The Data Game series sees Twenty3 speak to prominent writers and figures in football to get their opinion on the use of data and analytics in the beautiful game. To kick things off, we caught up with world football guru James Nalton, who has written for the likes of BBC Sport, Forbes, This is Anfield,…
It’s ironic that Thomas Müller, a man who made a position famous, is now thriving in a role usually associated with Kevin De Bruyne. The Bayern Munich academy graduate is, and always has been, a Raumdeuter. In English, it roughly translates as an interpreter of space. Teams didn’t know how to handle the German or…
If you’re reading this blog post, you’re probably someone who likes, or is at least intrigued by, football data. If so, you’ve made a good choice. You’ve made a good choice because now you get a peek at the work we’ve been doing at Twenty3 to make data visualisations (a many-syllable way of saying pretty…
Timo Werner and Kai Havertz may have, perhaps rightly, stolen the show since the Bundesliga returned. The RB Leipzig forward has added four goals to his tally in the four matches he’s appeared in while his compatriot, the Bayer Leverkusen wonderkid, has struck five times in four matches to continue his fine 2020 form. However,…
The Bundesliga is back and while it may not be football as we knew it before the COVID-19 pandemic, last weekend’s action was – perhaps somewhat surprisingly when you consider the long, enforced break – played to a high standard and an impressive pace. Borussia Dortmund were at their scintillating best as they swept aside…
The COVID-19 pandemic may have put a temporary halt to football, but what it hasn’t stopped is Twenty3’s hunger to digest data. Many have used this downtime period as an opportunity to put together their ‘Team of the Year’ for the season so far, but we wanted to do something a little bit different. Let’s…
Chasing the prospect of veins of gold, the mid-nineteenth century saw some of the biggest voluntary migrations in the world’s history. Prospectors arrived from as far afield as Europe and China, making the fortunes and futures of cities like San Francisco and Melbourne, dreaming of finding that precious, precious metal. They travelled and they toiled.…
Google searches can be strangely nostalgic. A quick check online for how the world, at the start of February 2020, viewed Jose Mourinho vs Pep Guardiola (with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City merely a sideshow) reveals that many thought their rivalry was past its best. If their respective teams couldn’t compete with each other, then…
The Vanarama National League is awash with owners, coaches and volunteers who go above and beyond the call of duty for their clubs, but there can be few men more dedicated than Dorking Wanderers supremo Marc White. Perhaps that should be no surprise – White is the founder, owner and manager of the National League…
After 42 games last season, Leeds United occupied second place in the Championship with a three-point buffer to third. They’d won eight of the previous eleven matches, righting the ship after a difficult period from late December to early February. They didn’t win any of the last four games of the season. They managed only…