11 Questions with Lucas LM

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 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 Lucas LM:

What is your first memory of football?

Football always reminds me of school, because I joined a club relatively late.

What attracted you to data and scouting? What’s more intriguing now, refining your processes and acumen or 'discovering' players?

I have always loved exploring and meeting new players, beyond those in my country's league. Over the years and the accessibility you can have right now to train as a Scout, my curiosity became a goal and I hope to find my professional opportunity.

The contribution made by the data is very beneficial for the role of a Scout, but it is very important to know how to handle it since the footballer is not just numbers, it has a professional and personal context that you have to know. That's where personal judgment comes in, also with intuition.

What is the biggest misconception/cliche regarding recruitment you’ve found in this space?

I think it is easy to label players from a very young age, and it is a mistake, because professional football is very difficult and it is not only quality that is important. All players who reach a certain level have quality, the difference is marked by the context, their attitude and a bit of luck.

Misuse of data is another frequent mistake. I have seen how a player stands out for the number of goals or assists he has given, without entering to value anything else.

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

Better knowledge about big data.

What is more important domain knowledge or curiosity?

A mixture of both, but always starting from knowledge.

What is more useful in scouting- breadth of skills or depth of talent? Why?

It always depends on what you need. For example, in a club that needs no relegation and with limited resources, it would be more normal for them to look for players who give an immediate performance. In the teams of the TOP5 leagues, the number of young players tends to decrease when the resources are less (there are exceptions).

When you are looking for talent to develop, you have to offer a very favorable context (training, minutes of play, attention to development) for that player to grow to the level we expect.

What three (3) football icons would you want to have a meal with? Why?

1. Bielsa: He is an idol for me, regarding football and also as a person and the values he transmits. He has a philosophy that I share and represents a lot to me. Also, I have read that he likes good food.

2. Aimar: He is my favorite player. Not only for his incredible talent, but also for his personality and how he has managed his career, without controversy. All the fans recognize the quality of him and that is difficult. In addition, he is now a coach and with ideas that attract me a lot.

3. Klopp: Genius, in every way. I love his character and the feelings he conveys. I like his football and it would be a dream to meet him.

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

That he has to work very hard, be consistent and try to differentiate himself from others, with his own style and that identifies him.

What is your favorite quote or saying?

"You don't always get what you deserve."

11 Questions with Inverted Fullback

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 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 Inverted Fullback:

What is your first memory of football?

​

Playing in the garden with my brother aged 4 but in terms of watching on TV my first memory was of Norwich losing 5-0 to Arsenal in 1988 and then deciding I would support Norwich!?! (I'm a Sheffield United fan so clearly, I have a type )

What attracted you to coaching? What’s more intriguing now, developing players or winning matches?

​

Football has been my life but when I was about 7, I was introduced to what was I think the first-ever football manager game on the spectrum by my Dad and I was hooked, I loved the strategy, the numbers and winning ...I knew at the age of just 8 I wanted to be a coach, not necessarily a player.

I can't decide, I want to believe they both go hand in hand (even though I can see plenty of counter-arguments) But if my teams are winning I'd like to believe it's because we are educating our players, developing the collective, offering innovation whilst giving the players a project to believe in.

What is the biggest misconception/cliche regarding coaching you’ve found in this space?

​

Only the "elite" can implement complex, technical and tactical playing styles - I was coaching at semi-professional levels between 2010-2014, this was a time that Pep had Barcelona destroying everything we thought we knew about football. I studied his teams among many others, and I wanted my teams to play in a similar vein. But every time I introduced a new idea or concept to the group it would often be met with resistance, mainly from other coaches or club members and not the players. 

Whenever I would talk to fellow coaches they would often say "You can't do that at this level!" - A classic example would be the playing out from the back with CBs splitting, dropping down the sides of the penalty area and maybe even having a CDM drop in between ....you would hear the jeers from the side-lines "You're not Barcelona you know" and this would often inspire and motivate me to prove people wrong. 

I'd played at Academy level in England where my face didn't fit because I wasn't 6ft 3 and built like a brick sh** house ...I used to get neck ache playing the British way as a CM because the ball would constantly fly over my head (one day I turned up to training wearing a neck brace to make my point )...I used to remember thinking surely there is a better way and so this has been a driving force behind a lot of my coaching.

