Futbol: Últimas noticias de Hoy

Arsenal FC also known as ‘The Gunners’ is one of the most popular football club in England and in the World. With 13 Premier League title, 10 FA cups and an outstand record for being unbeaten for an entire season.

Arsenal Football Club was founded in 1886 in North London by the workers of the Woolwich arsenal, hence its name. The club got is current name in 1897. After a few financial difficulties at the beginning of the 20th century, Arsenal won its first premier league title in 1923, followed by a FA Cup final in 1930.

Arsenal’s most famous manager Arsene Wenger, was appointed in 1996. He brought new strategies, training methods as well as new players from overseas. Over the years, Wenger, who hold an economics degree and is fluent in 5 languages, has really given the dimension Arsenal has today. He lead the team to a League and Cup double in 1997-1998 and another Premier League title in 2001-2002. His major achievement was the Premier League title in 2003-2004, which was acquired without losing a single game. This record has still to be beaten.

Arsene Wenger has not only been a talented coach, but he has also helped the club to achieve financial profitability. Wenger is really good at spotting young talent, training them and selling them for a profit.

Arsenal is also famous for its Emirates Stadium. Since 2006, Arsenal FC has moved from Highbury, which had size restrictions to Ashburton Grove renamed Emirates Stadium. The move has offered huge opportunities to generate revenues from the audience, with a capacity of 60,355 seats.

Arsenal FC would have been nothing without its talented players. Thierry Henry is still the club’s top goal scorer with 226 goals in all competitions. The team has also had Ian Wright, Cliff Bastin, Robert Pires in its squad.

In 2011, Arsenal is currently 3rd in the Premier League at 2 points from Chelsea, the current leader. They have recently lost against Tottenham in the derby. Arsenal is also playing the Champions League and is top of its group. In 2011, Arsene Wenger has announced the club needs to win something, so there is a bit of pressure on the players.

Jose Reina is Liverpool’s first choice goalkeeper and rated by many as one of the best goalkeepers in the world of football. Born in Madrid in 1982, Reina is the son of former Barcelona and Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Miguel Reina, who also represented his country Spain.

Jose, nick named Pepe, Reina began his football career with the youth academy at FC Barcelona after initially playing in Barcelona’s reserve team he made thirty appearances for the first team in the 2000-2001 season, incidentally making two appearances against Liverpool in the semi-final of the UEFA Cup. The following season he was dropped from the Barcelona first team and secured a loan move to Villarreal in 2002 making his move permanent in 2004, he made over 100 appearances for the club. Reina signed for Liverpool in 2005 by then manager Rafael Benitez, who described him as the best goalkeeper in Spain.

Reina was immediately installed as the first choice goalkeeper at Anfield, making his debut against Welsh side Total Network Solutions in a Champions League qualifying game in July of 2005 and a month later he won his first cap for his national team Spain.

The Spaniard became an immediate favourite with the fans at Liverpool, famed for his accurate distribution of the ball and his fantastic penalty saves, he had saved seven of the nine penalties he faced in his previous season with Villarreal. During his first season at Liverpool he was part of the team that set a club record for eleven consecutive games without conceding a goal.

At the end of his first season with Liverpool, Reina played in the FA Cup Final against West Ham United. An amazing game saw the scores level at 3-3 after extra time and the match was then decided on penalty kicks, the amazing shot stopper then obliged by saving three of West Ham’s penalty kicks to secure a 3-1 shoot out victory for the Reds.

After his first fifty games for the Reds, Reina had not conceded a goal in twenty eight of those matches, setting a new club record which had been previously held by the legendary Ray Clemence. Later that season he was on hand again as Liverpool beat Chelsea on penalties in the Champions League semi-final, he followed in his father’s footsteps by appearing in the European Cup Final, unfortunately the Reds lost 2-1 to AC Milan in the final.

Having made over 300 appearances for the first team, Reina signed a new six year contract with Liverpool in 2010 and although he has still to become the first choice as goalkeeper for his national side he has already become a Liverpool legend.

Club Brugge vs. Juventus 1:2 (0:0)

Goal scorers: Yulu-Matondo 85′ – Nedved 66′, Trezeguet 75′.

