MLS using 'drill-down' game analysis

pettyfog · Sep 8, 2007

MLS' stat service proves eye-opening

As beautiful and free-flowing as it is, soccer is not a sport for the stat geek. So is there any way to quantify this, perhaps the most subjective of games, in which players, coaches, referees, reporters and fans almost never agree on what happened during an oh-so-common 0-0 or 1-0 game?

Yes, and it's being done daily by the Crew and all of its opponents.

This season, for the first time, every Major League Soccer team is using the same video-based statistical analysis system created by Match Analysis, a small company based in Emeryville, Calif.

Every televised MLS game, except those shown exclusively on HDNet, is recorded by the company. Every touch of every player is cataloged and classified, usually in less than three hours by one of the company's eight employees. By Tuesday, every game played during the weekend is available online for dissection by players and coaches.

"This is not baseball," said Crew coach Sigi Schmid, who has been a proponent of Match Analysis since the company was launched in 2001. "There is no black or white, hit or no hit, on-base or not. With soccer, what we're seeing in these breakdowns are no more than indicators, but they do tell you things that you might want to look into."

In addition to Match Analysis' "Mambo" video-clip software, which Crew assistant Robert Warzycha uses to put together clips for team and small-group study of the Crew and its opponents' games, the company's "Tango" system integrates broadcast video with statistical analysis for quick online study.
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"You take it all with a grain of salt, because every single player makes thousands of decisions every time he steps on the field and every play is different," Crew midfielder Danny O'Rourke said.

"You might study a midfielder who hits a (cross-field) ball 16 out of 20 times in one game, then never hits that pass in the next. But you might also find a midfielder who, when you look at his touches, goes to his left 90 percent of the time. So when I play defense, I'm going to try to force him to his right to make it uncomfortable for him."
Click to expand...

I hope it's used as Danny O says... because we all know what happens when you have 'too much information'.

GaryBarnettFanClub · Sep 8, 2007

RE: MLS using

ProZone is used in the UK to give detailed analysis of players. All the coaches use it, it records the movements of the players throughout the entire game.

The link below gives an overview of ProZone on Wayne Rooney from the BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/s ... 837567.stm

HatterDon · Sep 8, 2007

I'm reminded of what Sir Laurence Olivier said to Dustin Hoffman when they were making Marathon Man. After watching Hoffman go through all sorts of trances and hums and nonsense trying to "awaken his sense memory and find something in himself to create the appropriate context to meld his personal experiences to the character he was playing," Olivier said, "That seems a lot of work. Perhaps you should just try acting."

If you can't see the beauty of the Beautiful Game, no statistical breakdown -- regardless of how sophisiticated it may be -- is going to help you.

Thanks for the post, 'fog.

MLS using 'drill-down' game analysis

pettyfog Well-Known Member

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MLS using 'drill-down' game analysis

pettyfog Well-Known Member

GaryBarnettFanClub New Member

HatterDon Moderator

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