smarterscout: The Why in Analytics
Dan Altman, creator of smarterscout, discusses the big issues underlying football/soccer analytics and sports analytics in general. Dan asks why we use data, why we measure the things we do, and why we choose certain analytical methods out of the many tools available. Drawing on his experience working with clubs in the Premier League, Major League Soccer, and other competitions around the world – as well as USA Olympic teams – Dan gets to the core of the questions every analyst faces.
smarterscout: The Why in Analytics
Expected goals from ball progression and tactical applications
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smarterscout
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Season 1
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Episode 5
Each action during a match changes the probability of scoring, and these changes can become part of a model of ball progression. Dan explains how expected goals from ball progression can complement expected goal from shot creation, both in evaluating players and in predicting results. He also shows how both kinds of expected goals can form the basis for tactical tools, sometimes most effectively when they work in combination.