QPR Vs Portsmouth

People can give analytics as many fancy names as they like but it's just about doing a bit of preparation and then using that information/data to your advantage. Its no good identifying a player who has a completed pass rate of 95% and then signing him without also knowing how many of those passes were forwards, backwards, sideways etc. You would then want to know how many of the forward passes lead to a goal scoring chance etc., etc.,  It's not just understanding the strengths of your possible signings its even more important that you know their weaknesses.

We saw with both Dykes and Bonne that somebody decided to ignore the fact that neither were prolific goal scorers.

Over at Loft for Words this is what they wrote about Madsen based on the information they had found back in August.

Despite his tall frame, Madsen isn’t the best at utilising it to shield the ball or to muscle in on 50/50 duels. He lacks physical assertiveness when out-of-possession but if paired with Varane or Field, I’m hopeful that this flaw might be masked slightly – although it leaves him open to being targeted by opposition. In addition, he isn’t a high-energy player in the press or in defensive transitions which makes me intrigued to see how Cifuentes, Calm etc. will look to utilise him. We’ve been playing a more zonal defensive structure/ mid-block in recent weeks so he could slot nicely into that, but don’t expect him to be a front-foot presser like Andersen, Dykes & Colback. With his taller frame, he lacks the short area quickness to change direction and beat opponents with sharp turns – but he’s a capable runner over long distances, marauding into space with or without the ball.

Marti, Xavi and Belk would or should have also had access to this information and yet they decided to play him in a defensive midfield role.

As a club, if we don't do the basics then we have to expect the failure that is our only constant.