Football giants

Chapter 153 Data is King
"Come on, everyone, to celebrate this victory, let's do it!"

As Yang Huan raised the wine glass in his hand high, everyone at the scene stood up in unison and raised their wine glasses high.

Except for the players and non-drinkers such as Charlene Lahiri, all the others were imported Tsingtao beer from China.

Although it is still mid-February, the weather is very cold, but pouring down a glass of beer, in one word, is cool!

More importantly, Yang Huan found the familiar taste of his hometown.

"As a person, I have a creed in life!"

After drinking a glass of wine, Yang Huan waved his hand, motioning for everyone to sit down.

Everyone sat down, but still looked up at him and listened to him.

"I believe that in everyone's life, at least one thing that others can't do, that is unique, can make life meaningful. If the things we do are done by others, and they are the most common and ordinary things like eating and sleeping, then what's the meaning of life?"

After Yang Huan finished speaking, almost everyone in the audience showed a hint of understanding.

"Okay, Master Huan, well said!"

"It makes so much sense, it literally entered my heart!"

There were also some people who showed disbelief, as if such words were not like what Yang Huan would say at all.

For example, Horikita Maki, she finds it difficult to understand.

Could it be copied from a certain book, or copied from a website forum?

"Thank you Miss Charlene Lahiri!" Yang Huan pointed to the beautiful Charlene Lahiri.

Suddenly, there was a burst of booing and shouting.

"She checked it for me. In the history of English football, no team from the third tier has ever won the FA Cup."

When Yang Huan said this, he deliberately paused.

Everyone in the audience also fell silent, with serious expressions on their faces.

"Over 100 years of history, no one has ever done it!"

There was a hint of longing on the faces of many players.

"We have reached the quarter-finals. We are only three games away from this great feat that has never been done before, and there will probably be no one in the future. It is about to create a new history of English football!"

Yang Huan's right hand gesture made many players nod incessantly.

There was a burst of incomparably warm cheers and applause.

"Okay, Master Huan, we will definitely fight for these three matches!"

"Yes, even if we fight to the death, we will win!"

"We must win, win these three games, and we will make history!"

"It's so exciting. This kind of opportunity doesn't just come along."

"If you don't fight now, when will you fight?"

Yang Huan stretched out his hands to signal the players to be quiet.

"I won't say much. The competition depends on everyone. I'll just say a word..."

Facing all the players, coaching staff, and staff on the scene, Yang Huan once again raised his wine glass high.

"...Please everyone!"

All the players, coaches, and staff immediately stood up, raised their glasses, and fucked him!
Every time Yang Huan treats guests to dinner, Wangjiang Pavilion is always noisy and lively.

This is very rare in fine dining restaurants in Europe.

For this kind of thing, all the guests who came to Wangjiang Pavilion are already used to it, after all, it is a Chinese restaurant.

As for Chinese food, what kind of atmosphere is there if the dinner party is not lively?
There are even many guests who are eager to meet Southampton players and employees, or to see the staff of WeChat.

This is also a very honorable addition to them.

The reason why Yang Huan likes to treat guests to dinner is because he firmly believes that any place in the world is the same, and to build a good relationship, dinner with guests is essential.

Didn't you see that Manchester United often organizes dinner parties for players and employees?
After eating and drinking enough, Yang Huan hooked his fingers at Charlene Lahiri.

The little girl followed him out of the lobby with a look of reluctance, and came to the open-air restaurant area outside.

When the weather is cold, few guests are willing to come here for a breeze, especially at night.

"Hey, call out next time, don't hook your fingers, those who don't know think we are two..."

Charlene Lahiri tightened her thick down jacket, feeling a little cold and a little angry.

This guy is getting more and more excessive, and he almost regards himself as a servant who comes when he is called, and goes away when he is waved.

"What do you think we two are?" Yang Huan looked at her with a smile.

The faint light from the lamppost along the River Tester sprinkled on her face, as if it had been coated with a layer of light.

The cold wind blew across her face, causing the bangs scattered on both sides of her face to sway slightly.

Gradually, a slight blush appeared on her fair, pink face.

Almost everyone worships her as a goddess, but few people know that she is much more beautiful in real life than on TV.

Being stared at by his eyes so motionlessly, Charlene Lahiri pretended to be fine at first, but gradually, she felt very uncomfortable, her pink face turned redder involuntarily, and her body became hot as if she had drunk alcohol.

"If you have anything to say, just say it, and if you look at it like this again, I'm leaving!" The tone was more like coquettish.

Yang Huan chuckled cheekily, "I'm sorry, my biggest shortcoming is that I can't see pretty girls, who made you look so beautiful, I couldn't help but take a few more glances!"

Damn, just look at it, and you still say it so openly and confidently?
Charlene Lahiri had the urge to beat him up.

"Say something quickly!" She finally couldn't hate it.

I even wondered a little in my heart, was he sincere when he praised me for being beautiful?
"Actually, it's not a big deal." Yang Huan decided not to look at her, so as not to think that he was using his eyes to prostitute her all day long.

"You know a lot of people. I want to form an analysis team in Southampton recently. Do you know any experts?"

When it came to serious business, Charlene Lahiri also returned to her usual ability and calmness, "Analysis team?"

"Analyze the opponent before the game, analyze the game and the players on both sides during the game, and summarize the game after the game. In addition to the game, there is also an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your own team, etc., and even provide some professional advice for the transfer."

