11 Questions with Abhishek Sharma

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 Abhishek Sharma:

How did your first opportunity in football come about?

I had been working as a hobbyist in the so-called “football analytics” space for a while – mostly writing tactical analyses and creating very basic visualizations when I first saw Total Football Analysis (TFA) recruiting writers – this was around February, 2019. I mailed Chris and joined the TFA family soon after.

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

I was very late in appreciating the beauty of football; I’ve been playing the game recreationally for barely three years now. But when I did catch on, I was hooked to it. Pretty soon, I created a Twitter account and got to see some great work in the field – by guys like Sushruta Nandy and José Pérez (both of whom I’d been following from Quora) . I remember thinking, “yeah, I want to do that too”. I would say both – names and numbers but if you held me at gunpoint and asked me to choose one, I’d say names.

What player or concept you fascinates you? What caught your eye?

Right now, it’s the entire intersection of DL/ML with football data that’s super interesting to me. I enjoy the process of statistical modelling (even though I’m mostly a noob) and hopefully gain some insights about the game. I don’t believe it’s possible to ‘solve’ football but I would be lying if I said I don’t think about doing it, all the same.

What is the biggest misconception you’ve found in this space?

Not sure I’ve found anything but I particularly cringe at folks who push a rigid dichotomy between traditional scouting and numbers on a spreadsheet. Both have their pros and cons (I like the push-pull dynamic Karun Singh talked about when referring to this collaboration between video analysts and data analysts) and it’s just so much more helpful to use both optimally to gain a competitive advantage. That argument is so 2005.

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

If I could start over, I’d probably start watching the game a lot more (and from a lot earlier in my life). For the hard-skills stuff, I’d definitely focus more on the rigorous field of statistics to develop an analytical mindset (not limited just to football).

What is more important player development or recruitment? Why?

From the perspective of a guy staring at numbers at a club, I’d say recruitment offers more space to work with and more chance to err (individual physical data for players is still sparse in the public domain). But more often than not, coaches have to work with what they have and in that sense, developing what you have is key. Again, the lack of data makes it tough for me to comment on what’s possible for an analyst (beyond stuff like injury prevention and optimal training plans).

What is your favorite sports moment? Why?

I don’t think I have a favorite but I will tell you my worst. It was the 2014 WC final. I was rooting for Argentina (Messi, really) and that moment when Gotze scored almost felt like a stab in the gut. I was inconsolable the entire week and it still hurts to this day.

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

As coaches go, I really enjoy watching Nagelsmann’s teams – the current Leipzig side, especially. For the longest part, I was of the

opinion that the effect of coaches on teams is really overrated but now after seeing him replicate his success with RBL, I’m not so sure.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into this space?

Now, more than ever, there’s a lot of data available which is – didn’t want to say this but – unprecedented. It’s enough to test almost any concept you can think of – be that using tracking data or event or just aggregated box scores. What’s more, there are also lots of tutorials/ resources available which teach you how to use this data – and all of that is entirely free. My advice to anyone wanting to get in to stop wanting and just dive in. Find something which interests you and just keep building from the bottom up.

Who is your favorite athlete? Why?

Lionel Messi. Just because :)

What is your favorite quote or saying?

That varies from time to time. My current one is something I saw in a tweet attributed to Ted Knutson - “Video gives you all of the

information, data capture only gives you part of it” I like it because it’s the CEO of a data company talking about how knowing the limitations of the numbers is just as important as knowing what’s possible with the data. And also because, despite every advance in football analytics, football will always surprise us and hence why, we’ll always love the game so much.