Needless to say, myself and my teams have been able to win a fair few league titles and play some sh** hot football along the way which I think has gone some way to proving you can implement what's been done at the highest level providing you can coach it in context and guide players to find their own solutions when things breakdown (incidentally fast forward 10 years and you see grassroots teams on the local park playing out from the back as Barca was a decade ago).

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

As a player I'd say my cognitive skills - I was technically sound and rarely lost the ball, but I had no vision to make a killer pass. I would love to develop my ability to scan more frequently, to look forward more, process information quicker so I could be more creative.

What is more important: breadth of skills or depth of talent?

You often hear quotes like "hard-work beats talent 8 days a week" and there is good reason for that... for me the breadth of skills in relation to football means having 'plasticity' and being able to adapt to an ever-changing environment (which football is) I think it's crucial to have skills that allow you to integrate into a group dynamic, to work as a team, to handle setbacks, to lead and inspire other people, to be a good person and constantly give your all for the cause  ...these are the skills/values that underpin success but as cliche as all that is I must admit... I still have a soft spot for players who just have raw talent. 

What is more impactful for a player: psychology or environment? Why?

Generalizing I'd probably say environment especially if I view the team as a single entity because whether through either a natural state or one that a coach has to build, a good habitat offers players a chance to problem-solve, be creative, feel part of something much bigger than just football, learn good principles/values and write their own story together which often taps into the psychological elements.  

But whilst you need those structures for success you also need to consider the individual and it's arguably the best coaches who get the best of both worlds... they know how to build team unity whilst being able to tap into the psychological components of each and every one of their players. 

What three (3) coaches would you want to have a meal with? Why?

I'd want to sit down with managers who have contrasting styles who would offer a different perspective so:

Julian Nagelsmann because I think he has embraced analytics, tactics, and man-management which I think means we would have a lot in common

Juan Manuel Lillo because I want to tap into his philosophical way of thinking

and as much as I'd love to say Pep, Bielsa, Klopp, etc who off course I would love to ....I'm going to say Brian Clough because I think he'd chew my ears off with stories of yesteryear and then we'd get hammered and probably end up on some yacht just of the West Coast chasing down Dean Saunders trying to convince him to sign for us!

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

Understand what your goal is, why do you want to get involved, and thus your purpose. Because when you know that you can focus on making it a reality, for example, If you want to be a youth coach then map out in detail where you want to be and how are you going to get there....if you want to be the greatest youth team coach there has ever been then make it happen! 

But whatever you want out of football be it professional or leisure understand what sacrifice's you will have to make, what knowledge/experience you need to gain and who you need to surround yourself with to learn from to speed up the process. 

What is your favorite quote or saying?

"Create the game don't react to it" Cheesy but football loves a good quote.

11 Questions with ScoutingBR

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 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 ScoutingBR:

What is your first memory of football?

I'm just 18 years old, so my first memory was in 2007, when Corinthians, the team that I support, was relegated to Brazilian 2nd division. It was a very sad moment, but I got to celebrate many titles over the past few years, especially the Club World Cup, in 2012, against Chelsea. In European Football, it was Manchester United becoming european champions. That made me become a supporter of the Red Devils.

What attracted you to data and scouting? What’s more intriguing now, refining your processes and acumen or 'discovering' players?

I'm not a professional scout. I've always enjoyed watching youth matches and see how young players develop. So, I just started to write about some of them on my Twitter account. I would love to become a professional scout someday, but for now, it's just a hobby.

What is the biggest misconception/cliche regarding recruitment you’ve found in this space?

Some people think that it's all about numbers, and sometimes, all about one or two matches. You have to watch a player in different situations to understand his talent and which parts of his game he has to develop most, then you'll get to know his potential well.

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

I would love to get to know the psychological side of each player by watching them play. It's something so hard to evaluate on the players.

What is more important domain knowledge or curiosity?

I think they work together. You gain knowledge by showing curiosity. Knowledge is more important, you may conquer the world with it.

What is more useful in scouting- breadth of skills or depth of talent? Why?