In an amazing match that was completely one sided with Juventus having a great number of 100% chances but simply couldn’t break Club Brugge’s excellent goalkeeper Stijn Stijnen who with the performance he presented this evening fully deserves to stand between the posts instead of Croat goalkeeper Tomislav Butina on the Belgium’s team next match. The bare fact that the Italian giant had even 11 shots on goal and 26 in total while the home side made 7 out of which one was aiming the goal which even entered says it all.

The opening was very hard on the home side, Pavel Nedved had two excellent chances and then Trezeguet shot directly in the goalkeeper from just a few meters range when he was standing alone in front of Stijnen. Simply the 24 year old goalkeeper didn’t even have a time to catch a new breath but he defended his sheet well and kept it untouched until the 66th minute.

Then six minutes after an hour of the game, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was fouled outside the area, and Nedved took out a free kick that gone past the wall and drilled in the right side of the goal for the long waited 0:1 goal. The young Swedish international had a 100% chance as well when he came in the box from the right and waited just like four meters away from Stijnen but he also as Trezeguet struck the ball directly on the goalkeeper and that made him miss a great opportunity to sign his name in the score sheet.

Less than ten minutes later Trezeguet finally struck the back of the net and made it 0:2. The Frenchman received a pass by Mauro Camoranesi in 75th minute and beaten Stijnen with a well taken lob shot after a diagonal run. Right away Ibrahimovic who had most of the chances in this duel could have increased the Old Lady’s advantage but again the Belgium goalkeeper was a too big obstacle to go around and score.

Five minutes before the end Club Brugge succeeded to get their consolation goal (1:2) when Yulu-Matondo headed the ball past Christian Abbiati after connecting on Jonothan Blondel loose ball.

Line ups

Club Brugge: Stijnen, de Cock, Maertens, Spilar, Valgaeren (de Oliveira 74′), Vanaudenaerde, Englebert, Vermant (Leko 84′), Portillo (Blondel 52′), Balaban, Yulu-Matondo.

Juventus: Abbiati, Cannavaro, Kovac, Zambrotta, Blasi, Camoranesi (Giannichedda 89′), Emerson, Nedved, Vieira, Ibrahimovic, Trezeguet (Zalayeta 89′).

Rapid Vienna vs. Bayern Munchen 0:1 (0:0)

Goal scorer: Guerrero 60′.

This is a kind of a match that could have gone either way. While Rapid had the best of counter-attacks especially at the end of the first half, Bayern Munchen had most of the ball possession and far more shots on the goal.

Moments before the half time break Rapid’s captain Steffen Hofmann if quicker could have slotted the ball home but he failed to reach the cross and Oliver Kahn was safe. The same thing happened just before the referee announced the end of the first half, but this time the spotlight was over Marek Kincl who picked up a cross from Axel Lawaree but the Czech only blasted the ball over the crossbar.

Fifteen minutes in the second half Bayern ball possession finally paid of and the Peruvian striker Jose Paolo Guerrero struck the only goal of the match when he picked up a rebound from Roy Makaay’s header and shipped the ball past Helge Payer for 0:1.

Rapid could have scored the equalizer and they had the best opportunity to do so eight minutes before the final whistle when the referee awarded them a penalty because of a foul over Muhammet Akagunduz as the home side defender Jozef Valachovic missed the entire goal.

After the match Bayern’s chief in charge Felix Magath said that he feared for three points until the very last minute while his colleague on the home side bench Josef Hickersberger admitted that despite the missed penalty the Germans deserved to win.

Line ups

Rapid Vienna: Payer, Adamski, Dober, Valachovic, Bejbl, Hlinka, Hofmann, Ivanschitz (Dollinger 84′), Korsos (Korsos 65′), Kincl, Lawaree (Lawaree 74′).

Bayern Munchen: Kahn, Ismael, Lizarazu (Demichelis 52′), Lucio, Sagnol, Hargreaves, Scholl, Schweinsteiger (Deisler 83′), Ze Roberto, Makaay, Pizarro (Guerrero 52′).

