The Moneyball strategy (if I remember correctly) was identifying Baseball players based on their 'on base average'. Transposing this scheme to football, what quality do you think the backroom staff at Barnsley try to identify in their potential acquisitions? I've poured over this for years and haven't come up with anything concrete. What links Winnall, Hourihane, Mawson, Mowatt, Lindsay etc..?
I'm not sure Winnall was a spreadsheet. But I think some of the criteria are captain of club, player of year, England C or international under 16, 19 etc and of course age. Then there are probably some opta type stats that I've no idea about.
Would have thought majority of info used is stat based, like pass attempt, completion, assists, goals, distance ran, age etc. They would then say what type of player do we want, weight the categories and filter until they come up with a list and the work through that. So for example they might want a defender who is left footed and plays the ball out, they might look at age, foot usage, tackle success, pass completion and attempts. They would then need to factor in perhaps the player has really high attempts but low success and decide if they can coach him to make better choices. Once they get here it becomes can they afford him, does coach like him etc.
I wonder what new algorithms were added when we changed our style to the high press. Surely one size doesn't fit all and extra emphasis would be put on the fitness required and work rate out of possession.
Goals scored, assists, chances created, pass completion percentages, distance covered, height, foot, appearances made (injury record), duals won & age would be the main factors with some characteristics more important than others depending on the position you’re scouting for. A lot depends on what you already have at the club & what you need so for example after Scowen left & Morsy had gone in January we needed a ball winner desperately so they went out & signed Joe Williams or after Roberts left we had just two centre backs at the club in MacDonald & Jackson neither of which had much of a left foot so they clearly went out & searches for centre backs that were left footed & we ended up with Lindsay & Pinnock. So things like that narrow the parameters of what they’re scouting for initially. This summer for example we’ll be looking for centre backs as we’ve only got two at the club who are both left footed. If we sign a left footed one then that’s probably bad news as it means one or both of Pinnock & Lindsay are on their way.
I’d imagine the stats in the spreadsheet are fairly accurate above, but from the horses mouth, we’ve heard what happens next. Having recognised a player suitable on paper, we then check out his attitude before we send anyone to go see him. The coaching staff being directly involved in the process once a player is identified is the more important part of the process. The spreadsheet can only tell us so much.