This is a tough question. I think it's breadth of skills. You face different matches, different situations, different tactics. You have to be ready to work in each one of them.

What three (3) football icons would you want to have a meal with? Why?

Ronaldo Fenômeno. He's a Brazilian legend, won so much for Seleção in such a short career, and how he works after retirement. Alex Ferguson, who's one of my life-time idols, and Andre Villas-Boas, who became FC Porto manager at the age of 29, and has so much tactical knowledge. 

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

I'm not a professional, as I said, but just watch more matches and learn from people who are or have been in this space. In this days, you have loads of podcasts, speeches, social media profiles... show curiosity and give your best.

What is your favorite quote or saying?

"If you can dream it you can do it". Always.

11 Questions with NDK Sports

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 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 NDK Sports:

What is your first memory of football?

2002 World Cup final. 

What attracted you to data and scouting? What’s more intriguing now, refining your processes and acumen or 'discovering' players?

Might sound crazy but honestly Football Manager... As a kid I always enjoyed finding the best young players and building my team that way. Now I enjoy helping talented young players get better opportunities.

What is the biggest misconception/cliche regarding goalkeepers you’ve found in this space?

Most people don't understand goalkeeping as most people have never been goalkeepers! 

"You should never be beat at the near post" or 

"he has weak wrists" these are things that just aren't true. People think goalkeeping is just throwing yourself around but it's a complicated position and each season we see it become more complicated!

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

I'd start learning data science earlier. It's the future of football and if you can learn how to navigate both event and tracking data you'll be in a good place going forward.

What is more important domain knowledge or curiosity?

Curiosity definitely. You have to be excited to learn in football. Always be adding to your skills. Look at Klopp, he always wants to get better so what does he do he hires a throw in coach. That desire to get better comes from curiosity.

What is more useful in scouting players- breadth of skills or depth of talent? Why?

Having complementary skills is most important. You can't go the top by being good at one thing. You need a toolbox to pick from. 

What three (3) football icons would you want to have a meal with? Why?

Wenger 

Sir Alex

Maradona

The first two for the wisdom and Maradona because he'd be fun to talk to. 

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

Learn the process but not the conclusion. Learn from others how to do something but don't be afraid to have a different opinion. Football will always throw out different view points no matter how much data or video you watch we are never 100% certain. 

11 Questions with John Harrison

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 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 John Harrison:


What is your first memory of football?

My first really strong memory of football in general is playing football in the garden with my brother. Originally we would take it in turns to be in goal and to shoot but soon enough I was always in goal and he was always shooting at me for hours on end. My first strong memory of professional football was watching England lost 2-1 to Brazil in the quarter final of the 2002 world cup.

What attracted you to data and scouting? What’s more intriguing now, refining your processes and acumen or 'discovering' players?

For the last decade my biggest passion has been for physics, & science in general. Thus naturally I have tried to combine this my favourite pass time, football. Questions like “Should the GK have saved that?”, “Is shot prevention more important than shot stopping?”, and “Are certain save techniques better than others in given situations?” have always intrigued me and I think a scientific & statistical approach may not yield perfect answers but can at least offer a deeper insight than anything else. 

So I guess I prefer the understanding of the game in general & its application to coaching rather than scouting. However finding the best players & most valuable players still excites me a lot.

What is the biggest misconception/cliche regarding goalkeepers you’ve found in this space?

I think the biggest misconception in goalkeeping is hard to say. I would say in general it’s a lack of understanding of goalkeeping techniques. The phases “that just hit the GK” and “the GK knew nothing about that save” stem from this lack of understanding & so do the phrases “the GK went with the wrong hand”, “the GK shouldn’t spill that shot” and “The GK needs to catch that rather than punch”. So I think the general cliches which are sometimes true but most of the time false all stem from a misunderstanding of the techniques which GKs use and which scenarios they are useful in.

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

I’m only just starting out in the world of football analytics so I have no idea! But I’m very glad I have a solid background in various coding languages and data visualisation tools!

What is more important domain knowledge or curiosity?

I would 100% say curiosity. I believe anyone can pick up knowledge of a sport if they watch it often and interact with enough people in the know.

