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Articles by Tucker Jameson
BLOG: ProVision Series – a data profile of Espanyol’s new Chinese forward, Wu Lei
In a series for OptaPro, TruMedia Networks’ Paul Carr uses the award-winning ProVision to analyse stand-out players and teams from leagues and competitions across the globe. This sixth article focuses on Wu Lei, who moved from the Chinese Super League to La Liga during the January transfer window. Read the previous articles from this series here Key takeaways - Wu has exceeded his xG projection in each of the past six CSL seasons.
Passing out at the back
OptaPro data scientist Will Gürpinar-Morgan shares his debut blog for OptaPro, clustering centre-back passing in the Premier League.
OptaPro
NB: all data correct up to and including April 9th, 2012 Introduction There is an obvious correlation between the number of shots a player takes and the number of goals they will score. Commentators will often espouse a player's willingness to go for goal, many subscribing to the 'If you don't buy a ticket, you won't win the lottery' theory: that by peppering the goalkeeper with as many shots as possible, eventually one will go in.
NEWS: OptaPro publishes 2018 NWSL regular season review
The OptaPro Blog Welcome to the OptaPro blog, featuring news and analysis from OptaPro's cutting-edge research team. Thursday January 3, 2019 NEWS: OptaPro publishes 2018 NWSL regular season review Following the release of the 2018 MLS season review last month, OptaPro has now published another end-of-year review focusing on the NWSL regular season.
OptaPro
Throughout the autumn of this year, OptaPro Analytics Forum judges faced another difficult challenge in selecting the presentations and posters for the 2019 event, which takes place on 6th February in central London. Entering its sixth year, the OptaPro Forum remains a key date in the football analytics calendar, attracting over 60 clubs from around the world. The full line-up is now confirmed and can be read below (presentations are listed in no specific order).
Head of Football position at OptaPro
A new Head of Football position is available at OptaPro. The successful candidate will be responsible for delivering OptaPro’s global football strategy as a key stakeholder in the wider Opta analytics programme, product development and analytics consultancy projects. They will be responsible for managing key accounts and supporting the development of clubs and governing bodies’ data management and analytics processes through their knowledge of analysis and scouting processes.
NEWS: #OptaProSoccer returns in 2019
#OptaProSoccer, OptaPro’s focused North American soccer analytics conference, returns in 2019, taking place in Chicago on January 9th. The invitation-only eventshowcases innovative applications of analytics relevant to this unique soccer landscape. The 2018 event saw over 60 people from across the industry in attendance.
Frenkie de Jong on song
Points of interest - No player in Europe's top five leagues carries the ball towards goal more frequently than de Jong - In the final third, de Jong completes 85% of his passes, behind only Mousa Dembele, Kroos, Kante, Valero, Sergi Roberto and Draxler Frenkie de Jong is hot. The 21-year old Dutchman is only playing his first full season in the starting line-up of Ajax, yet is already one of the stars of both club and country.
NEWS: ProVision Cricket launched by OptaPro
OptaPro, a world-leading data and technology provider to over 300 professional sports teams and national federations, is delighted to announce the launch of ProVision Cricket, an analytical tool designed to inform match analysis, recruitment, team selection and opposition scouting.
BLOG: ProVision Series - Alphonso Davies
In a series for OptaPro, TruMedia Networks’ Paul Carr uses the award-winning ProVision to analyse stand-out players and teams from leagues and competitions across the globe. This fifth article focuses on one of the most exciting players to break out of MLS in recent years, Vancouver Whitecaps’ teenage winger Alphonso Davies. Read the previous articles from this series here Alphonso Davies aces the eye test. His pace and skill are evident after a few minutes of observation.
OptaPro
OptaPro’s data science team is expanding with numerous jobs across the team now available, covering areas across data modeling, analysis and data engineering. Working across both OptaPro and Opta, the team works at the intersection of many teams within the wider organisation. The data science team builds models and metrics based on sport data, usually football. Those metrics are used for applied engagements including consulting services and presentations.
NEWS: Launching the 2019 OptaPro Analytics Forum
OptaPro today launches its call for proposals to present at the 2019 OptaPro Analytics Forum, which again takes place in early February in central London. Heading into its sixth year, the OptaPro Forum has become one the leading global football analytics conferences, attracting over 50 clubs from around the world. The event comprises presentations that apply analytics to answer football questions covering both performance analysis and recruitment.
BLOG: Comparing Chelsea and Manchester City’s WSL teams
A newly expanded WSL gets underway next month, with reigning champions Chelsea facing last season’s runners-up Manchester City on the opening day. As well as enjoying an unbeaten season, Chelsea finished 2017/18 with the league’s best defensive record and capped off a fine campaign by winning the FA Cup.
