Morning all.
A few days ago Kev posted a link to an article on The Swiss Ramble which by all accounts was very good. I didn’t read it because for some reason my computer security said no. (Yes I know I need to sort that)
Soon after, Potter emailed me with a germ of an idea which stems from conversations he had with his son during many a journey to and from The Emirates over the last few decades. Anyway, between the two of us, we’ve come up with today’s article. It’s a long read.
“The company is an expert in the field of sports data performance analysis, which is a rapidly developing area and one that I, and others, believe will be critical to Arsenal’s competitive position, “The insights produced by the company are widely used across our football operations – in scouting and talent identification, in game preparation, in post-match analysis and in gaining tactical insights.”
That was Ivan Gaza’s speaking after Arsenal had invested in StatDNA, the US-based football data analytics company. Apparently it was his baby and the purchase cost the club £2.165m back in December 2012. The idea of it was to help the club and Arsene Wenger be the best both on the pitch and in the transfer market.
Arsene Wenger reportedly sat through a presentation relating to what this data company could do and having already been open to the idea, he was soon sold. The since departed Henrik Almstadt and Ivan Gazidis showed the Frenchman the benefits of bringing StatDNA on board by using Chamakh and Park as examples and both proved to be high-risk signings. Signings which a more empirical approach to recruitment would have averted.
In the five seasons prior to statDNA, when Arsenal worked with Wenger and his team during what might be called our period of financial austerity (very political comment ) we only actually paid money for thirteen players which appeared in the first team Koscielny, Squillachi, Vermaelen, Arshavin, Nasri, Ramsey, Silvestre, Eduardo, Sagna, Fabianski, Rosicky, Denilson, Baptista and we can add Gallas on a swap and Campbell who we found wandering around Seven Sisters heading for Finsbury Park…. Couple that with the two years prior RvP, Almunia, Hleb, Walcott, Adebayor, Song and Diaby. They were mostly fairly solid signings with a couple of duffers and the odd so-so in there.
2011-12 – The deadline day panic and the last transfer window before statDNA came into play.
| Gervinho | Lille | Midfielder | £10,560,000 | 12 Jul 2011 | |
| Mikel Arteta | Everton | Midfielder | £10,000,000 | 31 Aug 2011 | |
| Per Mertesacker | Werder Bremen | Defender | £8,000,000 | 31 Aug 2011 | |
| Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | Southampton | Midfielder | £7,000,000 | 08 Aug 2011 | |
| André Santos | Fenerbahçe | Defender | £6,200,000 | 31 Aug 2011 | |
| Park Chu-young | Monaco | Forward | £2,650,000 | 30 Aug 2011 | |
| Carl Jenkinson | Charlton | Defender | £990,000 | 08 Jun 2011 | |
| Joel Campbell | Saprissa | Forward | £930,000 | 19 Aug 2011 | |
| Thomas Eisfeld | Dortmund | Midfielder | £400,000 | 31 Jan 2012 | |
| Héctor Bellerín | Barcelona | Defender | £350,000 | 01 Jul 2011 | |
| Jon Toral | Barcelona | Midfielder | £310,000 | 25 Feb 2011 | |
| Kristoffer Olsson | IFK Norrköping | Midfielder | £290,000 | 01 Jul 2011 | |
| Leander Siemann | Hertha BSC | Defender | £220,000 | 01 Jul 2011 | |
| Serge Gnabry | VfB Stuttgart | Forward | £90,000 | 01 Jul 2011 |
2012-13
| Santi Cazorla | Malaga | Midfielder | £11,900,000 | 07 Aug 2012 | |
| Lukas Podolski | FC Köln | Forward | £10,300,000 | 30 Apr 2012 | |
| Olivier Giroud | Montpellier | Forward | £9,600,000 | 26 Jun 2012 | |
| Nacho Monreal | Malaga | Defender | £8,550,000 | 31 Jan 2013 | |
| Tarum Dawkins | Luton | Midfielder | £240,000 | 02 Mar 2012 | |
| Dejan Iliev | Belasica | Goalkeeper | Free | 30 Aug 2012 | |
| Gedion Zelalem | Olney Rangers | Midfielder | Free | 01 Jan 2013 |
2013-14.