Sparta Praha vs. Ajax Amsterdam 1:1 (0:0)

Although the Dutch giant completely controlled this match and had more than the game, with 72% of the ball possession and even 26 shots on Jaromir Blazek’s goal the home side held of their enemy’s and even got into the lead in 66th min after what they even had a chance to keep all three points but a late goal by Wesley Sneijder earned a point for Daniel Blind’s crew, deserved or not, they took it back to Amsterdame.

The match started with Aajax having most of the chances, Sneijder was the first to put Blazek on a test but the Czech’s goalkeeper was on top of his tasks what he proven on seven more occasions throughout the match but they are not important right now, as the only thing that counts are goals.

And the first goal fell in 66th minute when the Czech substitute Miroslav Matusovic fired a shot from way outside the box and drilled the ball in the left top corner of Hans Vonk’s goal after he picked up a lose ball. This of course cut Ajax in half and the Dutch tried to kick back but everything they have did didn’t give any result until the very last minute.

Then from out of Blue Wesley Sneijder got provided with a ball from Ryan Babel in 91st min struck the ball into the top left corner to beat Jaromir Blazek for 1:1 that ensured his side one point what seems great for the Dutch now despite the fact that with the chances they had it was obvious that Ajax could have bagged all three.

Line ups

Sparta Prague: Blazek, Kadlec, Lukas, Petras, Pospech, Kisel, Poborsky, Polacek (Dosek 79′), Sivok, Zelenka, Slepicka (Matusovic 49′).

Ajax Amsterdam: Vonk, Emanuelson, Grygera, Trablesi, Babel, Galasek (Heitinga 90′), Lindenbergh, Maduro, Pienaar (Rosales 81′), Sneijder, Rosenberg (Charisteas 76′).

Arsenal vs. FC Thun 2:1 (0:0)

Goal scorers: Gilberto Silva 51′, Bergkamp 91′ – Ferreira 53′.

Despite the fact that Arsenal had the control of this game they were on verge of sharing points with the Swiss representative until the very last minute when «grandpa» Denis Bergkamp who entered the game from the bench took things in his own hands (read feet) and scored the second goal for the Gunners.

And the man (boy) who will be marked as the guilty one for this match not going more smoothly will be the Dutch troublemaker Robin Van Persie who completely unnecessary earned a red card in 45th min for a highly raised foot and arguing with the referee and by that cost the English giant with his appearance in at least next two or three matches, and with Thierry Henry out Arsen Wenger wont take that so lightly.

Still even with one man down Arsenal succeeded to score first, Jose Antonio Reyes took out a corner kick in the 52nd minute and Gilberto Silva rose above everyone to head the ball in the net of Thun’s goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic for 1:0.

But it didn’t take the guests a long time to level the score because just one minute later Kolo Toure made and error and presented Thun’s Nelson Ferreira with a ball which the 23 year old Portuguese youngster gladly accepted and shipped the ball over him and Arsenal’s goalkeeper Manuel Almunia to level the result on 1:1.

Until the game the home side of course did everything possible to repair the score in their advantage but only thanks to Bergkamp they made it and won all three points. The Dutch veteran won the ball at the edge of the penalty area from Ljubo Milicevic and struck it past Jakupovic to regain his team’s advantage for Arsenal to win all three points.

Line ups

Arsenal: Almunia, Campbell, Cole, Lauren, Toure, Fabregas (Bergkamp 73′), Ljungberg (Hleb 81′), Pires, Reyes (Abeyie 81′), Silva, van Persie.

Thun: Jakupovic, Ferreira, Goncalves, Hodzic, Milicevic, Orman, Aegerter, Bernardi, Gerber (Vieira 72′), Pimenta (Souza 57′), Lustrinelli (Faye 87′).

Udinese vs. Panathinaikos 3:0 (1:0)

Goal scorer: Iaquinta 28′, 73′, 76′.

This was a historic game for Udinese and of course the hat-trick scorer Vicenzo Iaquinta who marked his team’s first UEFA Champions League appearance with a great hat-trick with what he earned Udine their first win in the most elite European club competition.

