The question has now become though whether such techniques can be used in a more fluid sport such as Football. Beane seems to think it can but again, he feels the traditionalists, like they did in Baseball, will resist any change, until the benefits are obvious. Metrics is already used in football with Bolton, Chelsea and other teams using it to some extent. It is not best described as simple statistical analysis as every sport uses statistics to scout players, but it is more about using data that no one else is looking at. Beane explains:
“What we tried to do was find value in areas where most people weren’t necessarily applying the right values and that meant we could go for the players no one else was interested in. Every event that happens on any pitch has a value attached to it. Technology now allows us to gather any kind of information. The rubicon is applying it.”
Applying it is more difficult in football than in Baseball, and together with the resistance of traditional techniques favoured by managers, it is very difficult to implement. Beane was experimenting with the MLS side San Jose Earthquakes in America, utilising Bill Gerrard’s STAR Rating system of 30 key attributes such as miss tackles, successful entry in the final third and second ball possession to rate a player’s ability. Head Coach Frank Yallop has since chosen to go down another route.
Gerrard has tried to help out some Premier League teams with this system but there has been a lot of resistance too. One of the men who was open to it though was Damien Comolli during his spell Tottenham Hotspur. Comolli had met Beane at a Sports Conference in the US and the two had struck up a good friendship. During his time at Spurs, he invited Gerrard along. Gerrard stated:
“The one thing Damien had created at Tottenham was a collegiate atmosphere of being able to discuss ideas [like this]. But by the time he invited me to Tottenham, Juande Ramos had arrived [as manager] and he was old-school and that was not the way he operated.”
Thorough scouting is also important to saber-metrics as it is required to collect as much information as possible to make a judgement on a young player. Comolli stated last week in an interview as the new Director of Football Strategy that this was one of the main reasons why he was brought in to help Roy Hodgson.
In the long run then, although he is still learning about English football, John W Henry has some very clear goals. Youth, as in his recent Q&A with RAWK makes clear, is very important to him and picking out young talent was the fundamental reason for the appointment of Comolli. The appointment was no doubt influenced by Beane, and Beane said to the Independent how he thinks football and Liverpool can benefit from his way of thinking:
“There is a misperception that with metrics you are not going to spend money but that’s not true. Great players can cost a lot of money but become worth many times more than you pay. Metrics can help you see the potential in young players, who stay healthier and who you can pay less, leaving you more money to buy the great players.”
Let’s see if his philosophy pays off for Liverpool in the future.
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