| Previous Club | Position | Initial Fee | Transfer Date | ||
| Mesut Özil | Real Madrid | Midfielder | £35,740,000 | 02 Sep 2013 | |
| Dan Crowley | Aston Villa | Midfielder | £1,000,000 | 01 Jul 2013 | |
| Julio Pleguezuelo | Barcelona | Defender | £400,000 | 10 Jun 2013 | |
| Yaya Sanogo | Auxerre | Forward | £390,000 | 01 Jul 2013 | |
| Jamaal Raage | Brommapojkarna | Forward | £200,000 | 01 Jul 2013 | |
| Matt Macey | Bristol Rovers | Goalkeeper | £100,000 | 23 Oct 2013 | |
| Semi Ajayi | Charlton | Defender | Free | 01 Jul 2013 | |
| Mathieu Flamini | AC Milan | Midfielder | Free | 29 Aug 2013 | |
| Kim Källström | Spartak Moscow | Midfielder | Loan | 31 Jan 2014 | |
| Emiliano Viviano | Palermo | Goalkeeper | Loan | 02 Sep 2013 |
2014-15
| Alexis Sánchez | Barcelona | Forward | £34,000,000 | 10 Jul 2014 | |
| Danny Welbeck | Manchester United | Forward | £16,000,000 | 02 Sep 2014 | |
| Gabriel Paulista | Villarreal | Defender | £11,200,000 | 28 Jan 2015 | |
| Calum Chambers | Southampton | Defender | £11,000,000 | 28 Jul 2014 | |
| Mathieu Debuchy | Newcastle | Defender | £10,000,000 | 17 Jul 2014 | |
| David Ospina | Nice | Goalkeeper | £3,160,000 | 27 Jul 2014 | |
| Krystian Bielik | Legia Warsaw | Midfielder | £2,300,000 | 21 Jan 2015 | |
| Ben Sheaf | West Ham | Midfielder | £280,000 | 01 Jul 2014 | |
| Kristopher Da Graca | Hisingsbacka | Defender | £80,000 | 14 Jul 2014 | |
| Hugo Keto | HJK Helsinki | Goalkeeper | £55,000 | 01 Aug 2014 | |
| Jonatas Centeno | Fulham | Midfielder | Free | 27 Mar 2014 | |
| Ainsley Maitland-Niles | Academy | Midfielder | 24 Oct 2014 |
2015-16.
| Arrival | Transfer Date | ||||
| Petr Cech | Chelsea | Goalkeeper | £10,900,000 | 29 Jun 2015 | |
| Mohamed Elneny | Basel | Midfielder | £6,880,000 | 14 Jan 2016 | |
| Jeff Reine-Adelaide | Lens | Midfielder | £1,500,000 | 01 Jul 2015 | |
| Yassin Fortune | Lens | Forward | £1,500,000 | 01 Jul 2015 | |
| Ismaël Bennacer | Arles-Avignon | Midfielder | £175,000 | 29 Jul 2015 | |
| Vlad Dragomir | ACS Poli Timisoara | Midfielder | £71,000 | 24 Jun 2015 | |
| Donyell Malen | Ajax | Forward | £70,000 | 26 Jul 2015 |
2016-17.
| Player | |||||
| Shkodran Mustafi | Valencia | Defender | £34,320,000 | 30 Aug 2016 | |
| Granit Xhaka | Gladbach | Midfielder | £26,700,000 | 25 May 2016 | |
| Lucas Pérez | Deportivo | Forward | £17,160,000 | 30 Aug 2016 | |
| Kelechi Nwakali | Diamond Football Academy | Midfielder | £3,000,000 | 13 Jun 2016 | |
| Rob Holding | Bolton | Defender | £2,000,000 | 22 Jul 2016 | |
| Takuma Asano | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Forward | £800,000 | 03 Jul 2016 | |
| Cohen Bramall | Hednesford | Defender | £40,000 | 04 Jan 2017 |
2017-18.
