Three At The Back

Recorded the day after the 2018 #OptaProForum, this latest episode of Three At The Back features both guest speakers – Devin Pleuler, Senior Analytics Manager at Toronto FC and Luke Bornn, VP Strategy and Analytics, Sacramento Kings.

Both Devin and Luke share their Forum highlights, discuss the evolving nature of football analytics and outline their thoughts around the future of this industry.

This episode sees OptaPro’s Three At The Back become Four as host Ryan Bahia is joined by OptaPro data scientist Johannes Harkins, OptaPro lead for North America Olive Miller-Farrell and special guest Paul Carr, senior researcher at ESPN.

The discussion, taking place just after the first #OptaProSoccer event in Philadelphia, revolves around the event in the context of analytics in North American soccer along with exploring the use of data for different audiences, and where there are clear differences and overlaps, looking at how each sectors can learn from one another.

Ptolemy Coburn, Arsenal academy analyst, speaks with OptaPro in this latest episode of Three At The Back.

Hosted by Ryan Bahia and also featuring Sam Gregory OptaPro data scientist), Ptolemy discusses how working across other sports has influenced the way he approaches his role at Arsenal, the differences between academy and first team football from an analyst perspective as well as sharing further insight on the Arsenal-StatDNA relationship.

The latest episode of Three At The Back focuses on Scout7 becoming part of OptaPro.

Hosted by Ryan Bahia, Head of OptaPro Ben Mackriell and Scout7 MD Lee Jamison discuss recruitment across the professional football landscape as well as exploring how this industry may evolve in the future.

This latest Three At The Back episode is hosted by Ryan Bahia and features Tom Worville along with special guest Donald Barron.

Donald has over 12 years’ experience within the professional game across three different clubs: Leicester City, Coventry City and Norwich City, where he was most recently head of recruitment.

In this wide-ranging episode, Donald discusses his own roles across these different clubs, his thoughts on how data can be most effectively applied within a professional environment along with how analysts have to adapt and evolve in the ever-changing world of professional football.

Donald also shares his thoughts around the OptaPro Analytics Forum, an event taking place in February 2018.

Host Ryan Bahia is joined by Ben Mackriell (head of OptaPro) and Tom Worville (data scientist, OptaPro) for this episode. The two guests share how data can be integrated into playing philosophies, and each selects an XI where their decisions have been informed by data.

Host Tom Worville is joined by fellow OptaPro data scientists Johannes Harkins and Sam Gregory to discuss the new possessions framework, share insight on the process behind creating it and showcase examples and applications of the model in action, with specific reference to RB Leipzig and Mohamed Salah.

Read the first article introducing this work: http://www.optasportspro.com/about/optapro-blog/posts/2016/blog-introducing-a-possessions-framework/

Watch OptaPro’s analytical film on Borussia Dortmund that is underpinned by this possessions framework: http://www.optasportspro.com/about/optapro-blog/posts/2017/film-a-statistical-analysis-of-borussia-dortmund/

Show intro music can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/jckdvnprt/i-s-f-p

Host Ryan Bahia is joined by Ben Mackriell and Simon Farrant, who makes his Three At the Back debut. Simon, now VP marketing at Perform Group, was part of the core OptaPro team when it founded in 2012.

This episode reflects on not only OptaPro’s past five years, but a wider look at the analytics industry – both inside and outside of the professional game.

Host Ryan Bahia is joined by Ben Mackriell and Three At The Back debutant, Philipp Obloch. Philipp is the OptaPro lead in Germany and led last week’s first OptaPro football analytics conference in Germany, which is the focus of this episode.

Presentations from the day will soon be made available.

Host Ryan Bahia is joined by Tom Worville and Chris Anderson for a wide-ranging discussion on the use of data within professional football and how it can be applied most effectively in this industry.