BLOG: Adapting to life without Ronaldo
For the first time in almost a decade, Real Madrid will be starting a La Liga season without Cristiano Ronaldo. Operating as a forward, Ronaldo had more than double the number of shots (140) of any other Real player in La Liga last season. His influence was even more pronounced in the Champions League, where he scored 15 of Real’s 33 goals.
BLOG: ProVision series - applying sequences to preview Arsenal vs Man City
In a series for OptaPro, TruMedia Networks’ Paul Carr uses the award-winning ProVision to analyse stand-out players and teams from leagues and competitions across the globe. This fourth article focuses on the start of the Premier League season, assessing the styles of both Arsenal and Manchester City.
BLOG: Analysing Mexico’s Attacking Approach at the World Cup
Following the elimination of Costa Rica and Panama, Mexico are the last CONCACAF team left standing at the 2018 World Cup. Unlike many teams, Mexico have fielded an almost unchanged team throughout the competition, with only 12 players starting games. Using the Opta sequence framework and advanced metrics, we analyse Mexico’s performances and what their next opponents Brazil could expect.
ProVision series – scouting for the Premier League
In a series for OptaPro, TruMedia Networks’ Paul Carr uses the award-winning ProVision to analyse stand-out players and teams from leagues and competitions across the globe. This third article takes a new approach, exploring how a recently promoted team may scout for attacking talent. Read the previous articles from this series here You’re the technical director at a newly-promoted Premier League club.
How PSV changed their playing style
PSV Eindhoven’s 3-0 victory over nearest rivals Ajax last month secured them the 2017/18 Eredivisie League title with three matches still to play. Their success is an emphatic response to a disappointing 2016/17, when they could only secure third place in the league, six points adrift of winners Feyenoord.
OptaPro
OptaPro and TruMedia Networks, through the analytical platform ProVision, won Best Elite Performance Technology at the 2018 Yahoo! Sports Technology Awards, which took place on 3rd May. Developed by OptaPro in partnership with TruMedia Networks, ProVision is the cutting-edge tool that helps teams make more informed decisions across global recruitment and performance analysis.
OptaPro
In a series for OptaPro, TruMedia Networks’ Paul Carr uses ProVision to analyse stand-out players and teams from leagues and competitions across the globe. In this first article, Paul explores the Danish Superliga in further detail. You can read Paul’s first article on the Danish Superliga here. Different systems ask different central defenders to do different things. That’s not breaking news. One central defender may be expected to start attacks from the back.
OptaPro
In a guest blog for OptaPro, Garry Gelade discusses a new way to evlauate 1v1 ability. The Liverpool defender and legendary hard man Tommy Smith is supposed to have said: "The ball may pass, the man may pass but never the two together." Football has become less bloodthirsty since Smith last played for Liverpool in 1978, but performance in 1v1 contests remains a key element of the game. Opta recognises several types of 1v1 event, collectively known as duels.
OptaPro
Mark Carey and Mladen Sormaz presented a poster presentation at the 2018 OptaPro Analytics Forum. This article provides an in-depth write up of their analysis. Their posters can be also be read here: The role of the full-back has changed dramatically in recent years, with many teams across Europe now focusing predominantly on how they can get their full-backs involved in attack, even more so than protecting their defence.
OptaPro
In a new series for OptaPro, TruMedia Networks’ Paul Carr uses ProVision to analyse stand-out players and teams from leagues and competitions across the globe. In this first article, Paul explores the Danish Superliga in further detail. As most European leagues begin the final stretch of their seasons, clubs will begin to shift their focus to the summer transfer window, which officially opens on 9th June.
OptaPro
Having presented at the inaugural OptaPro Analytics Forum in 2014 (you can read a write-up of this work here), Marek Kwiatkowski returned in 2018 to present his analysis: Beyond the baseline: individual goalscoring, shotstopping and managerial skill. Marek’s presentation builds on traditional expected goals models, acknowledging additional context by considering players, managers and competitions simultaneously to demonstrate a thorough approach to quantifying individual contributions to scoring.
OptaPro
After a month that included OptaPro’s first analytics event in North America and the fifth OptaPro Forum, you’d think I’d have reached my quota of analytics conferences. However, the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (SSAC) in Boston has been a firm fixture in my calendar for seven years now and the growth of the event to around 5,000 attendees is a reflection of this industry’s progression.
OptaPro
The conversation has well and truly moved on. No longer is there even a debate around whether analytics can inform decision-making and influence performance in professional football. Questions now surround how it can best be applied in a particular environment. Football clubs differ in how they set-up. There is not a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
OptaPro
Luke Bornn, one of the leading practitioners in the sports analytics industry and Vice President, Strategy and Analytics for the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, will deliver the guest talk at the 2018 OptaPro Analytics Forum. In the third guest talk to take place at the event (following Dean Oliver and Dennis Lock), Luke’s presentation will not only focus on his current role at the Sacramento Kings, but will also elaborate on his time at AS Roma, where he was Head of Analytics for the Serie A side.
