Three ways data can help in sacking season

We have reached the stage in the football season where many clubs contemplate a change of head coach. Here’s three ways data can help:

  1. Understand points won in the context of what was expected and deserved: for example, we projected Wolves to be 19th at this point given a challenging set of fixtures to start the season. They have 1 point but performances have deserved 5; results should naturally improve.
  2. Identify undervalued candidates without alerting the market: our World Sports Rankings highlight overachieving head coaches; while the biggest names will be out of reach for most clubs, such an approach can ID less familiar but high-performing coaches.
  3. Generate questions that help truly understand candidates: for example, Patrick Vieira has historically struggled to improve in-game positions through substitutions; interviewers could probe him to understand why this is the case and how that could be improved in a new environment.

For superstar quality, it’s hard to ignore Europe’s top divisions, which boast the vast majority of the world’s best players.  But for sheer excitement, tuning into second tier competitions will rarely disappoint.

By Omar Chaudhuri
Chief Intelligence Officer

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