The Numbers Behind Success in Soccer

Discover How Some Modern Professional Soccer Teams and Players Use Analytics to Dominate the Competition

By: Chest Dugger

Narrated by: Jim Cassidy

What's behind the success of certain professional soccer clubs? Is it money, luck, skill? The answer may surprise you....

The use of analytics in sport is now well embedded. Marginal gains, the bedrock upon which the cycling coach Dave Brailsford built his greatest successes, are cornerstones of most sports nowadays. But, until recently, that did not apply to the biggest sport in the world. Not in soccer. It was as though this simplest of sports is too complicated for statistics. Or that only one statistic counts, the number of times the ball hits the back of the net. "The only statistic that counts", there’s an often used and annoying stock term.

However, in the last 10 years, professional soccer clubs of all levels of wealth and stature have bought into analytics. Data analysts are now a major part of every top professional club. They interact with players, advise coaches, examine the strengths and weaknesses of teams, establish likely tactical organization of different sides; even focus on what a referee might allow and penalize.

Here's what's included in this book:

• The reasons why top spending clubs like PSG and Manchester City don't always win
• How analytics has helped Leicester City overcome the poverty gap in soccer
• How analytics has revolutionizing soccer training sessions and pre-match strategy sessions
• Three players who were chosen by professional soccer clubs using analytics
• How modern analytics fared doing soccer predictions for the 2018 World Cup
• Analytics settles the great debate: Messi vs. Ronaldo
• And much more

Even if you've never played soccer in your life, you will find this book informative and engaging.

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©2020 Kumar (P)2021 Kumar

Cool Book!!

I want to get better at soccer, and these workouts seem fantastic. I found this book so cool to listen through

Great content, great story flow, great narration

First off all, this book is currently very much up to date on some of the analytics content. Written in 2020 and having listened to it in 2021 this topic is still very much up to date in an industry that moves reasonably fast especially over the last few years.

To be clear, this is not a deep dive into how clubs do soccer analytics, but it highlights approaches and how to think about the field of analytics available to you when trying to apply it to soccer. As that I think it gives a very detailed and complete overview. From there it is up to you to take the learnings and dive into the details.

What makes this and many other books from Chest Dugger stand out is the narrative flow and built in but hidden dry soccer humor. When the author seemingly has fun with the book he is writing and when it shines through in the narration, I know I stumbled onto a good one.

Great instruction!!

Every one of Chest Dugger's books has been extremely beneficial and educational. The time that was spent organizing the information is greatly appreciated.

Pretty Basic!!

A good book that definitely gets to the point and explains some of the nuances of soccer warm-ups

Soccer Defense Skills!!

Key concepts and defense-related topics are covered in this book. There are also useful drills included. Suitable for all levels. Liked it.