Charlene Lahiri understood, "You mean an analyst, or a research coach."

There are some people like this in almost all Premier League teams, but their roles are different.

For example, when Mourinho coached Chelsea in the early days, Villas-Boas was one of his analysts.

Mourinho is the one who attaches the most importance to data analysis among all the head coaches. Many people even think that once he loses his data analysis ability, his aura of famous coach will no longer exist.

Another person who pays attention to data analysis is Barcelona's head coach Pep Guardiola. His coaching team has 24 people, many of whom are professionals specializing in various data analysis.

"Yes, analysts, but what I want to build is an analysis team that serves the team."

Although many analysts are working in the club in name, they are actually working for a certain head coach. Once the head coach leaves get out of get out of get out of get out of get out of get out of get out of get out of get out of get out of class, he will follow suit.

But what Yang Huan wants is an analysis team that not only serves the head coach, but everyone in Southampton, including tactics, games, training and even transfers. These are the areas that the analysis team needs to cover.

"Is there any suitable candidate?"

Yang Huan also had a headache about this.

If it is said that Zhu Liangcheng, Wang Lin and others are allowed to develop a set of analysis software, there is definitely no problem.

The real question is, how does a layman develop a set of application software for an insider?
Also, football analysis is not just cold data. If you want that, turn left when you go out, OPTA under Sky TV can provide it, and there are other football analysis companies in Europe that can provide this kind of data.

A real football analyst not only needs to be able to deal with those cold and cumbersome data, he must also understand football, especially if he has played football himself, because only those who have played football can understand the ins and outs of some seemingly weird actions on the field, and then better evaluate a player.

To be honest, there are not many that meet these requirements.

What Yang Huan wants now is to set up an analysis team, at least a few people are needed to call it a team.

"You're talking about a lot of people like this, such as Everton's James Smith, Moyes' right-hand assistant; Liverpool's strategy director, the Frenchman Damien Comolly, a former assistant to Arsene Wenger; Mike Ford, Chelsea's player data analysis director, and Kevin Frege, Manchester City's chief data analyst."

Charlene Lahiri is familiar with the analysts of these Premier League teams, and it is obvious that she has worked hard.

"Many people don't know that the reason why Manchester United sold Stam was not because of his autobiography, but because Ferguson's data analysis team told him that Stam was no longer good, so he decided to sell, but the Dutchman shined in Italy."

"Few people know that after the Abu Dhabi consortium acquired Manchester City, the first thing they did was to form a data analysis team with as many as twelve people, led by Kevin Frege."

Hearing this, Yang Huan shrugged, "Well, I admit, we are behind in this respect!"

Data analysis is indeed Southampton's weakness, which also leads to a heavy task for the coaching staff.

This is mainly because Southampton did not have such an analysis team before, and it was a League One team, so it was ignored.

There are too many things that Yang Huan has to be busy with, it is normal to ignore such trivial matters.

Fortunately, it is too late to pay attention now.

Charlene Lahiri did not expect that Yang Huan would take the initiative to admit his mistake.

"Is there any good expert to introduce to me?"

"In fact, the application of data in the field of football is still very superficial, not professional at all!"

Charlene Lahiri expressed some of her views, "For example, in the United States, many employees engaged in data analysis in the NBA and football teams are top students from Harvard University or MIT, or even Ph.D. Compared with them, the current level of football data analysis may not be as good as that of junior high school students."

"Including OPTA and Prozone?" Yang Huan was a little surprised.

These are the two top data analysis companies in the football field.

Unexpectedly, Charlene Lahiri nodded with certainty, "Yeah."

Yang Huan was a little tempted when he heard that, "How much investment do you think will be needed to build the most outstanding data analysis team comparable to the NBA and American football teams?"

"At the level of Manchester City and Arsenal, the annual investment is about 200 million pounds, but if you want to reach the American level, you need at least 400 million pounds or more. The whole set of equipment alone is worth a lot."

Yang Huan knew it well.

In the eyes of many Premier League teams, the investment of 400 million pounds is indeed very high. Rather than building an analysis team that needs long-term maintenance and investment at this price, it is better to use it for signings.

Therefore, teams including Manchester United and Manchester City do not pay much attention to it, and are even reluctant to ask for this money.

But Yang Huan feels that data analysis will play an increasingly important role in football.

At least one thing he knows very well, that is, in [-], even if some amateur fans were discussing football, they always talked about statistics, heat maps and running route maps and so on.

In the professional circle, I am afraid that the use of data will be more in-depth.

This represents the trend of the future, and whoever is ahead will have an advantage.

The future of professional football will be an era where data is king!

"I know two great people in this area. One is the professor of statistics at Oxford University, Marcus du Sartoy. I interviewed him when I wrote a report. I think he is an authority in this area in Europe and the world. He is also a die-hard football fan and played football when he was young."

"Southampton?" Yang Huan was surprised, it couldn't be such a coincidence, could it?
Charlene Lahiri chuckled, "You are so beautiful, you are a diehard Arsenal fan."

"Wow, then he doesn't hate us now? How could he agree to come?"

　Thanks to the book friend [Feixu's Track] for the reward!

　　Thanks to [Book Friends 17074244], [Book Friends 31****] and [Book Friends 59129647] for the monthly tickets!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)