United appoint Dominic Jordan as director of data science

El Zoido said:
His job isn’t to tell the manager who to play ffs. :lol: I work as a data analyst, it’s really clear in this thread who doesn’t understand it.
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You work as a data analyst for a local bank so now you are an expert of sports science? Good story, bro.

Sports scientist can show Ole, among many other things, how ineffective McFred combo is statistically which would have unbiased manager stop using them but Ole is biased and will likely ignore it. This was the demonstrative point here. Is that ok with your data analyst background?
 
People writing him off already, even without really knowing who is or what he actually does :lol:

I don't think this club will ever be able to satisfy some of its fans
 
NewGlory said:
Little star-struck are you be "Cambridge"? Hundreds of people have math degree from Cambridge but are not qualified to be top sports scientist. Actually the math required for the role is the same as taught at Cambridge and Manchester City College
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Math is the same everywhere to be fair. Just that some unis are far better at teaching and researching it. Cambridge is right there, at the very top, so no idea what is your point.
 
Revan said:
Math is the same everywhere to be fair. Just that some unis are far better at teaching and researching it. Cambridge is right there, at the very top, so no idea what is your point.
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Well, my point was that he didn't study sports science, per se, at Cambridge. So Cambridge being better at some deep research unrelated to sports science is less relevant. I would have more confidence if we hired somebody from less posh university but with experience at another big club, actually running successful sports science department
 
MUFC OK said:
We need a tactical overhaul, not more data..

That said, if we suddenly start playing good football and actually creating chances, no doubt he will be credited :lol:
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Data scientists don’t bring in more data, they tell you what the data they already have means. The data can tell you a lot about tactics.
 
Analysing patterns of play? Who does this hipster think he is? Unless he can quantify "pashun", i'm not interested.
 
Guys jumping on the story while they dont have a clue what a data science even is. Everybody is an expert in everything these days it seems.
 
NewGlory said:
Well, my point was that he didn't study sports science, per se, at Cambridge. So Cambridge being better at some deep research unrelated to sports science is less relevant. I would have more confidence if we hired somebody from less posh university but with experience at another big club, actually running successful sports science department
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You realize that there was not much football data analytics only a few years ago? And as far as I know there is no degree in it even today. Heck, the vast majority of top universities do not offer a degree in even something as wide as Artificial Intelligence or Data Science.

Cambridge has arguably the best math department in the world, it has a great statistics department and has arguably the best Machine Learning department in Europe. It is one of the best universities to recruit for this type of job.

And what does sports science has to do with anything for this position?
 
Even when we do something positive it gets shat on. Try to take your negative feelings on Ole or Glazers out of the equation whenever a new news story on United comes about guys. Take each story on its own terms.
 
Revan said:
You realize that there was not much football data analytics only a few years ago? And as far as I know there is no degree in it even today. Heck, the vast majority of top universities do not offer a degree in even something as wide as Artificial Intelligence or Data Science.

Cambridge has arguably the best math department in the world, it has a great statistics department and has arguably the best Machine Learning department in Europe. It is one of the best universities to recruit for this type of job.

And what does sports science has to do with anything for this position?
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He’s a B man, man!
 
Brwned said:
Data scientists don’t bring in more data, they tell you what the data they already have means. The data can tell you a lot about tactics.
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You don't think he will be running new formulas/producing any new data? Must admit I've not considered this aspect in much detail in my mind.
 
Delano said:
Analysing patterns of play? Who does this hipster think he is? Unless he can quantify "pashun", i'm not interested.
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Didn't Ole recently declare pretty much that at a press conference? Saying there is no such thing as "#6" or "#8" just footballers running around a lot and kicking a ball, hopefully scoring some, God willing and weather permitting :D
 
NewGlory said:
Didn't Ole recently declare pretty much that at a press conference? Saying there is no such thing as "#6" or "#8" just footballers running around a lot and kicking a ball, hopefully scoring some, God willing and weather permitting :D
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:rolleyes:
Yeah, thats exactly what he said.
 
NewGlory said:
You work as a data analyst for a local bank so now you are an expert of sports science? Good story, bro.

Sports scientist can show Ole, among many other things, how ineffective McFred combo is statistically which would have unbiased manager stop using them but Ole is biased and will likely ignore it. This was the demonstrative point here. Is that ok with your data analyst background?
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The fundamentals and purpose of an analyst is essentially the same no matter what the industry. I’m not claiming to know the specifics of a sports scientist role, I’m just saying that he won’t be picking the starting XI.
 
NewGlory said:
Well, my point was that he didn't study sports science, per se, at Cambridge. So Cambridge being better at some deep research unrelated to sports science is less relevant. I would have more confidence if we hired somebody from less posh university but with experience at another big club, actually running successful sports science department
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He's being brought in to build and head up the data science team. I'm sure he'll be looking for more specifically qualifed people to be in his team.
 
Real Name said:
:rolleyes:
Yeah, thats exactly what he said.
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He is gonna love a Cambridge math nerd telling him running around and being a nice lad doesn't win you trophies

"Punching-in a new variable 'great lad', boss!"
 
Pretty shocking we didn’t already have this role. Especially as we supposedly moved to a data driven transfer approach with the new software a couple of seasons back. Better late than never I guess!
 
For context Liverpool's analytics team includes someone with a doctorate in theoretical physics from Cambridge, another with a doctorate in high-energy physics from Harvard (who previously worked for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research), another with a first-class honours degree in astrophysics and another who is described as a "former junior chess champion and energy industry professional".

The point being these people aren't hired for football expertise. It's about the data.
 
Is this man able to isolate and identify ‘United DNA’ using his sick af Oxbridge maths skills?

But yeah, it’s good we have someone like this working for us now and doesn’t seem to be reliant on whoever the manager is. I echo the feelings that I’m surprised we don’t have someone like this already. If you look back at the late 90s and early 00s, we were seen to be the innovators and now we’re playing catch-up on certain areas.
 
NewGlory said:
The argument was made about Woodward's staff, not footballers. And if you think Woodward's job as the executive of world's largets club is fecking commercial development - you get what you asked for by having a team that can nevrr win any major trophy
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I specified that I replied to the comment in sentence 2. Come on.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
Pretty shocking we didn’t already have this role. Especially as we supposedly moved to a data driven transfer approach with the new software a couple of seasons back. Better late than never I guess!
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When Liverpool were starting to implement these kind of methods we were releasing PR puff pieces about buying iPads! It's pretty funny when you look back at it.
 
Classical Mechanic said:
When Liverpool were starting to implement these kind of methods we were releasing PR puff pieces about buying iPads! It's pretty funny when you look back at it.
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Stems from the owners - Liverpool's owners aren't great but they at least were pushing innovation. The Glazer's are simply absent.
 
So much ignorance in this thread about what a data scientist is. We already have people who can you tell the % of corners we score from and how often we lose the ball and all that. That doesn’t take a data scientist, any bright high school student can do that.

We probably have big data on all matches and what happens in-play from a provider like OPTA. Based on what is being observed in the game in-play and all the games we’ve observed before, I’d be surprised if some clubs don’t have good recommendation systems, or at the very least models that can simulate what happens if an action is taken (it sounds like Liverpool do).

The other obvious one is transfers. We already have data analysts, but that still relies on a person interpreting the data, rather than models making predictions and recommendations.

It’s hard to make any educated guesses about how useful this role will be without knowing what kind of data we’re working with and how predictable the problem outcomes are, but it would be criminal in this day and age for any large organizations to not be trying to leverage its data this way.
 
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