baba and Papa? Mou kills career.

Spy360:
Here you go again...

Simeone lost some key players in his team even after winning the title...




One of such is the key striker in Chelsea whom JM ran after like a hungry dog. How has his career turned out? Isn't he the same player some fans now tag 'fat pig'?

Another is Felipe Luis, JM signed him from Simeone, what happened? Mou must have wondered how Simeone used him so successfully after he hardly started a game for Chelsea and had to be sent back to Simeone.

Let me repeat, Mou has no tactics. He depends on the ingenuity of his stars, and when the chips come down, everyone is confused.

Imagine, Bergovic, Ivanovic, Fabregas, Costa, Hazard, Oscar. These are the best, he has no excuses.

Why can't he use Baba and Papa? Mou kills career.

Mourinholic:
You are one big idiot....
The Costa that scored 20 last seaon
How did tactician Wenger perform in Europe with Henry,Bergkamp,Viera,Reyes,Pires,Gilberto,kolo, Cole,Seaman...... The same period Mourinho was winning back to back European titles with the 'Stars'.....
Mourinho kills career yet Wenger can't get half of what Mourinho and Low gets out of Ozil.....

Every Wenger team at any point in his career costs more than Porto ......
A coach that holds an unbeatable record in every league he has coached has no tactics,Your Mirror is very unlucky...
Since Wenger last won a league title,Mourinho has won 2epl with record points and defence,2 serie A with a treble,LA liga with record points and goals, and back to England to win it again before Wenger
Since Wenger last Played a UCL 1/4 final match,Juve got relegated,and got Promoted,Won 3 league titles doing the double and also play in a UCL final with a team far less expensive than Any Wenger's team.....



Even if Arsenal legends are to play a game and the players are to select a coach......It will still be Mourinho

Mourinholic:
You are one big idiot....
The Costa that scored 20 last seaon
How did tactician Wenger perform in Europe with Henry,Bergkamp,Viera,Reyes,Pires,Gilberto,kolo, Cole,Seaman...... The same period Mourinho was winning back to back European titles with the 'Stars'.....
Mourinho kills career yet Wenger can't get half of what Mourinho and Low gets out of Ozil.....

Every Wenger team at any point in his career costs more than Porto ......
A coach that holds an unbeatable record in every league he has coached has no tactics,Your Mirror is very unlucky...
Since Wenger last won a league title,Mourinho has won 2epl with record points and defence,2 serie A with a treble,LA liga with record points and goals, and back to England to win it again before Wenger
Since Wenger last Played a UCL 1/4 final match,Juve got relegated,and got Promoted,Won 3 league titles doing the double and also play in a UCL final with a team far less expensive than Any Wenger's team.....



Even if Arsenal legends are to play a game and the players are to select a coach......It will still be Mourinho

raumdeuter:
Mourinholic dey vex oo

When we go resume our Hidden ikedia talks?

Copying chelseafan1

Mourinholic:
When Bayern £100m bid for him gets rejected

raumdeuter:
Bayern no dey bid for players without end product like hidden. You know say we no get money miss road owner

Mourinholic:
Lmao....You bought a certain Douglas Costa ....

raumdeuter:
Douglas Costa is arguably one of the discoveries of this season

Its just October and he has 2 goals and 11 assists in League and CL

How about Hidden Ikedia Hazard

Mourinholic:
You are one big idiot....
The Costa that scored 20 last seaon
How did tactician Wenger perform in Europe with Henry,Bergkamp,Viera,Reyes,Pires,Gilberto,kolo, Cole,Seaman...... The same period Mourinho was winning back to back European titles with the 'Stars'.....
Mourinho kills career yet Wenger can't get half of what Mourinho and Low gets out of Ozil.....

Every Wenger team at any point in his career costs more than Porto ......
A coach that holds an unbeatable record in every league he has coached has no tactics,Your Mirror is very unlucky...
Since Wenger last won a league title,Mourinho has won 2epl with record points and defence,2 serie A with a treble,LA liga with record points and goals, and back to England to win it again before Wenger
Since Wenger last Played a UCL 1/4 final match,Juve got relegated,and got Promoted,Won 3 league titles doing the double and also play in a UCL final with a team far less expensive than Any Wenger's team.....



Even if Arsenal legends are to play a game and the players are to select a coach......It will still be Mourinho

Mourinholic:
The point is Bayern bought a Douglas Costa without end product..... When you bought him,you signed a player without end product
Don't push it ,I don't want to dig your posts about him...
If you can sign Douglas for that fee,You will jump on hazard for 100

Mourinholic:
You are one big idiot....
The Costa that scored 20 last seaon
How did tactician Wenger perform in Europe with Henry,Bergkamp,Viera,Reyes,Pires,Gilberto,kolo, Cole,Seaman...... The same period Mourinho was winning back to back European titles with the 'Stars'.....
Mourinho kills career yet Wenger can't get half of what Mourinho and Low gets out of Ozil.....

Every Wenger team at any point in his career costs more than Porto ......
A coach that holds an unbeatable record in every league he has coached has no tactics,Your Mirror is very unlucky...
Since Wenger last won a league title,Mourinho has won 2epl with record points and defence,2 serie A with a treble,LA liga with record points and goals, and back to England to win it again before Wenger
Since Wenger last Played a UCL 1/4 final match,Juve got relegated,and got Promoted,Won 3 league titles doing the double and also play in a UCL final with a team far less expensive than Any Wenger's team.....



Even if Arsenal legends are to play a game and the players are to select a coach......It will still be Mourinho

hariorh:
Wenger went through a season unbeaten


Break that record!

hariorh:
Wenger went through a season unbeaten


Break that record!

CFCman:
It will be a travesty if the Netherlands fail to qualify for the Euros..