What is more useful in scouting- breadth of skills or depth of talent? Why?

I am probably not qualified to answer this question however my preference would be for depth of talent. A former league 2 coach once told me the best footballers are normally incredibly good at one specific thing and make sure they do that over and over again. I would tend to agree with that.

What three (3) football icons would you want to have a meal with? Why?

Joe Hart, Iker Casillas, & Frank Lampard

Not only were Hart & Casillas heroes of mine growing up & would have a lot of interesting opinions on GKing I think they both have incredible stories & I would love to know what they both thought of the latter years of their career & how they both dealt with fans turning on them when they had been icons for their club & country. I chose Frank as I would love to probe his thoughts on how to effectively communicate with footballers as well as his thoughts on his time with Chelsea (and the team camaraderie they built) and England.

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

I guess if you want to go into football data analysis etc. First learn to code in Python/R/Matlab, second learn to make nice data visualisations, & third investigate whatever interests you, read up about it, and then once you have finished your study publish it somewhere even if it’s just a blog page. You will quickly get noticed if you do this & you will soon be in a position to get involved in the analytics community.

What is your favorite quote or saying?

I would say I don’t really have one, however if I had to choose, I do have a close affinity for the motto of my school & the motto of my football club.

Turpe Nescire (It is a disgrace to be ignorant)

Keep right on to the end of the road.

11 Questions with Andrew Puopolo

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 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 Andrew Puopolo:

How did your first opportunity in football come about?

My first opportunity in football came in my first year at Harvard through the Harvard Sports Analysis Collective. One of the clubs members (and one of my best friends) Brendan Kent had done analytics work the previous summer for the Portland Timbers, and through his network he met people at the New York Cosmos who were interested in doing something similar, and hired 2 Harvard students as interns for the summer. 6 people applied, and I was one of the lucky two to get the internship!



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

I've always been really into math (I was captain of the New York City Math Team in High School) and watched/played sports my whole life. My favorite sport is football, and spent a year in London between HS and Uni, going to many matches (from the Champions League to the Conference), which deepened my passion for football. When I started at Harvard, I joined the Harvard Sports Analysis Collective, which combined these two passions.

Who/what is the first player/concept you "found"? What caught your eye?

I'm not sure what you mean by "found', but I think my first main insight that was helpful in football came when I was working for the Cosmos. They were playing New York City FC in the US Open Cup. For the Cosmos, the US Open Cup was the only competition that mattered, so I spent a long time doing statistical opposition analysis in the buildup. We strongly suspected David Villa wouldn't be starting, so I looked at their backup striker Patrick Mullins. 

I "found" that Mullins was almost unstoppable in the air (had a very high aerial duel win rate for strikers) but had a low pass accuracy, and passed this onto the coaching staff. In the match, whenever NYCFC took a goal kick, the Cosmos defenders would allow Mullins to win the header uncontested, but take away all passing options. We won the match 1-0, which was a huge result for the club.

Who/what is the player/concept you "missed" on? What did you learn from it?


I'm sure I've missed a bunch, but since I didn't work in football long enough (only for 10 weeks, and 4 years ago) I don't specifically remember anything I "missed" in the traditional sense of the word (like missing Salah as an amazing player).

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


If I could start over again, I would focus more time on learning the game through the eyes of a player/coach, and learn their language/what they look for. My training is entirely technical (statistics, mathematics, coding) based, and while I've watched the game as a fan for years, it's not the same. The work of the data analyst/scientist is only effective if the insights/tools are understood and utilized by the coaching and management staff. Thus, understanding the language and needs of the coaching staff is crucial to create a "union" (in the words of Joe Mulberry) between data and traditional methods.

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


I haven't thought too much about this as I've never done any work in player development, but it's likely a bit of both. This expands on my answer to the previous question. We shouldn't make decisions 100% on the science (say cut a player from an academy bc he fails one metric at age 15), but the data/science is an effective tool to make better decisions. In addition, like the previous question, a good "union" bridges the gap between these two things, as the science will support and generalize the "art".

What is your favorite sports moment? Why?