OptaPro
OptaPro is hosting its first soccer analytics event in the USA, taking place in Philadelphia on 17th January. The event will offer a unique opportunity for professional teams and federations to further enhance their knowledge and understanding of how the application of data and analytics can inform decision-making across match analysis, opposition scouting and recruitment.
OptaPro
After a rigorous judging process, the following presentations and interactive posters have been selected to be showcased at the 2018 OptaPro Analytics Forum, which takes place on Wednesday 7th February. Football varies from competition-to-competition in both style and substance. Intuitively, we know that scoring goals in the Norwegian Eliteserien is less impressive than scoring in the Premier League; however, this is rarely quantified.
OptaPro
With proposals currently being accepted for the 2018 OptaPro Analytics Forum, we speak with Johannes Harkins, data scientist at OptaPro and OptaPro Forum judge. To submit a proposal to present at the event, please click here. What jumps out at you when you see a proposal? Submissions will include references to innovation, application, method and feasibility of the proposed work. Are there any aspects that particularly resonate with you here?
OptaPro
This article is a written version of Garry Gelade’s 2017 OptaPro Analytics Forum presentation on crossing. Garry’s work featured in the Guardian and Garry also conducted interviews on both the Keys and Gray Show and TalkSport. What people think and what the numbers prove A great cross is one of the most memorable sights in football, but is crossing an effective form of attack? Some say it is now out-dated in the modern game and remains a fossilised English obsession.
OptaPro
"Expected assists measures the likelihood that a pass will be a primary assist. The model is based on the finishing location of the pass, what type of pass it was and a variety of other factors. This model is not reliant on whether a shot was taken from this pass, so credits all passes, regardless of whether they result in a shot." This blog outlines the process behind this model, as well as explaining how it can be valuable in evaluating performance.
An in-depth analysis of S.S.C. Napoli
In this article, I provide a data-driven analysis of Napoli from this season (up until 12th March). The particular aim is to go beyond exclusively analysing raw outputs, and to apply a possessions model with the aim of providing insight that can help inform decision making. By combining Opta event data, we can create a definition of an individual possession, which involves all of the events that happen between a team gaining control of the ball and conceding possession of it after.
OptaPro
VIDEO: ‘Shoot! Optimising the location of attempts on goal’. @neilcharles_uk’s #OptaProForum presentation. bit.ly/2mx0Zrv. Options. The presentation slides from @neilcharles_uk’s #OptaProForum talk can be accessed here: bit.ly/2mx0Zrv. Su… twitter.com/i/web/status/8… #OptaProForum - @neilcharles_uk discusses how teams can look to optimise the location of shots on goal. Maximise.
OptaPro
OptaPro will host a football analytics conference in Germany for the first time on 23rd March, taking place at Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund. The one-day event, held exclusively for professional teams, will focus on how data can be applied to help inform decision making within professional football. At the invitation-only conference, sessions will cover the match analysis cycle, recruitment strategies and the implementation of advanced analytics.
OptaPro
Since Sam Green’s innovative article in 2012 introducing Expected Goals, the metric has gone on to become one of the most widespread and insightful within football analytics. This blog serves as a brief recap and overview, looking to explain the metric in context and provide some more recent examples. Expected Goals (xG) quantitatively measures chance quality, a concept that is widely used in the sport.
OptaPro
Rob Mackenzie, who has held recruitment and scouting positions at Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Derby County, shares his experiences with OptaPro on how to effectively use data to support and inform decision-making within football clubs. It is now three years ago now that I was asked if I would write a blog for OptaPro concerning my experiences of technical scouting at Leicester City. I think it’s fair to say that a lot has changed in that period.
OptaPro
The latest episode of Three At The Back is now available to download. Host Ryan Bahia is joined by Ben Mackriell, Head of OptaPro, and Steve Head, Chief Scout at Charlton Athletic. Steve joined Charlton this summer and has over 30 years of experience in professional football, having had a number of different roles across analysis, recruitment, coaching and scouting.
OptaPro
We are now accepting proposals for the fourth OptaPro Analytics Forum. The invite-only OptaPro Forum connects professional football clubs from around the globe with some of the most innovative analytical minds operating outside of clubs. The 2016 event attracted some 200 delegates, including representatives from 40 clubs, leagues and federations such as Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, New England Revolution, the Premier League and Major League Soccer.
OptaPro
In 2015 OptaPro teamed up with Columbia University to launch a global sports analytics module for students enrolled in the Masters in Sports Management program. Students were given the opportunity, using Opta data, to address relevant use cases for data and to solve some of the real-world questions posed to performance analysts, scouts and team front office staff.
OptaPro
Dan Altman showcases his models designed to support recruitment and the early identification of future stars. Identifying future stars is an important goal of recruitment for football’s top teams. Many of them won’t look at a young player unless he already has some minutes in a top league under his belt. But quite a few of these rookies will still flame out before realising their apparent potential.
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