re: New soccer book using sabermetrics

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Regarding utility or usefulness, I´m with BPyG, about as useful as a 12th grader´s term paper.

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I disagree. The data must be contextualized and used appropriately. Saying that Chelsea should have bought Bent instead of Torres is a myopic way to use the data. In that sense they are trying to be controversial, in order to make the claim that statistics CAN be used that way, to justify one thing or another.

Sabermetrics in soccer has to be paired with a discussion about the system employed and about the players within that system, since both can be highly variable, within a team and within in a game. If there is one problem I have with Sabermetrics is that they seemingly apply metrics that might work in other sports but won't apply directly to soccer. Someone needs to come along and say "the way you are understanding data developed from soccer is wrong" for x reason.