Why I use Wyscout and how I would improve the platform

Data is essential to the performance-based analysis that we strive for at TheMastermindSite.com, looking to enhance the quality of our articles and insights; whilst backing up the eye test with further support. Many sites have helped with this quest over the years, each providing different avenues of support. However, if one data site could provide all of the features needed wrapped up in one, it would make the process smoother. With that, I assess why Wyscout has become the #1 resource that I use in my analyses and articles, and how the site could improve to ensure they stay ahead of the free data sites available.

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WHY WYSCOUT

Wyscout is the only paid platform that I use for data purposes, given the comprehensiveness of the data provided. But in addition to all the data available, I use the platform for scouting & recruitment purposes, in addition to producing articles. This is made incredibly easy through Wyscout’s video footage, and the ease at which you can screen for specific ‘events’ for thousands of players around the world. No other platform offers anything close to the comprehensiveness of Wyscout’s video analysis tools, or their player search functions for scouting. No other platform allows for as clean of an image to be produced, and it’s super easy to organize different events to download later on.

But for data purposes, Wyscout also provides advantages that other sites don’t have, such as possession-adjusted interceptions, defensive duels/actions, attacking duels/actions, and forward passing numbers.

However, if I was to use the site exclusively over other free sources, these are the changes I would want to see:

IMPROVEMENENTS NEEDED

1. ALL DATA POINTS AVAILABLE IN PLAYER LISTS

Wyscout offers several different data points that I like in the ‘Advanced Search’ and ‘Player Profile’ tabs. Since FBRef lost the ability to provide percentages and numbers around pressing, it’s been harder to easily find good numbers to help clubs in their quest to find players that fit into a high-pressing system. However, Wyscout has two nice numbers that I like – pressing duels per 90, and recoveries in the opposition half. However, when you create player lists to compare players, these metrics are not available to add to the comparison.

This also goes for other numbers that they have around the site that you can’t currently include in the Player List comparisons, including:

-> Total actions successful %
-> Accelerations
-> Loose ball duels & loose ball duels won %
-> Missed balls per 90
-> Losses in own half
-> Recoveries, & recoveries in opposition half
-> Clearances
-> Progressive passes allowed
-> Ball progression by runs (assuming this is a progressive carry number)

If Wyscout was to add these numbers available for selection in the ‘Player List’ function, it would allow for more comprehensive analysis and less use of their competitors. It would be especially useful on the defensive end, which is currently more limited than what a player offers in attack/possession on the platform.

2. BETTER HEATMAPS

The Wyscout heatmaps are nice to have, and they’re more useful in understanding how much time a player has spent playing each position on the field than other sites. I like the ability to do this, but I find the smaller splotches on the Sofascore heatmaps easier for the brain to compute and to actually assess where their actions occur on the pitch.

The difference is also a matter of having the same quality of analysis in all tabs on the site. The way the heatmap comes out on ‘Player Lists’ is great. You can more nicely see where a player ‘spikes red’ with their actions.

I would rather the horizontal version you can see in the player’s ‘Stats’ on their profile, but this is still a relatively nice heatmap. But when it’s in their profile, it’s less impressive, and less usable.

So I would rather use the Sofascore heatmap, which highlights areas of the pitch that they’ve had an impact on not even showcased on the Wyscout map.

The way Sofascore builds a profile is sleeker across the board, but the heatmaps are the most impressive feature.

3. missing data

I’ve already spoken about how Wyscout has the most comprehensive data. But they also have some key data points missing. This means I will continue to use sites like FBRef and Sofascore in the meantime. Here are the stats from each site that I’d like to see on Wyscout, and my own additional suggestions based on what I’m often looking to find in comparing players within my player roles:

Sofascore:

-> Tackles
-> Dispossessed
-> Dribbled past
-> Possession lost (or a metric around possession lost per touch)
-> Error led to shot/goal

Goalkeeper:
-> Successful runs out
-> Punches & claims

FBRef:

-> Tackles
-> Tackle percentage
-> Recoveries (Wyscout should have this number available based on event data)
-> Progressive passes received
-> Progressive carries (May already be available but not in lists)
-> Switches of play
-> Miscontrols
-> Shot-creating actions, goal-creating actions (although I like Wyscout’s shot-assists)

Goalkeeper:
-> Defensive Actions outside the penalty area
-> Average distance of defensive actions
-> Crosses stopped %

StatsBomb:
-> Pressure %
-> Total pressures & pressures in each third

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If Wyscout was to develop these improvements and include these data metrics in their platform, it would make for less of a reason to visit other sites, and more of an ease at analyzing and comparing players on their platform.

4. SIMILAR PLAYER COMPARISON TOOL

The final aspect that I’d want to see added to Wyscout’s features is a tool that allows you to more easily compare player similarities like FBRef. This is something that I’ve wanted to build for the site since establishing my Player Roles and metrics behind how I evaluate performance. But I don’t have the knowledge of coding, mathematics or data science like the wizards at Wyscout. Judging by the fact that some of the other people in this space that I have a lot of respect for have managed to figure out a way to do this (Chun Hang, Ben Griffis, Liam Henshaw to name a few), I’m hoping that it would not be too much for Wyscout to use their resources and create a similar player comparison tool.

Embed from Getty Images

Why would this be useful? When clubs are looking for new players, they’re often basing that information off something they already have, or something they don’t currently have. Either way, a player will often be used as a reference for the search. I can sift through the data and see the comparisons myself, but if Wyscout could automatically generate similar players based on their data (even if this was a separate package), it would drastically reduce the amount of time analysts have to spend sifting through data to find similar comparisons, or spend on other sites.

Why else is this useful for Wyscout to do in comparison to what FBRef already offers? Because FBRef is limited in the amount of leagues it covers. The only site that comes close to Wyscout on that front is Sofascore, but the difference between the two is still massive. Wyscout has video and data for leagues that you probably don’t know exist. So in finding similar player comparisons for players operating in leagues outside the scope of FBRef, I’m yet to find an easy and comprehensive way to do this.

Embed from Getty Images

A platform like Wyscout should be able to create something similar with their data expertise, making it more likely that I’ll spend time on their site, and less likely that I’ll spend hours taking a coding course to learn how to build a platform that allows me to do it myself.

All and all, Wyscout is an essential feature for anyone in the football analysis sphere, for the comprehensive data, and the ease of ability to assess video footage of players and matches. If they made the changes to the site above, it would drastically enhance the analysis that can be done on their platform.

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-> How to use Wyscout for successful football analysis
-> How I create scouting reports for pro clubs
-> How I assess ‘player mentality’ through video and data analysis

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