11 Questions with Benoit Pimpaud

The pursuit of wisdom in any walk of life quickly reveals that what you think you know is not nearly enough to get you to where you want to go. As I'm starting out in my football scouting journey I challenged myself to reach out to those already working in various roles in football to answer a short list of questions. My goal wasn't to get answers but relevant perspectives on the game within the game.

Here is Benoit Pimpaud, @Ben8t :

How did your first opportunity in sports come about?

I'm not in professional sport (though I will probably sign a contract with football club soon...), so I can't talk about opportunity yet. But writing for https://totalfootballanalysis.com/ is probably my first step. Then doing some data-viz on Twitter allow to meet some great people in the football analytics community and thus have contacts with pros working in clubs or sport data companies.

What attracted you to analytics? What’s more intriguing now names or numbers?

As a data-scientist and football fan, football analytics was the best way to apply my engineer knowledge on my passion. Moreover, it's a new field and so a lot of things to play with and discover.

What is the first model/concept you "found"? Python or R? Why?

I really like and use both Python and R. I'm more Python for all data processing, complexe code design or data flows, and R for all about data-visualization and analysis. It's pretty difficult to compare these two languages : there are designed for different purposes. However it's still very important to know about both. If I had to choose one, I will prefer Python because it has more features and it's more a "classic language" compared to R.

What is the biggest misconception in sports? Why?

Difficult question. I don't think there is a specific misconception. Maybe, people look at punctual performances too much and do not have a long-term vision of players, coach or clubs. Very powerful players are not necessarily those who shines and it's always good to keep the big picture in mind rather than a particular game or event.

If you could start over what skill would you build on first?

Definitively story-telling. Was bad in French/English (still have to improve...) during high school and so my abilities to write and talk could be better than it is actually. It's the skill I'm improving the most nowadays. It's quite important, even in beginning when you have to show your results. When you start your work by thinking about your goals, what you want to share, etc... it brings a new way of see things.

Do you see player development as more of an art or a science? Why?

Don't really know about player development, but I think what is really important is how players think of the game rather than physics or skills abilities.

What is your favorite sports moment? Why?

For a recent one, it is probably Gareth Bale in Champions League 2018 final, it's been a long time since such a strike had been executed in a big game like that. But among the most important, I remember the dribbles of Ronaldinho when he played at Barça : probably my favorite player ever.

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

Not quite original here: I really like Arsene Wenger approach. He is one of the first to use data-driven method to lead his teams. Also love Guardiola's style, Iniesta-Xavi midfield at the time. Beyond the style of play, it's the message it brings out that is very valuable in my opinion. Football is a game and so you have first to love the game and just play. I prefer play in a "beautiful" way (though it's subjective) and maybe lose rather than just try to win by any possible way.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into analytics?

I think the good advice here is : just try things. Try to improve methods you read out there with your own ideas or explore new ideas. There are still a lot of things to do. I also recommend to learn computer science without looking to necessarily apply it on sport analytics. Just learn computer science the right way, then you will see how it's easy to manipulate data and explore complex models. Also don't hesitate to ask questions. I don't really know about other sport, but there are a lot of great guys in the football analytics who are ready to help.

What is your favorite app/tool to use (for work or fun)?

I have two tools to be very productive and that are very pleasant to use : notion.so - a all in one workspace for read, write, self-organisation, etc..., and Docker to do reproducible work and clean application. These two are incredibles, I recommend everybody to use and learn this kind of tool (especially Docker).

What other sport/hobby/discipline do you feel improves your work as an analyst/scout? Why?

I really love digital illustration and photography. I'm learning a lot about how to visualize data and show my work with schemes, choosing good colors, etc...