My favorite sports moment is the Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004. I was only 8 at the time, and a Red Sox fan growing up in New York City. The Red Sox hadn't won in 86 years, and no team had previously come down from 3 games to 0 to win a baseball series. It was my first moment of pure euphoria. However, Spurs winning a trophy (any trophy) would easily eclipse that.

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?


As much as I dislike the fact that they win a lot and prevent Spurs from winning trophies, Liverpool. They seem to do everything right, right down to the last detail, and have an effective union between sport and data. Will Spearman is an amazing guy with  an even more impressive, and is one of the top minds in the industry, yet is only a small piece of a well oiled machine that should be on the top of English football for years to come.

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


I would follow Ted Knutson's advice. Learn statistics. Learn how to code. Learn the game (see question 5). Learn Data Visualization. And learn to  question yourself. The last three are the most important parts, as they provide the key link between statistics/coding to convincing practitioners that your insights are useful. In addition, you need to think about the potential downfalls of your analysis/model, situations it might have missed, and what the counterpoints might be to people who doubt it.

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


I love using Python, since it has so many different applications/uses.


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

I think playing the game helps understand how to analyze it. While I don't regularly play football, I play a ton of  ice hockey, and as a result when  I watch professional matches, I have a much more intricate understanding of the strategies and decision making.

8 Questions with Orbinho

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 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 Orbinho:

What is your first memory of football?

The 1971 FA Cup final. Most of my extended family are Liverpool fans, but I know that I was supporting Arsenal that day. Perhaps I was just being a difficult child and chose the other team to annoy them. The next 18 years that didn't feel like a good decision, but Anfield '89 made it all worthwhile.

What attracted you to data? What’s more intriguing now, refining your processes and acumen or 'discovering' players/trends?

I would read fanzines and it annoyed me that so many articles were just full of subjective opinion. I felt that any argument should be supported with facts, so I started using data to write pieces for publication and the more depth you get into, the more you want to know. It's also great to find something that no one else has spotted, to be the first person to know that piece of information and to see people's reactions when you share it or see it get used in the media or even by coaches at press conferences.  

What is the biggest misconception/cliche regarding data you’ve found in this space?

Probably that so many, including those in the game itself, still believe you don't need data to enhance your decision making or to challenge your opinions. You still hear people say that statistics have no value in football, then they'll say they'd seen someone say such and such a team is bad at set pieces and they agreed with that, as if it wasn't data that was used in drawing that conclusion.

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

I was fortunate that I had worked in advertising for 10 years prior to starting at Opta, so I came into this world knowing that you couldn't pump out data en masse and expect people to understand. It's important to find the right data but also to communicate it in as simple a way as possible. I guess if I had my time over I would have liked to have done more computer science so that I could query and model data without having to ask someone else to do it for me.

What is more important domain knowledge or curiosity?

You need both. You can't ask the right questions if you don't understand what you're looking for, but at the same time encyclopaedic knowledge isn't useful if you don't have the creativity to seek answers in the right places.

What three (3) football icons would you want to have a meal with? Why?

Arsene Wenger, Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola - All three changed the way football was played and achieved success. I'd be curious as to what they looked for in scouting and tactical terms and then I'd look to get our team to try to find data that might help others understand what to look for. 

Ferguson once said he didn't need data to know a good player, but then he saw so many players and his brain processed so much information about those players that he was able to make good decisions more often than not. 

But once he retired that knowledge is lost to the sport. If you could package that skill, it would enable others to achieve success without having to put 50 or more years into logging the information in their heads.

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

Firstly, find good stuff to read or watch and learn as much as you can. Think about what works, what doesn't and how you can add value. Then create stuff and get it out there. Most people who are getting hired have blogged, written for free, posted on social media and get themselves noticed. It's much harder to get hired just sending in a CV which says "I like football more than anything else."

What is your favourite quote or saying?

An old boss told me "Always hire people who have the potential to be better than you. They make your life easier and you get credit for all their good work." There are too many people who feel threatened to hire someone who has the potential to go past them and recruit people who can do the job, but won't progress.

8 Questions with 11tegen11

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 11tegen11:

What is your first memory of football?

