Posts tagged OptaPro
Inside the numbers of Wu Lei, Espanyol's new signing

For the OptaPro blog, TruMedia’s Paul Carr wrote about Wu Lei, Espanyol's new signing whose stellar numbers in China may be deceiving.

“Wu’s surface-level statistics look great. After scoring 20 goals in 2017, he led the CSL with 27 goals last season, as his club won the championship and ended Guangzhou Evergrande’s streak of seven straight titles.

Wu has surpassed his expected goals total in six straight seasons, so the 27-year-old may possess above-average finishing ability.  However, Wu’s success in 2018 was fueled by an impossible-to-maintain finishing rate.”

Full article: OptaPro blog

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ANALYZING CANADIAN STAR ALPHONSO DAVIES AS HE HEADS TO BAYERN

As 17-year-old Canadian winger Alphonso Davies heads to Bayern Munich after this MLS season, TruMedia’s Paul Carr used ProVision to compare him with his MLS peers and other young stars in Europe.

“Should his progression continue, Davies will be the first Canadian international to play in the Bundesliga for Bayern. The eye test, past and present stats, and Bayern’s transfer fee all suggest Davies has a ceiling unmatched by an MLS academy product.”

Full article: OptaPro blog

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Previewing Arsenal-Man City with sequence data

Using ProVision to preview the big game of the Premier League's opening weekend by analyzing sequence data for Arsenal and Manchester City:

"City averaged 5.3 passes per sequence last season, which may not sound impressive but was 26% better than the second-best Premier League team, which was Arsenal at 4.2 passes per sequence. This gap is about the same as the difference between Arsenal and Southampton, who ranked seventh in this metric and narrowly avoided relegation.."

Full article: OptaPro blog

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Scouting for the Premier League

Writing for the OptaPro blog, Paul Carr uses TruMedia's ProVision tool (developed in partnership with Opta) to show how a newly-promoted Premier League club might use data while searching for a left-sided attacker.

"To narrow the pool of candidates, the search is limited to the just-completed European league seasons for players:

- From the Dutch Eredivisie, Belgium’s Jupiler League, Ligue 2, 2. Bundesliga and England’s Championship
- Who played as a left midfielder, left attacking midfielder, left winger or left wing back
- With at least 900 minutes this season
- Currently age 30 or younger
- Who are right-footed or use both feet equally well

That leaves 73 players on our target list, with the four selected statistics (expected goals, expected assists, defensive actions in each half of the field) scaled on a per-90-minute basis."

Full article: OptaPro blog (by Paul Carr, Director of Content Development)

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TruMedia wins Best Elite Performance Technology

TruMedia Networks and OptaPro, through the analytical platform ProVision, won Best Elite Performance Technology at the 2018 Yahoo! Sports Technology Awards on May 3 in London.

"Developed by OptaPro in partnership with TruMedia Networks, ProVision is the cutting-edge tool that helps teams make more informed decisions across global recruitment and performance analysis.

Since launching in 2017, professional clubs and federations from around the world have been using ProVision to support their analysis process.

Albert Larcada, TruMedia's Director of Analytics, added: 'Lots of hard work and ingenuity from dozens of people at both TruMedia and OptaPro went into making this product, which makes winning this award very gratifying. The collaboration between our two companies resulting in this product that directly improves team decision-making and processes has been amazing to see firsthand.'"

Full press release

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Scouting defenders in Ligue 2

On the OptaPro blog, TruMedia's Paul Carr uses ProVision to analyze Ligue 2 defenders who could be possible recruitment targets this summer.

"Laporte has now jumped out from the numbers twice, so let’s examine his passing in greater detail. He’s not just nudging the ball to a midfielder to carry up the pitch, he’s getting the ball into the attack effectively. Per 90 minutes, Laporte averages 6.6 passes into the attacking third this season, third-most out of these 23 defenders.

Getting more granular, Laporte has also completed the most passes from the defensive third to the attacking half, both on a total (56) and per-90 (2.2) basis this season. He’s also completing those passes at a higher rate (59%) than any of the others, as his passing map shows."

Full article: OptaPro (by Paul Carr, Director of Content Development)

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Creative midfielders in Denmark

On OptaPro's blog, TruMedia's Paul Carr uses ProVision to find Danish Superliga creative midfielders who could be recruitment targets.

"ProVision allows for several stat views other than totals, which may emphasise quantity over quality. Looking at the same numbers on a per-90-minute basis, Mukhtar isn’t quite as dominant, still leading in big chances created and expected assists, while sliding to third in chances created behind Jensen and Besar Halimi, who played seven fewer games.

The type of creativity matters, since a central midfielder and a winger would fit differently into a line-up. Looking at types of passes attempted, Mukhtar ranks second with 13 through balls and 32nd with 22 crosses, indicating he plays primarily in a central role.

Filtering down to the central third of the field shows that 12 of his 13 through balls come from there, as do 58 of his 60 chances created, profiling Mukhtar as a number 10."

Full article: OptaPro (by Paul Carr, Director of Content Development)

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