Expected Goals
The Story of How Data Conquered Football and Changed the Game Forever
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Expected Goals
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Narrated by:
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Simon Darwen
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By:
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Rory Smith
About this listen
Football has always measured success by what you win, but only in the last twenty years have clubs started to think about how you win. Data has now suffused almost every aspect of how football is played, coached, scouted and consumed. But it’s not the algorithms or new metrics that have made this change, it’s the people behind them.
This is the story of modern football’s great data revolution and the group of curious, entrepreneurial personalities who zealously believed in its potential to transform the game. Central to this cast is Chris Anderson, an academic with no experience in football, who saw data as an opportunity to fundamentally change a sport that did not think it could be changed. His aim: to infiltrate the strange, insular world of professional football by establishing a club whose entire DNA could be built around data.
Expected Goals charts his remarkable journey into the heart of the modern game and reveals how clubs across the world, from Liverpool to Leipzig and Brentford to Bayern Munich, began to see how data could help them unearth new players, define radical tactics and plot their path to glory.
©2022 Rory Smith (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers LimitedListeners also enjoyed...
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What listeners say about Expected Goals
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr N Metcalfe
- 28-04-23
Really interesting
If you are interested in football this is well worth a listen. I would highly recommend it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- harveyhoo
- 14-12-23
Expected brilliance
Fascinating listen. Just as I’d expect from Rory. So knowledgeable, insightful. A brilliant book for true football fans
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Webbi
- 04-11-22
Interesting and informative
A cold, complex and often dull subject given life by the stories of real people struggling to be heard making huge changes to the game we know and love.
Glad I listened to it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mc250
- 22-05-23
Really enjoyable
This isn't a deep dive into technical metrics but it's a really well written story about how data in football got to this point. Great book, definitely recommended.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- A Ghiglieri
- 08-10-22
Marvellous
An excellent insight into the ever evolving landscape of how data is changing the game
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dom Dunn
- 22-05-24
Interesting Read, worth checking out
Really enjoyed it. Going out lost of info I wasn’t aware of before reading it. Definitely think anyone interested in football, stats and the data around it would enjoy reading this book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr T.
- 05-02-23
Fascinating listen
Great book. Well read and really interesting. You don’t have to love football to listen. But it will help.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Rocket
- 24-12-22
Fascinating, really enjoyed it
I really enjoyed this despite a slightly flat section partway through. Mostly though, well narrated and very interesting. There were no shortage of 'Oh really?' moments.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 13-10-23
Really Interesting Insight
Really fascinating insight into some of the characters involved in the story of data in football. I really enjoyed how each chapter had its own story while the thread of the story of Chris Andersen ran through the whole book. I do feel like, as is the case in all the other football/data books I've read (all referenced in this book), data claims some victories that can be attributed to other factors somewhat. It comes to the conclusion that we're still some way away from the full impact data can have on the game, which I suspect will be proven correct.
I also really enjoyed the narration.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Declan O'Brien
- 04-10-22
Outpreforms its XG
An interesting, engaging take on a quiet revolution. Only downside being the laborious telling of the Sally and Anderson tale. Full of lots of nuggets of information and insight.
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