In December 2017, Arsenal FC had confirmed the signing of Sven Mislintat from Borussia Dortmund. He was now the clubs head of recruitment and came with a great reputation of spotting very good players. I’ve searched high and low around the internet but I couldn’t bottom out whether Mislintat continues to use statDNA during his scouting process.
| Player. | Date. | ||||
| Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | Dortmund | Forward | £55,600,000 | 31 Jan 2018 | |
| Alexandre Lacazette | Lyon | Forward | £46,000,000 | 05 Jul 2017 | |
| Konstantinos Mavropanos | PAS Giannina | Defender | £1,900,000 | 03 Jan 2018 | |
| Sead Kolasinac | Schalke 04 | Defender | Free | 01 Jul 2017 | |
| Henrikh Mkhitaryan | Manchester United | Midfielder | Free | 22 Jan 2018 |
2018-19.
| Player | I | ||||
| Lucas Torreira | Sampdoria | Midfielder | £26,580,000 | 10 Jul 2018 | |
| Bernd Leno | Bayer Leverkusen | Goalkeeper | £19,200,000 | 19 Jun 2018 | |
| Sokratis Papastathopoulos | Dortmund | Defender | £17,750,000 | 02 Jul 2018 | |
| Mattéo Guendouzi | Lorient | Midfielder | £7,100,000 | 11 Jul 2018 | |
| Stephan Lichtsteiner | Juventus | Defender | Free | 05 Jun 2018 |
The grids are a bit all over over the place but that’s because I’m rubbish at them. Please find it in your hearts to forgive me…
True or not I don’t know but it’s widely reported that Mislintat was the man behind the signing of Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan whilst Arsene Wenger was manager and he also spotted the young but talented Mavropanos. I’d imagine he had a big influence over some if not all the summer signings too. Sokratis might not float everyone’s boat in many ways but he’s strong, isn’t afraid to put his body in the way of anything but in a defensive unit which looks all at sea at the moment, it’s fair to say he’s struggling a bit. We’ve yet to see Leno make his premier league debut but in preseason he looked good, very assured. The other three are doing well and have already won over the fans I’d say.
That’s the very reason I tried to find out whether the club are still using statDNA to assist with signings because if it’s not, perhaps the whole idea of it wasn’t as good as expected and it’s Sven Mislintat now supplying the visual evidence of what a players abilities are rather than a computer/database. A database which concluded that Kevin de Bruyne, a reported transfer target of Wenger, should be swerved because of question marks over his ability to cope with the rough and tumble of the English game. Then there was a young Frenchman, again a genuine transfer target who was at the time playing for Real Sociedad. Wenger was steered away from signing the then young player because statDNA showed his metrics were not overly impressive. Wenger apparently just smiled and said he’d be keeping an eye on that one. Antoine Griezmann was his name.
Has this Americanisation improved things? Neither Potter, his son or I think so because I suspect it’s not only Griezmann and de Bruyne which the computer said no to and it does beg the question, or perhaps comes up with the answer as to why Sven Mislintat and Co were brought into the club. Perhaps they’ve sussed out that eyes are better than stats which is certainly something I believe to be true.
More to the point though, has Josh Kroenke seen through Ivan Gazidis empire build and is that why he is supposedly heading to Italy.
After that rambling, I’m off for a lie-down…
Goodmorning Rico and everyone, the deference is clear in the two categories of signings… Things will only get better..
Morning Mexzy.
I found the comparison interesting. I think it shows that’s stats, while some people love them, only tell a minute part of a players story. Look at Ozil as a prime example, on paper he’s world class and he might be but stats don’t tell us what the eye can see.
Great in a team with nine seriously hard working and exceptional players, but when the chips are down, you wouldn’t want to rely on him for help.
Great read rico. Thank you.
Puts a thought into ones head, all that statistical stuff. Call me old fashioned, but I’m a firm believer in the old fashioned way of going to see a player several times in person before you make a decision.
All this video viewing of players is nonsense.
Also, you can have as many stats as you like…..
A player may run further than another, BUT, it doesn’t mean he’s a better player.
A player may make more tackles than another player, BUT, did he win more tackles?
A player may make more headers than another player, BUT, does his clearances go to a corresponding colour shirt?
Finally, I don’t believe a computer or a human scouted Xhaka………… I know for a fact, that it was a blind man.
Happy Bank Holiday HH’ers
COYG
Thanks Vcc, you and I think alike. Heat maps etc etc are alien to mean. A player might run three miles during a game but then so might I, doesn’t mean I could do anything useful with the ball..
The game is played on a pitch, not a tv screen, and not on a computer.
