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I think one of the most interesting things that has come out of the sports science revolution is the fact that it's now commonly accepted that player peak physically at ages 23-25, and this is most evident in baseball and the NFL. I suppose we will see transfer money being more and more directed towards younger players. Anyone who's buying someone who's 26+ has to realize that they're not getting the player's peak. I think we will see football teams realign their transfer budget accordingly in the next few years, and obscene fees won't be paid for anyone much older, which is different from the past when players aged 27-30 were still thought of as 'peaking'. I know football has a huge mental element, but there's no denying that fundamentally it is a very athletic game, and it's very, very rare that players who aren't elite physically are elite footballers. The physical part is a necessary feature of being 'elite', and thus the realization of when players peak and the allocation of transfer budgets towards younger players will be an irreversible trend. But anyway, at its heart, moneyball is just a way of understanding the game better. Do I think that football is perfectly explained today? No. Do I think analysis could be better and more informative? Yes. So moneyball will play a part because there is still a huge knowledge gap between what we think we know and what actually happens. Football is a very complex sport but I believe that we'll gain a better understanding if we employ the methods that other sports now prioritize.

Low crosses also have the advantage of being harder to defend because defenders don't have much time to react.

The no high-crosses stuff just comes from its lack of efficiency. It's hard to deliver high crosses with any weight or directional accuracy, so you'd rather not do it if you had a better alternative. The ball also travels fastest when it's going in a straight line (vertically and horizontally), which means the fastest way to move the ball is on the ground. That is why you'd rarely see a Barca winger just cross the ball into the box. They do it from time to time, but there is a real strategy to it and it's not just a 'let's bomb the penalty area' strategy. It's obviously very effective too because they score shit loads of goals and the vast majority come from other sources.

Sabremetrics in football is in infancy, but any club that doesn't use it to support and aid their decisions, whether that be transfers or team selection, in 5 years time will essentially just be hoping that they're lucky enough to stumble on to good players and a working formation. There is a lot to sabremetrics in general, but obviously the statistical models need refining for football. Baseball was the first sport to use it fully because it's a game of statistics, but the revolution has since spread to the NFL and the NBA, both sports where there is vastly more fluidity and is more similar to football. The Mavericks who just won their first NBA title have one of the biggest team of statisticians in the league, and anyone who watches the NBA will tell you that it's much more similar to football than baseball, so it obviously works in complex sports as well. This is the future, like it or not. Man City have the biggest department of all the teams in the Premiership, as far as I know.

Hopefully Suarez gets another couple of matches added on to the racism thing.

Our CM pairing is fine, and I'd rather not play Santon or Kadar at CB. It's essentially a choice between Tiote, Santon and Kadar as Perch's partner. Tiote's attributes mean that he'd do ok at CB. He's strong, reads the game well and can tackle. Kadar is completely unproven and Santon isn't strong enough.

If Tiote is fit, I'd play him at CB.

There is no way in hell that the tackle was even a foul, let alone a red. But of course I maintained the company line whilst arguing with some of my Liverpool-supporting mates today. Clear red, two feet off ground, he deserved it etc. etc. Injustice and LFC just belong together.

van Persie 4-0

Arsenal are rampant. van Persie misses a sitter.

On the bright side, today's results are the worst possible set for Liverpool.

Fucking class by van Persie, well saved by Al Habsi but Gervinho puts it in, 3-0.

Yup. People need to have some perspective when evaluating his performances this season.

And if Liverpool win then we're 7th. Holy shit, we've dropped back quite fast We're still doing well. Now we have 4 easier games + away at Anfield to close out the first half of the season. Pick up 10 or so points here and we'll be very much on course for 7th place.

Die in a fire, Fergie, you stupid bitter cunt.

Fuck Ferguson. Great manager. Possibly the best ever. But he's a fucking cunt. Always has been, always will be. I'm not Geordie so I can never fully hate Sunderland like you locals do, but Man Utd are my Sunderland. Wherever we are in the league, wherever they are in the league, the matches I'm as desperate as ever for us to win is against these classless cunts. Fuck them.

How the fuck did Fabio or Rafael or whichever daft cunt they had playing RB not get sent off for pulling back Ba when he was on a yellow? Huh? Dodgy fucking ref.

Fucking get in. Every team in the league is due a dodgy penalty and we got ours today. I was crazy enough to organise a house party, invite ten people over, a few of whom are Man Utd fans. I don't think I've felt more satisfied than when the fucking cunts went quiet and had to return to their seats after the Hernandez goal was ruled out Fuck them cunts. Fuck everyone else, too

Dortmund, Parma, Bilbao. I look out for their results and always hope they do well. I don't mind Kaiserslautern and Marseilles too. I gravitate more towards players and managers that I like. I used to like Benitez's Valencia quite a bit because Albelda and Baraja were fantastic. I like whoever Bielsa is managing. Same with Ranieri. If Wenger ever manages another club, I'll probably want them to do well. I'm developing feelings for Vilas-Boas too A man with his intelligence is rarely found in football. Ancelotti is also a manager that I like. Deschamps ain't bad, either.

I'm also quite certain that people's harsh opinions on Ben Arfa will soften over time. He's an incredible player. You will all become fanboys; it's just a matter of when. He's capable of elevating us to a level that no one in our squad currently, and no one in the world that we can reasonably expect to buy, can.

Your opinions are based on a lot of conjecture about Ben Arfa's character and his behavior. It's funny that you talk about the forum being open to people who watches the game as well as the internet soopafan. Well, from where I'm sitting, it seems that you've made up your mind about Ben Arfa without actually having seen him play. That's why people jump on your opinions. If you were, say, someone who has watched him before this, then maybe your opinion on him, his style of play and his character would be more valid and the reasonable people on here would respond to you more favorably. People who have made their minds up about Ben Arfa being shit (I'm paraphrasing) have clearly a) ignored his entire career, and b) have decided that 300 minutes of football after returning from a year-long injury is enough to form a reliable opinion on his footballing ability and traits. If you think that he hasn't looked good so far, then look at his career. That should be enough to convince you that he merits a real chance and a real run in the team, preferably many matches in a row over a period of many months. I've commented on Ramsey's improvement over the past 6 months, whose recovery timeframe is one that I would expect Ben Arfa's to parallel.

It's a good post because Ronaldo talks about facts. What you, CT, tend to post is not facts, but whatever bullshit you've dreamt up to justify your ludicrous opinions.

This argument will look funnier as time passes because he'll prove himself to be very worthy of the high expectations that people have of him, like the Baggio posts earlier in this thread now seem funny because even a not fully fit Ben Arfa has shown that he's very capable of relieving pressure for us, as he did so quite a few times on Saturday.

I'm a Ben Arfa fanboy. I think he's a glorious player who has the ability that so few in this world possess. I love his vision, his style of place and I am in constant awe of his dribbling ability. I think we somehow for some weird reason lucked into signing him and we should build our whole team around him. We've done well this season so far but I don't think that iteration of the team was good enough to challenge for fourth, which is where I feel we really belong, and where Ben Arfa can take us. I think this discussion about his position on the pitch would be entirely without merit if he didn't get injured. The only important factor now is whether he will recover his ability. If he does, there is no discussion. You build the team around him. You tell him to find space, tell other players to pass to him and then just let him roam without needing to defend. He's a lesser version of Messi but I think we should let him roam free like Messi does. He's the best player we have, and the best attacking player we have by a million miles.

When Christmas Tree, Ronaldo and Baggio all agree on one thing, you know you're right if you think different.