[Albion] Brighton's Moneyball Window

[Biscuit]

March is starting, surely. Probably Izquierdo on 60th minute mark, or if we're chasing the game at half time?

 

[Steve in Japan]

I like the dig at Paul Merson in the article.

Pundits such as Paul Merson have criticised Brighton’s transfer activity using the same old cliches, saying: “I look through the list of signings and I don’t really know any of them.” Luckily for the club’s new players, whether or not Merson has heard of someone is not a great predictor of their future performance.

Hahaha

 

[Stat Brother]

You've given a very narrow definition of a "Moneyball" influenced approach...

With Tony Bloom in charge it would be very surprising if Albion were not unusually good at evaluating players' real worth and shrewd recruitment from the international marketplace.

No that is exactly Billy Beane's definition of MoneyBall.

Beyond that I'm not arguing a single point, of course TB has set up a system of looking for value in an 'over inflated' market.
You don't get Tony's money by employing the Harry Redknapp's of this world, which is great and even more exciting.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

How about Ryan? I don't know the going rate of keepers, but was surprised how expensive he was.

Compared to Jordan Pickford at £30m, Ryan cost the Premier League equivalent of £1000 and a set of kit!

 

[Stat Brother]

Compared to Jordan Pickford at £30m, Ryan cost the Premier League equivalent of £1000 and a set of kit!

and if the cash were £1 coins in a tower they would be taller...





...come on people, where's your sense of humour.

 

[Icy Gull]

Pundits such as Paul Merson have criticised Brighton’s transfer activity using the same old cliches, saying: “I look through the list of signings and I don’t really know any of them.” Luckily for the club’s new players, whether or not Merson has heard of someone is not a great predictor of their future performance.

Hahaha

Paul Merson should get his arse over to NSC and sign up "Never heard of them they must be shit" opinions is what NSC excels at

 

[AmexRuislip]

Is Mr Izquierdo any good defensively do we know ? I thought March and Suttner linked up well on Saturday

He does. Played well in his first 10 minutes and cost enough that our recruitment team must have expectations. Can he play alongside March if Knocky plays less well away from home? Or would he be better coming on after 65 minutes for now?

Given the way he tracked back with that excellent tackle at the Watford game, shows the desire and commitment to do well.
Give him a go on Friday, if to replace Solly or Knocky, it is going to be a long season, so let's see what he can do over 90 mins.

 

[Simster]

I like the dig at Paul Merson in the article.

Yes, so do I. Another tosspot absolutely stealing a living by not bothering with silly old nonsense such as research.

 

[wallyback]

But why were the club scratching around the bottom of the Bundesliga?

MoneyBall isn't just 'getting a player cheap'.
It's all about overlooking the weaknesses that causes players to fail elsewhere, while noting their 'hidden' strengths and how those strengths can be developed and become compatible along side similar team mates.

Gross doesn't have weaknesses that caused him to be given up on, his only weakness was he played for an unfashionable side playing at the wrong end of a league reliant on 2 teams.

I wasn't looking at his cost, just that his stats were good in a particular area - creating chances. May be I don't have a full working knowledge of MoneyBall then.
Could be argued that we are working on his physical contribution to compete in the Premier

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

I'm absolutely convinced that Brighton adopts a Moneyball approach to spending our transfer budget, which explains why we haven't splashed out on strikers, so much so I wrote eloquently on the subject here https://nortr3nixy.nimpr.uk/showt...nd-Moneyball-a-hypothesis&highlight=moneyball

 

[Claude samdamme]

Given the way he tracked back with that excellent tackle at the Watford game, shows the desire and commitment to do well.
Give him a go on Friday, if to replace Solly or Knocky, it is going to be a long season, so let's see what he can do over 90 mins.

Knocky & Solly deserve to keep their place after sat imo, but would like Jose to get a good 20/30 mins. Surprised he didnt get on at the weekend

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

The club approach isn't 'moneyball' as per the A's, it's just simple economics.

Every step of the way. the club has lead us to believe Tony has been priced out of the relevant market, it found itself in.
So the club has had to look elsewhere, in locations where the market is on a par with the Albion's buying expectations.

Correct. Tony Bloom has categorically rejected any comparison between his approach and the way Billy Beane ran the Oakland A's as described in Moneyball. He said as much in his session with the national press before the Man City game and also asked for a reference to Moneyball to be removed from the book Brighton Up. As he said then, Moneyball applies to baseball, a largely static sport in which there are a limited and defined number of outcomes in any given situation. Football, on the other hand, is fluid and has an almost infinite number of possibilities. There is no statistic in football comparable to OBP (on-base percentage) in baseball that is undervalued by rich clubs.

There's no realistic comparison beyond a desire to get better value for your money than your competitors do.

 

[dazzer6666]

Great having a devoted fan who is also something of a genius as owner and chairman. Merson can fornicate off with his poorly researched and ill judged opinions. Worse than a pub bore.

 

[Skaville]

I like the dig at Paul Merson in the article.

Merson has been royally winding me up this season. There was a thing on Sky where he talked about how well he thought Knockaert played. I thought the Gooner windbag was going to cry as he reluctantly heaped praise on us.

 

[Machiavelli]

You can call it economics if you like, but it certainly isn't simple. It is about getting the best value out of your budget by using Star lizards analytics to find the bargain buys. This is not 12 rolls of toilet roll type bargains that your fingers may or may not go through when wiping, this is about finding better players than those available in the UK at a fraction of the price. Not a simple thing to do at all.

Most obvious example is AK.

This

 

[Skaville]

Knocky & Solly deserve to keep their place after sat imo, but would like Jose to get a good 20/30 mins. Surprised he didnt get on at the weekend

For whom? Solly, Knocky and Gros all played a blinder. Hughton would have taken off one of them for a central midfielder if we had one on the bench.

 

[Baldseagull]

I wasn't looking at his cost, just that his stats were good in a particular area - creating chances. May be I don't have a full working knowledge of MoneyBall then.
Could be argued that we are working on his physical contribution to compete in the Premier

I think the miles he put in on the pitch were highest in his division last year too.

 

[dwayne]

Fairly interesting article without much substance to back up the theory. It would have been interesting to see how we derived value from players (or perceived value)

I prefer this piece which is more analytical. Based on Pascal G.

http://bundesligafanatic.com/song-of-the-unsung-midfielders-pascal-gros/

 

[Weststander]

Great having a devoted fan who is also something of a genius as owner and chairman. Merson can fornicate off with his poorly researched and ill judged opinions. Worse than a pub bore.

I don't know how Merson keeps his SSN job. I like all the others in the Saturday afternoon team - they all offer something coherent, sober, intelligent and with a wealth of football knowledge.

Long before this summer's anti Albion jibes, I couldn't stand Merson on the box. Thick as shite remarks, know-it-all vendettas against clubs such as Spurs and Liverpool, along with the predictable slagging off of Wenger.

Shirley from the thousands of ex players and managers, there are better options for SSN than Merson.

 

[dazzer6666]

I don't know how Merson keeps his SSN job. I like all the others in the Saturday afternoon team - they all offer something coherent, sober, intelligent and with a wealth of football knowledge.

Long before this summer's anti Albion jibes, I couldn't stand Merson on the box. Thick as shite remarks, and know-it-all vendettas against clubs such as Spurs and Liverpool, along with the predictable slagging off of Wenger.

Shirley from the thousands of ex players and managers, there are better options for SSN than Merson.

Spot on. Absolute **** of the highest order. We need a song about him for our live televised games.