Morning all.
Stats show Ozil invariably covers as much ground as any player on the pitch so he’s not lazy, but defensively irresponsible, imo, although I’m shooting down my own argument there 🙂
Rico, stop picking on Alexis-the lads gone hahahahaha
It’s a thought provoking post so well done guys.
Denilson used to cover a lot of ground too Scott.. lol
I guess the question this kind of stuff raises is whilst criticism was fired at Wenger for not signing the likes of Griezmann, Hazard etc etc, perhaps this new toy statDNA was being used against him. I don’t know, but it’s a thought..
It’d be nice to know, but as long as our scouting system has changed now, I’m happy.
Thanks for sorting our musings Rico ,I tried and failed to write it many times . Just to add a bit of grist to the mill though . In 2011 we were looking at Lille for what might be called an inside forward . Stats told us to buy Gervinho so we left Eden hazard where he was. Just saying !
My pleasure Potter and thank you for the subject.
StatDNA has a lot to answer for it would seem. Not in a good way either. I wonder how many other players we missed out on because of it. Water under the bridge now I know but it could have made a lot of difference to Wenger’s career. Perhaps that’s the reason he talked so much about the players he nearly signed.
I’m sorry guys and Dolls. I cannot agree about Wenger in his latter years about signings. Trusting computer statistics.
When he first came to The Mighty Arsenal, his philosophy was, if they score four, then we will score five. That was fine when he had players of the calibre at Arsenal at the time.
He never concentrated much on defensive attributes, back then, and certainly didn’t change in his latter years as manager.
He became old and stale. So set in his ways, a stubborn French man. He had to go for the good of Arsenal.
Just look at the mess he has left Emery in.
Its not rocket science, he became a liability to us, and caused us many headaches, which are going to take a long time to turn around.
I have faith in Emery though, I’m keeping my fingers crossed he will be successful for us.
I like the way he is strong with ALL the players, even our Prima Donas.
Morning all and thanks Rico/Potter.
The sedation is easing, although I had this dreamy state of mind where Xhaka captained us to the Cup Treble and won the Ballon D`or !……………………obviously I was hallucinating as no way will we win the cup treble !
Just wondering whether Dick has been tampering with the StatDNA and using it for our defensive tactics, because from the link I put up yesterday which showed players average positions, on average we were playing 2 at the back !…………….I`ve heard of 4 at the back and 3 at the back, but 2 !………………luckily for us we had 2 of our fastest players in Sokratis and Mustafi to cover ! 😉
Vcc, I personally am not trying to defend Wenger, his time was up long ago because he’d become static, lived in the past hoping it would still work but as far as signing players go, maybe his hands were tied a bit because of this American data purchase.
I think Emery will get there in time, he just needs to be afforded that time.. One of the things I like about him is he isn’t afraid to make changes to his team selection at any time during the match.. Almost admitting his original team selection was wrong.
G’day to you all, I’m happy that Emery is willing to hook a player who is not performing to plan at half time, rather than leave him on the pitch in the hope that he will come good eventually, okay it may hurt his feelings a little but that has to be a price worth paying for the good of the team as a whole.
I am not a lover of statistics, or player ratings. As an example Bellerin has received quite high ratings for his performance on Sunday presumably for his attacking display, yet his primary purpose is defence for which, In my opinion, he deserved a kick up the a**e.
A better day here in Broadland, after yesterday’s rain. I was planning on going to the Aylsham show today, but as it looks like we’re in for more showers, and the beer tent capacity is limited, I’ve given it a miss.
Cicero, too bad if it hurts eh. Whatever player it be should understand really because when they are sat on the bench watching others continue regardless of how they’re playing, they too should be wondering why they aren’t getting a game.
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Rico, the player that has the most right to feel aggrieved is surely Lichtsteiner. Signed for his strong defensive qualities, as well as his combative no nonsense style, he must sit there on the bench wondering how Bellerin seems to be the first choice when the right side of the back four is a shambles.
Which brings me back to playing Bellerin forward and putting the Swiss at right back.
VCC , I am not trying to defend the last years of Wenger what I was doing was comparing the transfer business after Stat DNA was introduced. We seem to have purchased a lot more players but my question is whether the quality was better with the stats or when we scouted in person.