For me, the memory of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico really stood out as something special. I was seven years old at the time, and my parents allowed me to watch the first half of several of the matches that were on show in the evening time in Europe. The opener, Bulgaria v Italy, may not have been the most spectacular of games, but it made such an impact on me that flashes are still in my memory. Collecting Panini player cards also heightened the suspense a lot, since this really inspired my imagination, looking at these players that I never heard of before.

What attracted you to data and scouting? What’s more intriguing now, refining your processes and acumen or 'discovering' players?

I started out, like many people do, as a tactics blogger. Having done that for over two years, I felt the need to gather more evidence for the statements I was making purely on observation, so this triggered my need for data. This was back in 2012, so public data was nowhere to be found, and I linked up with a source of very rough data, things like shots, shots on target and possession percentage. 

This led to the development of a concept called total shots rate, which we completely milked in a newly found small community of public analysts. Even when the concept went out of use with the advent of much more refined event data, this period was still a very important learning phase.

Later came the development of an expected goals model, creating visualisations like the expected goals plot and passmaps. All of these helped reach a wider audience on Twitter, which still is the best place for public football analytics right now. 

Then, a next step would be to quantify player skills and identify player types, which is the essence of scouting. I got approached by a club proposing to help with their player scouting, and one thing led to another with 11tegen11 turning from a hobby into a business. 

Right now we're working for several clubs, both in Europe and in the US, doing various consulting services with the mainstay of our activity still in player scouting where our strength is that we offer a completely integrated data and video scouting line. 

From a personal hobby, it has grown into a business, where multiple people are involved in various roles like video scouts and computer coders. Most of the data analysis is still my personal work though, and the sense of working on my hobby has never really gone away.

Ideally, I'd want to devote more of my time to refining the process, but at the end of the day it's also important to produce quality advice for the client clubs, and to learn from the feedback that this generates.

What is the biggest misconception/cliche regarding recruitment you’ve found in this space?

That would probably be the perceived dichotomy between data driven scouting and video / live scouting. For me, this has always been hard to understand, even though I see the point that a new tool enters the arena of player scouting and is treated with caution initially. Simply said, I think one should make optimal use of all available viewpoints to make complex decisions. And player scouting is about making complex decisions, estimating player quality, potential, fit in terms of tactics, fit in terms of personality, etc.

It makes complete sense to use all available tools, and therefore our business model is a completely integrated data and video scouting, to present clubs with the optimal suggestions to incorporate in their existing scouting line. We therefore prefer to work with a limited number of clubs, aiming for a close long-term relationship so we can really connect with the tactical identity and get the optimal feel for what the people at the club want.

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

This is a hard question to answer with a single skill, because it all ties together. 

In this field of work it's important to combine many different skills, like football knowledge, coding, visualisation and communication. Then, you'll also need the energy to do this for a while, even when the adoption of this integrated form of scouting may be slow and run into preconceived ideas.

What is more important domain knowledge or curiosity?

Between these two I'd go for curiosity. I'm an autodidact, so curiosity does lead to the expansion of your domain knowledge. The reverse is harder to picture.

In football, curiosity should be that you grab actual football related questions and try to answer them as best as you can, using information from as many angles as possible. If any of these angles falls outside your skillset and you have the time, then try to expand your skill set. That's the process that has worked for me at least.

What three (3) football icons would you want to have a meal with? Why?

The first one to spring to mind would definitely be the late Socrates. He's a compelling character with a very unique skill set as a medical doctor, political activist, full-time drinker and professional football player, all at the same time. His biography is very much worth a read.

I'd also love to invite Valeriy Lobanovskyi, for being probably the most influential manager ever, leaving a legacy of total football and being a very early adopter of pressing football.

Third, let's invite ...

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

There is only one advice really, and that would be to start.

Find something you like, be it tactical writing, data analysis, video stuff, whatever suits you best. And go to work, create things and publish them in the public sphere. This way you'll receive feedback you can use to improve your skills, and build a relevant portfolio at the same time. Over time, you may well get picked up if your work meets a certain standard, but don't be disappointed if it doesn't happen since you just work on things you like.

What is your favorite quote or saying?

Oh, there are many. 

Let's go for 'most people use data like a drunkard uses a lamp post, for support, rather than illumination'. This applies for all fields of data use, but it's particularly applicable in football from what I have seen.