The MUST Movie for a better Football Analysis
Before we dive in to talk about the MUST movie, I want to let you know that football analysis could be improved and perfected in many ways than by only football!
Coaches, players, or football lovers who have worked with me know that I encourage them to get better at analyzing football through many non-football related things and activities (Chess, some movies, some philosophies…).
So don’t find it strange if in this or in other articles, I would be talking about movies, philosophies, books…
Going back to the MUST movie… Well, another non-related football thing is that this movie isn’t at all about football!
It’s about Baseball… Yeah, you heard me right. It’s about BASEBALL!
But I know that right now, you are like:
Is a baseball movie would really help me get better at football analysis?
And by the way, should I understand how this game is played?
Well… YES, this movie would help you improve your football analysis. And NO, You don’t need to understand how Baseball is played.
I don’t know how it is played but I got a lot from that movie to help me in analyzing football (I’m right now adding a reminder note to go over youtube videos to learn at least the basics of Baseball).
Now that I assured you, let’s go back to talk about the movie…
The movie is titled “Moneyball”. It is artistically satisfying to know that Brad Pitt played the main character (Billie Beane).
By the way, it’s based on a true story!
So, Beane (the General Manager) and Peter Brand (his assistant), faced with the Oakland Athletics baseball’s limited budget for players, build a team of undervalued talent by taking a sophisticated approach to scouting and analyzing players.
Spoiler Alert! (If you do want to watch the movie first, you can read only what I wrote after the end of this spoiler).
Beane hired Peter Brand who has never played baseball to be his assistant, but he had the ability to analyze data of every baseball player.
Beane asked him to assemble a competitive team with the least budget possible. Peter’s choices were made based on science (on data) rather than on names (which was what every team go for in their recruitment strategy).
The team he assembled was a bunch of not-wanted players, but he believed in them and created a specific playing system.
That team didn’t win in the 3rd of their league fixtures… But they continued in their strategy. Because they had a strategic vision…
They did win their first game, and they kept winning for 20 consecutive games, setting the American League record!
They have qualified for the final game against the strongest team of that time, but they lost.
The next year, they have arrived at the final game again, but again, they lost.
Yes, they didn’t win the league, but after that, all the teams took them as an example and followed their way…
Now, that way is the reference for every baseball team!
This movie is way more than what I have said, Even if you read all this article, go and watch it. And many times if possible!
End of Spoiler Alert.
A few of the lessons that this movie can teach you to get better at football analysis are:
- The importance of strategy in managing your team.
- Names are just names, and what these players can really do is what matters the most.
- Believing in your strategy is the key to make it work.
- Scouting is no longer based on obvious simple gathered data (e.g. Kanté, Firmino, Vardy, Mahrez…).
- You don’t need to break the bank to create a great team (Go ask Leicester City’s Scouting department)…
But most importantly, this movie will change the way you will ever see football!
That’s what I have worked on in my online course How to Analyze Football (Soccer) - Basics… To change your filter through which you see football, as I believe it’s the first step to learn football analysis and then to improve your performance.
Learning from other sports, other activities, and fields is not only helpful in football. It’s helpful in your life too.
Learn more. Learn from everything!
