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 Last Row:
Here is Last Row:
How did your first opportunity in football come about?
I wanted to develop my data analysis and visualization skills and decided to learn Python. So I started using football as a subject, mainly scraping and making data visualizations. That was in 2014.
In 2017 I started experimenting with positional data, because I was tired of the limitations of event data, and in 2018 created the twitter account - @lastrowview.
What attracted you to media/data/scouting? What’s more intriguing now names or numbers?
Football Manager, the computer game (not that surprising if you ever watched my videos). I was a huge fan of the game growing up, so the analytics community felt like home right away.
What's more intriguing? It is always the combination of names and numbers, of watching the matches and looking at the data.
What type of player fascinates you? What caught your eye?
The midfielder that makes the pass that opens up the defense, but not necessarily the assist: Pirlo, Modric, Busquets.
What is the biggest misconception you’ve found in this space?
That stats are inherently limited. Stats are always a simplification of reality, but that's a feature, not a bug - they're not supposed to be a substitute for actually watching the matches.
I wanted to develop my data analysis and visualization skills and decided to learn Python. So I started using football as a subject, mainly scraping and making data visualizations. That was in 2014.
In 2017 I started experimenting with positional data, because I was tired of the limitations of event data, and in 2018 created the twitter account - @lastrowview.
What attracted you to media/data/scouting? What’s more intriguing now names or numbers?
Football Manager, the computer game (not that surprising if you ever watched my videos). I was a huge fan of the game growing up, so the analytics community felt like home right away.
What's more intriguing? It is always the combination of names and numbers, of watching the matches and looking at the data.
What type of player fascinates you? What caught your eye?
The midfielder that makes the pass that opens up the defense, but not necessarily the assist: Pirlo, Modric, Busquets.
What is the biggest misconception you’ve found in this space?
That stats are inherently limited. Stats are always a simplification of reality, but that's a feature, not a bug - they're not supposed to be a substitute for actually watching the matches.
Of course, there are some gaps in the stats we use, and that is a bug. We need to develop metrics to fill those gaps.
If you could start over what skill would you build on first?
I started with Python, and I haven't regretted it. However, there's one thing I wish I had done more: writing.
What is more important domain knowledge or curiosity?
Curiosity (or interest/passion). It's always easier to get domain knowledge than to get curiosity.
What is your favorite sports moment? Why?
Eder scoring the goal in the Euro final.
Finally my country won a major international tournament, and the deciding goal was scored by a player that started in my home club, a player I watched live many times and was always fond of, and a player that was often misundertood. He became a hero that day, and I loved it.
What coach or player would you give a lifetime contract to? Why?
At a young age, obviously Messi.
Right now, as a player: Mbappé. I don't remember ever watching a player with his combination of speed and technique.
As a coach: Klopp. He'll make the best of the players available to him. And he'll always be entertaining.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into this space?
Make stuff and put it out in the world, but be humble. A lot of it won't be good, and that's fine. Don't be mad when people point that out. It'll become better with time.
Who is your favorite athlete? Why?
I love Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. It's a wonderful privilege to witness two amazing players having an almost flawless and long career at the same time. We'll be missing them for a long time.
What is your favorite quote or saying?
I don't have a favorite quote. I'm more of a numbers guy...
If you could start over what skill would you build on first?
I started with Python, and I haven't regretted it. However, there's one thing I wish I had done more: writing.
What is more important domain knowledge or curiosity?
Curiosity (or interest/passion). It's always easier to get domain knowledge than to get curiosity.
What is your favorite sports moment? Why?
Eder scoring the goal in the Euro final.
Finally my country won a major international tournament, and the deciding goal was scored by a player that started in my home club, a player I watched live many times and was always fond of, and a player that was often misundertood. He became a hero that day, and I loved it.
What coach or player would you give a lifetime contract to? Why?
At a young age, obviously Messi.
Right now, as a player: Mbappé. I don't remember ever watching a player with his combination of speed and technique.
As a coach: Klopp. He'll make the best of the players available to him. And he'll always be entertaining.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into this space?
Make stuff and put it out in the world, but be humble. A lot of it won't be good, and that's fine. Don't be mad when people point that out. It'll become better with time.
Who is your favorite athlete? Why?
I love Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. It's a wonderful privilege to witness two amazing players having an almost flawless and long career at the same time. We'll be missing them for a long time.
What is your favorite quote or saying?
I don't have a favorite quote. I'm more of a numbers guy...
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