Ian Graham: “Jurgen Believed in Experts, and that They Can Make a Difference”
Liverpool’s former Research head discusses his new book.
Liverpool’s former Director of Research Ian Graham published a book titled How to Win the Premier League, in which he discusses his experiences setting up Liverpool’s first data analytics department which grew from a one-person to an eight-member team during his 11 years at the club.
Whilst challenges were abound during Brendan Rodger’s tenure as Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp brought an open mind and a willingness to respect the advice of other experts.
“Jurgen believed in experts and that they can make a difference”, he said, in an interview with James Pearce for The Athletic.
“He knew that data informed our recruitment process and the feedback he got after games from our video analysis department and he was receptive to that.”
As a result, players like Joel Matip, Sadio Mane, and Mohamed Salah, who weren’t rated highly by others, were hired by Liverpool and went on to become highly successful stars.
“When Jurgen said, ‘We should think about signing Matip on a free transfer’, I had to pinch myself to check I was awake,” said Graham adds.
“For years we had viewed him as the best young centre-back in the Bundesliga. Michael [Edwards] went to see him after doing the deal and Bayern Munich’s scouts were there too. Matip slipped over on the halfway line and Schalke conceded a goal. Bayern’s scouts were like, ‘Ah, we knew he was rubbish’. But what a free signing he proved to be”.
Graham’s data analysis also informed Liverpool’s pursuit of Mohamed Salah, despite his unsuccessful stint at Chelsea.
“From a complicated data point of view, he ticked all the boxes. He came out as the best wide forward in Europe aged 24 or under. Mo came with the baggage of having failed in the Premier League, but our data analysis helped us to understand that we could ignore that”, said Graham.
He recently left Liverpool to start his own analytics company, but shares various nuggets of memories and accounts that show how his methods helped Liverpool win multiple trophies in the past decade.
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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