Although Panathinaikos started the match better the Italian representative picked up pace after 20th min when they realized that the Greeks and Champions League aren’t some forbidden taboo but that football is being played in this competition as well, and from then on it took them just eight minutes to beat Mario Galinovic.

So it was Vicenzo Iaquinta who rose above the rest to connect to Damiano Zenoni’s cross and head the ball perfectly from 10 meter distance that beat the Croatian goalkeeper and handed Udinese a 1:0 lead.

For those who don’t know what kind of a team Panathinaikos have, here’s a little info. It’s not just another anonymous team that by some mistake qualified for the Champions League. The Greeks came a long way to make a crew of well experienced players such as Igor Biscan, Ezequiel Gonzalez, Mikael Nilsson, Giannis Goumas and unlucky for them they weren’t able to field Fabio Conceicao and Emanuel Olisadebe or maybe the result would have been different.

But it wasn’t and in the second half Udinese struck two more goals and put an end to all Panathinaiko’s hopes to make a good result in Italy. Of course both times the scorer was the excellent Iaquinta who netter 13 goals in the past season and 11 in one before.

First the 25 year old escaped the offside trap in 73rd minute and made his way around the goalkeeper to slot his second and then three minutes later after accepting a ball with his back towards Galinovic’s goal what of course forced him to twist around and ship the ball in the bottom corner to sign in his hat-trick from a very strange and low goal-scoring profile situation.

Of course Udinese coach Serse Cosmi now feels like he’s on top of his words and the words that his win exceeded all his expectations confirmed it.

Line ups

Udinese: De Sanctis, Candela, Felipe, De Souza, Natali, Ali Muntari, Obodo (Pinzi 68′), Vidigal, Zenoni, Iaquinta, Di Natale (Di Michele 80′).

Panathinaikos: Galinovic, Goumas, Kotsios, Morris, Nilsson, Seric, Biscan, Charalambides (Gekas 70′), Gonzalez, Torghelle, Wooter (Leontiou 76′).

Werder Bremen vs. Barcelona 0:2 (0:1)

This was a very exciting match to watch and play. Both teams preformed a very attacking style of football and it was only a matter of luck and «touch» who will take away all three points, and although the home side tried their best and had a load full of chances fate has been on the side of the Catalonian giant and all three points gone to Barcelona.

The home side conceded the first goal after thirteen minutes of the game when Deco, Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o combined in Werder’s box that ended up in Cameroonian sending the ball to Portuguese international at the edge of the box from where the former FC Porto playmaker’s effort was slightly deflected by Petri Pasanen but enough to fool Andreas Reinke and earn Barcelona their leading goal.

After this the Werder was a better side with Ivan Klasnic, Nelson Valdez, Torsten Frings having series of chances plus Johan Micoud hitting the post but Barca did not only hit the post too through Deco, they even scored the second goal after the referee pointed out to the spot kick because of Christian Schulz who made a foul over Leo Messi.

The taker was Ronaldinho and the Brazilian didn’t give a chance to Reinke but fired a fierce shot in the left side that the German had no chance of defending even if he was on the right place the ball would probably just pick him up and drag him in how powerful it was.

At the end Werder probably earned a draw at least but hey in football you don’t always get what you deserve…

Line ups

Werder Bremen: Reinke, Naldo, Pasanen, Schulz, Baumann (Jensen 63′), Borowski, Frings, Micoud, Owomoyela, Klasnic, Valdez (Hunt 83′).

Barcelona: Valdes, Belletti (Edmilso 45′), Marquez, Oleguer, Puyol, Deco, Giuly (Messi 66′), van Bronckhorst, Xavi (van Bommel 79′), Eto’o, Ronaldinho.

Villarreal vs. Manchester United 0:0

With two teams like Villarreal and Manchester United facing one another someone would think like a rain of goals would drop in that clash but both goalkeepers remained unbeaten despite the fact that the English representative was with one man down from 64th minute because of a stupid move by Wayne Rooney who applauded sarcastically to the referee when the man in black shown him a yellow card, what earned him a second booking that meant automatic early shower for the English youngster.

