Net Gains: Inside the Beautiful Game’s Analytics Revolution

Net Gains: Inside the Beautiful Game’s Analytics Revolution

  • Downloads:5356
  • Type:Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date:2022-10-20 06:19:31
  • Update Date:2025-09-06
  • Status:finish
  • Author:Ryan O'Hanlon
  • ISBN:1419758918
  • Environment:PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle

Summary

An in-depth examination of the rise of analytics in soccer and the wild experiments unfolding around the world in the beautiful gameNet Gains: Inside the Beautiful Game’s Analytics Revolution takes readers on a tour across the world and throughout soccer history, introducing the many people who have attempted to shine a light onto and innovate a sport that, in many ways, is still stuck in the Dark Ages。 This deep dive into the rise of analytics in soccer—a sport where tradition reigns supreme—shows how revolutionary tactics and underexplored metrics are breaking the beautiful game wide open。
           
By exploring how massive institutions built on billions of dollars can function for so long without any kind of introspection—and what happens when people from the outside attempt to question the status quo—author Ryan O'Hanlon, staff writer at ESPN, shows how time and again experts, managers, coaches, players, and fans feel they know the best approach for any given team or player, and yet get undermined by the complexity of the game—and human behavior。 
          
To tell this globe-trekking story, O'Hanlon takes readers inside the front offices and analytics departments of the top professional leagues’ most cutting-edge clubs and profiles a misfit cast of number-crunchers, behavioral economists, tech insiders, and managers all working to move beyond the philosophical side of soccer and uncover the hard truths behind possession, goals, and developing talent。 

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Reviews

Owen

I love soccer and I’m a math geek。 I enjoyed this book for many reasons。 It discusses changes in strategy that are important。 The evaluation of players in the transfer market it’s another great discussion。 It is amazing to learn how much data is collected for pro soccer games。 If anything, I wished for more math formulas, numbers and discussion。 To some degree expected possession value, EPV, evaluates defenders but overall I thought defensive values were being shortchanged。 I also found it a lit I love soccer and I’m a math geek。 I enjoyed this book for many reasons。 It discusses changes in strategy that are important。 The evaluation of players in the transfer market it’s another great discussion。 It is amazing to learn how much data is collected for pro soccer games。 If anything, I wished for more math formulas, numbers and discussion。 To some degree expected possession value, EPV, evaluates defenders but overall I thought defensive values were being shortchanged。 I also found it a little off that midfielders seem to suffer in these evaluations。 That leaves me to wonder if the formulas are right and my impressions are wrong, or vice versa。 Interesting and thought-provoking。 。。。more

Pete

Net Gains: Inside the Beautiful Game’s Analytics Revolution (2022) by Ryan O’Hanlon is a really interesting look at how analytics are changing soccer。 O’Hanlon now writes for ESPN and has previously written for FiveThirtyEight and other places and also used to host a podcast。 He also played soccer at US college level。Basketball, American Football and Baseball are all games where analytics has had a huge impact。 In soccer a similar analytics driven change is yet to manifest itself but people have Net Gains: Inside the Beautiful Game’s Analytics Revolution (2022) by Ryan O’Hanlon is a really interesting look at how analytics are changing soccer。 O’Hanlon now writes for ESPN and has previously written for FiveThirtyEight and other places and also used to host a podcast。 He also played soccer at US college level。Basketball, American Football and Baseball are all games where analytics has had a huge impact。 In soccer a similar analytics driven change is yet to manifest itself but people have been trying to perform analysis on soccer for many decades。 The games flow and complexity has made this difficult。I got to read this book from Netgalley as a pre-release and have highly enjoyed it。Net Gains is very fair in pointing to the work of Stefan Szymanski that says that the league position correlates very well to the pay of the players and that people haven’t managed to do something like Moneyball to soccer yet。 O’Hanlon also highlights the impact of Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger who managed to slightly beat their expected league position。 Manchester United’s failure to win a league title since Ferguson left after winning 13 in 21 seasons also shows that if it’s not very carefully employed money will still not bring titles。The book also has a chapter on Charles Reep who is often brought up as a showing how hard soccer analytics are how they can fail。 However in Net Gains the chapter is far more interesting as it includes an interview with Richard Pollard, a mathematician and statistician who co-authored papers with Reep and also knew him well。 Reep’s conclusion, that you should quickly hoof the ball upward because most goals are scored with three or less passes was flawed, but he did capture a huge amount of data that was very valuable and had more insight to his thought than is usually characterized。The book features a number of modern mathematical analysts such as Luke Bornn and others。 Expected Goals (xG), expected Assists(xA), expected possession value (EPV) and the packing number (players passed) are very well explained。The work of various coaches, including Jesse Marsch, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola are also described in detail as are their impacts。 The chapter on Jesse Marsch and the Red Bull clubs RB Salzburg and RB Leipzig is particularly interesting。 Leipzig’s coaches and their use of analytics and their impact on the Bundesliga is fascinating。 They seem the closest to doing something like Moneyball in soccer and Leipzig’s rise in Germany has been spectacular, however they are yet to win a major title。 But this looks likely to change in the next few years。For anyone who is interested in the application of statistics and analytics in soccer Net Gains is a must read。 The book would also be worthwhile for anyone interested in how statistics can be applied to improve performance in a complex environment。 For anyone interested in soccer it’s also an excellent book to read that captures just how difficult soccer is to quantify。 O’Hanlon is a good writer and the book is an easy read。 Net Gains is really an excellent book that many soccer fans will enjoy。 。。。more