Has made it worse. Think about it, when was the last time you saw a manager make a second half tactical substitution before the 70th minute? It's so rare now. Do you know why they don't? I think it's because statistically most goals occur after the 70th minute so having high intensity fresh legs in that period gives you the most theoretical advantage in terms of forcing the tired opposition defence into a mistake.
However, winning games isn't just about how much you run, whether you're in the red zone, how many mistakes you can force the opposition into with a high press. It's about combining talent and desire, it's about having players run through brick walls to get on the end of the winner, it's about psychology. Or at least it used to be.
If as a player you've had a shit first half, the manager gives you a bollocking at half time and tells you what you need to do better in the 2nd, you need both the carrot of enjoying playing better / winning in the 2nd half, combined with the stick of fearing getting the hook after 55 minutes if you don't start doing better what the manager has told you to.
But with this cowardly data driven style of football we see now, you'll never get the hook on 55 minutes, the manager will wait until the 75th minute to do something anyway. It's all about the negative tactic of finding the best odds of forcing a mistake from the opposition, rather than the positive narrative of constructing a better way of playing for your own team.
Or to look at it another way, would Riquelme have ever been signed to a European side if people looked at his Opta data? Here's a memorable, special player that people still talk about 20 years later, but he barely broke out into a jog once a game, no chance anybody would have taken a gamble on the guy.
Data can't quantify the stories, the drama, the mercurial genius, the psychological battles that are a key part of what has always made football special. It's making the game (and the wider world but that's another story) more boring. Can we ever go back? Will there ever again be a manager brave / great enough to break away from boring big data and still win?
However, winning games isn't just about how much you run, whether you're in the red zone, how many mistakes you can force the opposition into with a high press. It's about combining talent and desire, it's about having players run through brick walls to get on the end of the winner, it's about psychology. Or at least it used to be.
If as a player you've had a shit first half, the manager gives you a bollocking at half time and tells you what you need to do better in the 2nd, you need both the carrot of enjoying playing better / winning in the 2nd half, combined with the stick of fearing getting the hook after 55 minutes if you don't start doing better what the manager has told you to.
But with this cowardly data driven style of football we see now, you'll never get the hook on 55 minutes, the manager will wait until the 75th minute to do something anyway. It's all about the negative tactic of finding the best odds of forcing a mistake from the opposition, rather than the positive narrative of constructing a better way of playing for your own team.
Or to look at it another way, would Riquelme have ever been signed to a European side if people looked at his Opta data? Here's a memorable, special player that people still talk about 20 years later, but he barely broke out into a jog once a game, no chance anybody would have taken a gamble on the guy.
Data can't quantify the stories, the drama, the mercurial genius, the psychological battles that are a key part of what has always made football special. It's making the game (and the wider world but that's another story) more boring. Can we ever go back? Will there ever again be a manager brave / great enough to break away from boring big data and still win?