As for the match itself it was more or less leveled. But lets start from the beginning, Villarreal’s chief Manuel Pellegrini started the match in 4-4-2 formation with Kromkamp and Arruabarrena having the tasks to work on defensive flanks take the ball from midfield to attack where they would let it loose to Hector or Sorin to employ either Forland or Guayre, meanwhile Sir Alex Ferguson started the game with a clear 4-4-2 formation with Rooney and Van Nistelrooy up fornt.

Already in the 6th minute Manchester United had a serious chance to score, when Ronaldo crossed the ball at the far post where it was welcomed by Scholes who unleashed a solid effort but the ball was blocked by Villarreals midfielder Josico. The English side threatened Barbosa’s goal in 18th min when Mikael Silvestre headed the ball towards the net after a corner kick in 18th min but Villarreal’s goalkeeper was equal to the challenge and preserved his cleen sheet.

By the end of the first half there were a couple of chances on both ends. In 37th min one Villareal had an excellent attempt through their flankmen Arruabarrena who fired a volley shot from just eight meters distance but Edwin van der Sar put up a terrific display and made a save. After that Manchester almost struck the opener through Ronaldo’s free kick that was inches away to get in the goal of the crossbar but gone narrowly wide and then in 41st min the home side cleared Ferdinand’s header of the goal line.

After the interval Juan Pablo Sorin slid the ball to Forlan perfectly on the left flank but former United’s striker failed to make use of it and his shot went wide. From then on Manchester had a few chances but the Red Devils gone silent from the moment Rooney got sent off.

In 77th min Senna made a run down the right side of the penalty area and employed Sorin with a low cross but the experienced Argentinean’s attempt was well held by van der Sar. And finally in 89th min Senna fired a shot that deflected of Ferdinand and if Villarreal was more fortunate the ball would finish in the goal instead of it clipping the crossbar before finding safety in the corner.

Overall this can be considered a failure for the home side who almost had a man more on the pitch for half an hour but didn’t manage to do nothing with that advantage.

Benfica vs. Lille 1:0 (0:0

Goal scorer: Miccoli 92′.

The Dutch coach Ronald Koeman was very lucky this evening as the whole army of Benfica fans was set to deliver him a series of insults with the game coming to its end but then out of the blue the loaned Italian striker from Juventus, Fabrizio Miccoli, appeared in Lille’s box and scored the winning goal for the Portuguese Champion.

«This was very lucky, but we deserved it after having more control in the second half during which we created a lot more opportunities than our guests,» said Koeman who also added that his team has gained good confidence with this win which he hope they will boost up already in the next league game and improve their table status.

On the other side Lille’s coach Claude Puel stated that he has nothing to blame on his players, that they played very well and showed that the «small guys» can do a lot of damage as well.

The only goal of the match was scored in the second minute of the stoppage time when ran onto Pedro Mantorras cross and somehow placed a head shot that beat Tony Silva for 1:0 home side win. After the game was finished the Italian forward said that he never scored a more difficult goal in his career.

Line ups

Benfica: Moreira, Leo, Luisao, Nelson, Rocha (Beraldo 45′), Fernandes, Geovanni (Mantorras 80′), Petit (Karagounis 67′), Simao, Nuno Gomes, Miccoli.

Lille: Sylva, Chalme, Plestan, Schmitz, Tafforeau, Bodmer, Cabaye, Dernis (Lichtsteiner 84′), Gygax (Debuchy 45′), Makoun, Moussilou (Odemwingie 71′).

Having won last season’s edition, Manchester United FC lead the entries for the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League, which will conclude on Wednesday 27 May 2009 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome; the question that rises is «can they repeat?»

Last season Manchester United could say they questionable had their best season for an extensive, lengthy time. Cristiano Ronaldo (Premier League top scorer and World player of the year) and Wayne Rooney helped win two big titles, the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. Both made millions of Euros.

The question this year will be in what order the ‘big four’ will be positioned. Can any team break into the elite group of clubs that are dominating English football? I will say it is possible!! Looking further down the league; can the newly promoted teams survive in the Premier League? Why not! They are prepared already.