Totally agree there Cicero. Of all the games we could have done with him, the first two were a dead cert imo..
I’d say personal scouting Potter, and by the looks of things, it’s improving. Sven just needs to get us two top notch central defenders, sell Mustafi and obs your uncle..
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Rico, did you mean to say Robert is your aunt’s husband. 😀
😀 Cicero, I did..
I always thought that, the more Wenger spent, the worse we got.
Very interesting post Rico.
I was truly amazed that Sanogo cost £390,000 as I thought he was free, was that axsigning on fee and/or agent fee.
What a complete waste of money..
Thanks Kev, no idea re Sanogo fee but yes, what a waste of money..
Mr Allezkev! How dare you suggest such a thing?
Where is Sanogo now, Barca, Real or Bayern, I forgot….
Mount Pleasant FC I think Rico.
He’s delivering letters to Percy Circus
How`s Santi doing ?
https://twitter.com/afcDW/status/1034120106484224000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1034120106484224000&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fdailycannon.com%2F2018%2F08%2Fvideo-santi-cazorlas-individual-highlights-from-match-against-sevilla%2F
😂 Adam/Kev.
Adam 4.20 so true, the Arshavin signing was sooo exciting at the time, like so many before and after him it turned out they’re best position was right hand side of the taxi rank at Kings Cross !!!
Not that I’m defending Sanogo but he was always one of Wengers gambles. Two years earlier he was regarded by most people in football as one of the best out there. He was in the shortlist for the ‘golden boy’ award. Which is effectively the best youth in Europe award.
Then he blew his back in an injury and was out for over a year. We bought him about a month before he finished his recovery. I’m guessing the hope was that he had recovered and would be a superstar. It didn’t happen. But for a few hundred grand a player that was regarded to be a good as Lukaku before his injury……….not a bad gamble.
When he first came to The Mighty Arsenal, his philosophy was, if they score four, then we will score five.
When he first arrived he didn’t have to worry about the others scoring four as he had Tony ( professor of defending ) Adams , Bould ,Dixon , Winterburn ,Seaman and Keown to look after that.
Watched the match last night and it reminded me of a post I wrote in 2016 on the AFC forum.
potter wrote:
Not sure what people want , this year I have become kind of ambivalent about The Arsenal and their prospects. I went last night to watch a football match and I saw two pretty evenly matched teams playing with a will to win. There was no bus parking and a lot of attacking open play. Good entertainment. Obviously I wanted to win but we were playing the Man City of France and some of their players were a pleasure to watch. Silva at the back was smoking Gauloise whilst looking after Giroud and the number 7 Lucas I would swop half our squad for him. Walcott , the Ox and Elneny they could have all three.
Against PSG at home and the Lucas I referred to was none other than Lucas Moura.
I wonder what the stats said about him.
I didn’t know that about Sanogo Hobart.
Arsene Wenger certainly left a very different squad to the one he left behind. He still had to make additions to turn us into the team we became but he was fortunate to have such a strong and drilled defensive unit.
Moura was pretty good last night wasn’t he Potter? I suspect the statsDNa would have suggested he was a bit too small for the PL.
Morning all.
New post up now.
Morning all.
Sorry Rico, I’m still having real problems ‘loading the site’ and posting is also proving very difficult. It is probably my steam driven iPad and apple’s insistence in building in gradual obscelecence? Anyhow I’ll be on site when my machine lets me.
Sanogo’s value was equivalent to a small two bed roomed flat on Gillespie Road, I reckon! Not a lot by today’s standards but way above the value of his contributions on the field of play for the mighty Arsenal! Shame really. No stats were used for him, I think. His purchase was all down to Wenger and his talent spotting eye, plus a good pinch of his natural ‘Scrooge’!
Just to turn the knife. Wasn’t it a delight to see Maureen turned over on their own slimy heap? And watching the poisoned dwarf getting short shrift from the press afterwards? What altogether nasty little man he is, arrogant, self-serving and Teflon encrusted! I hope he continues to fail and falls totally from grace. With any fortune and for the good of football in this country, he will be hounded from these shores by a baying barking bevy of press boys!😊 Not that I wish him any harm, of course, but I would contribute to his one way air ticket back to Portugal!
Cloudy but dry here, however the garden is full of very hungry gnats!