Odd Lots · Thursday, July 16, 2026
The discussion traces the evolution of soccer analytics from early metrics like possession percentage to more sophisticated ones like expected goals (xG), and now to body posture and movement analysis. The shift is driven by technological advancements and a deeper understanding of the game's complexity.
“It started to lead us down this path of where is x G flawed? It only registers when you have a shot, and so there is much more to the game than simply which shots occur. There's possession and the threat of each possession. There's match momentum, and there's changing styles.”
“So it's evolved from on ball data to tracking data to now we're going to that deeper layer of body pods and what movements can prevent or create opportunities to score.”
“And now we have the ability to do make highly complicated artificial intelligent neural nets with this positional tracking data where at ten trains per second or twenty five points per second, we know where all the players are, and we know where the ball is.”