Look at the ‘big four’. Manchester United has not brought any new bodies in (not that they need) but have lost someone significant, Tony Coton. Why will Coton be missed? Simple, best goalkeeping coach Manchester United has ever had and despite the fact the knee injury retired him for good, he will be someone to look for advice in a future.

Man Utd has survived the ‘Ronaldo saga’ and live to fight another day. All in all it has been a quiet summer for Manchester United. Alex Ferguson has said over the last few days that he hopes to sign an elite player soon (the name Robinho keeps popping in my head).

I don’t like to predict, but would expect Man Utd to be in the top two or I can foresee the future and say injuries could play a roll. Why? Well, besides the fact that this championship is being played in a «battle field» any injuries to key men like Ronaldo, Rooney or Tevez may mean they could struggle to score goals, has happened before; this was a problem that did occur at times last season, but like earlier mentioned, Ferguson is tracking a striker and this could put an end to any apparent flaw in the squad.

Now, how much is Chelsea willing to risk winning this year? Well, Scolari, Deco, Porto… need I say more? Of course I do, what about the dramatic change in tactics. Chelsea is going all the way, so don’t be surprised to see them playing another UEFA final game against Manchester United once again. Maybe you are wondering «will Chelsea focus more on the Champions League instead of the Premier League?» That sort of rational could ambition the title near Manchester.

Manchester United is with no doubt on top of the pile, not only locally, but on the European front. The current crop of players is certainly the finest manager Sir. Alex Ferguson has had at his retention in his twenty-two year influence, but who of the pretenders can make a strong claim as being genuine contenders this season? Will the ‘Big Four’ charge further away, or can others shorten the gap?

Sports as we know it today has come a long way. There were times when watching sports on television was considered a massive step forward in terms of technology. Fast forward 60 years, watching sports on television has become the most basic thing. Today we watch sports on the go on our mobile phones or any device with a screen and internet connectivity. Proud of how far we’ve come, aren’t we? Hopefully I can change your opinion on that by the end of this article.

What is sports all about? Sports is a bunch of people getting together to play a game with pre defined rules and a referee to ensure that these rules are adhered to during the passage of play. I am a sport lover and play sports all time. My love for tennis and soccer in particular cannot be defined. My issue when it came to technology and advanced analytics was with the game of soccer in particular. Soccer is such a beautiful game. The strategies that the coaching staff come up with and the way it is executed on field by the players, it actually is a thing of beauty. I was a soccer player myself (just an average one at that) and have been part of various teams. I know firsthand how strategies are built, how much thought goes into one single run of play.

Enter -> Advanced Analytics

Most of you would’ve seen the movie Moneyball. The movie was based on the book Michael Lewis wrote in 2003. It talks about how a jock turned luminary uses advanced statistics to gain a competitive edge over his better funded opponents. This book brought about a revolution is sports. Fans and boards of soccer clubs didn’t want to settle for subpar statistics or analytics anymore. What Moneyball did is, it took an old cliché – «sports are businesses» and made us move on to the next logical question – «how do we do things smarter?»

Now let’s talk about advanced analytics. Advanced analytics in today’s world plays a massive role in every business sector. Advanced analytics has been a boon for us. Moving from descriptive analytics to prescriptive analytics, we actually have come a long way. In various businesses, where the requirement is demanding, advanced analytics are of utmost importance.

When we look at soccer, its a game that does not require too much machine intelligence, it is a game that needs the human element. When you bring in analytics and technology and try to reduce the human element in the sports, it simply just crushes the spirit of the game.

Relying on analytics heavily killed the Premier Leagues long ball game and brought in the pressing, continual passing tiki-taka. Each league for that matter had its own style of play. The Premier League had the brash and brazen style of football that was termed «The way real men play football». There were beautiful long balls, harsh tackles but all the players just sucked it up, walked it off and it was all up to the referee on the pitch to penalize the offender or not. There were arguments and fights, the passion from the fans was crazy, that was the football that screamed of passion, when players got in the face of other players not fearing punishment. The Eric Cantona’s, the Ivan Genaro Gattuso’s, the Jaap Stam’s of the football world went missing soon enough and the diving and the biting began. Then there was the tiki-taka style of football that was played in the Spanish La Liga, the silky style of play that caught everyone off guard. The legendary Pep Guardiola and his army at Barcelona were the masters of the tiki-taka. There was Real Madrid who were always a star studded line-up with excessive parts of their play relying on lightning quick counters which most often than not left the opponents stunned. There was Manchester United who had their own brand of football being managed by the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson. That United team was a team of sheer grit and character. Each of these leagues had their own beauty and the teams had their own style of play.

