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Pretty interesting read! I can also recommend the author's medium account[1] full of similar articles (even though in a bit less hands-on format) [1] https://medium.com/football-crunching
what's the function that returns from the pandas dataframe the foul that the german goalkeeper made to Higuain? Jokes aside, pretty good article. I am an Argentinean, so consider that a lot.
Hi, the author of Deepnote here, this is cool!
Not sure if you can influence this, but I have two platform suggestions that crossed my mind while reading it: 1. I would make the "Run this article as a notebook" more visible. On a first read, I've completely skipped that part as it's very similar to pop-ups on medium. Having an option to directly run/modify this blog would be pretty amazing. 2. The chosen color scheme of code formatting is a bit odd, but that migh…
1. I agree, but there is a reason for this. We'll soon be adding the ability to run/modify feature even without the need to sign up so the whole thing will go away.
2. Thanks! We are experimenting with this (the default scheme is different, but we had a lot of people requesting dark mode so trying out different things for the published articles.)
I also have a github with more notebooks about football here: https://github.com/rjtavares/football-crunching
If you gave any questions about football analytics, hit me up.
(Gmail and Twitter are the same name as my HN account, if you prefer email or DM)
Ok, so something I wrote years ago hit the HN front page. This is what it feels, uh? I also have a github with more notebooks about football here: https://github.com/rjtavares/football-crunching If you gave any questions about football analytics, hit me up. (Gmail and Twitter are the same name as my HN account, if you prefer email or DM)
Something I watch that seems to differentiate players and teams at every level is what happens on the first touch when receiving a pass. When you first start watching this, you'll notice that as you move up the ranks, the ball just sticks to a pro's feet, preferably in front of them a couple feet away where they are ready to play it again. Watching Germany that year, their first touch was not merely excellent, but aggressively so. They took the ball and instead of settling it, turned it into a rolling ball in the direction they wanted to play. Or a first touch pass. Speaking in wild generalities here and I don't have numbers to back it up.
Statistically I would guess that their second touch was on average farther away from them than other teams of comparable level, while still being under control.
It reminded me of Tiger Woods when he burst onto the scene. He played the game far more aggressively and relied on his skills to keep him safe rather than traditional shot selection. Germany 2014 decided these slightly riskier touches are consistently possible in the long run and the benefit outweighs the risk.
It also seemed that with the aggressive play, there is just more football played -- more chances. The more chances that are generated, the more it favors the better team.
Ok, so something I wrote years ago hit the HN front page. This is what it feels, uh? I also have a github with more notebooks about football here: https://github.com/rjtavares/football-crunching If you gave any questions about football analytics, hit me up. (Gmail and Twitter are the same name as my HN account, if you prefer email or DM)