When you bring in excessive technology and analytics, there emerge sorry technologies like VAR (Video Assistant Referees).

There are 3 stages as to how the VAR works:

Step 1

Incident occurs

The referee informs the VAR, or the VAR recommends to the referee that a decision/incident should be reviewed.

Step 2

Review and advice by the VAR

The video footage is reviewed by the VAR, who advises the referee via headset what the video shows.

Step 3

Decision or action is taken

The referee decides to review the video footage on the side of the field of play before taking the appropriate action/decision, or the referee accepts the information from the VAR and takes the appropriate action/decision.

Now the referee can consult with VAR for basically any doubts he wants clarified. What does this do?

• Removes the human element from the game.

• Takes up excess time and brings too many stoppages within the game, a game that was previously free flowing and continuous.

This makes it similar to Formula 1 racing. The analytics which brought about the fuel weight management systems and the numerous pit stops took the continuity out of the race and viewership reduced with the increase in technology. A pretty similar trend might occur in football if this implementation becomes mandatory.

The Positive Side of Advanced Analytics in Soccer:

Analytics are not all that bad in football. Let’s take the case of when Simon Wilson joined Manchester City in 2006. Simon Wilson was a consultant for an analytics startup called Prozone initially. He joined City to start a department of analytics and hired the best data analysts under him. He wanted to change the way how data was used by football teams. He saw that, after a defeat there was no introspection as to why they had lost and what needed to be done next time. City were a mid table club at that time. In September 2008, when the club was acquired by the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment, a private-equity outfit owned by a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, the team suddenly found itself with the resources necessary to mount a challenge for the Premier League. Today, Wilson is Manchester City’s manager of strategic performance analysis. He has five departments under him, including the team of performance analysis, which is now led by a sports scientist named Ed Sulley.

After each match, the team’s performance data would be examined. The list is extensive. Line breaks (a rugby term), ball possession, pass success rates, ball win/loss time ratio were what used to be analyzed. «Instead of looking at a list of 50 variables we want to find five, say, that really matter for our style of play,» says Pedro Marques, a match analyst at Manchester City.

«With the right data-feeds, the algorithms will output the statistics that have a strong relationship with winning and losing.» Wilson recalls one particular period when Manchester City hadn’t scored from corners in over 22 games, so his team decided to analyze over 400 goals that were scored from corners. It was noticed that about 75 percent resulted from in-swinging corners, the type where the ball curves towards the goal. The next 12 games of the next season saw City score nine goals from corner.

Teams are investing heavily in analytics today and it is working in their favor. Look at where Manchester City are today, sitting atop the Premier League table and not being threatened at all. Look at Manchester United this season, their game has been such where their possession percentages are low but their goal conversions are high. The Manchester Derby on 7th April 2018 saw United have only 35% of the possession but they managed to trump City 3-2. Each team has their set of analysts who provide inputs as per the strength of the team.

Advanced analytics is like the coin Two Face in Batman has, «Heads you die, Tails you survive!»

It can reap crazy rewards from a team’s point of view but at the same time can disrupt the lovely game by bringing in unnecessary stoppages, replays and by taking the human element out of it. The numerous replays and the different angles, show the fans if the referee has made an error or not. Let the error happen, after all to err is human. Refereeing in soccer is not an exact science and it’s all real time. Let there be arguments about a decision, let the passion in the argument come through. Do you want to watch a football match like the El Classico or the Manchester Derby and sit with your bunch of friends and say «it was a very clean game, the best team won!» Hell NO! Don’t drive the passion out of soccer with technology and analytics. Let soccer be soccer and let technology stay away!