Paul Lambert confirmed as new manager (reply #544)

[damon loves JT]

If he's coming with Lambert what role does Karsa play? Is 'head of football operations' essentially the same as a DoF on the board, so effectively leaving Faulkner to look after commercial aspects while Karsa would deal with all footballing aspects/contracts etc?

Karsa is a big secret at Norwich, but it is believed he does a lot of the players contractual stuff and is part of Lamberts decision making process on players to buy.

I understand he carries Lambert's golf clubs, and wears a bowler hat with a razor-sharp rim that can be used as a weapon.

[mr underhill]

that sounds like an Odd Job for a man in football

[OCD]

If he's coming with Lambert what role does Karsa play? Is 'head of football operations' essentially the same as a DoF on the board, so effectively leaving Faulkner to look after commercial aspects while Karsa would deal with all footballing aspects/contracts etc?

Karsa is a big secret at Norwich, but it is believed he does a lot of the players contractual stuff and is part of Lamberts decision making process on players to buy.

It sounds like Lambert was a big fan of the movie 'Moneyball'.

[James]

If he's coming with Lambert what role does Karsa play? Is 'head of football operations' essentially the same as a DoF on the board, so effectively leaving Faulkner to look after commercial aspects while Karsa would deal with all footballing aspects/contracts etc?

Kaysa seems to me more like 'Head Scout' than 'DoF' but maybe with more input in the actual contract sides of things. Hopefully, we will find out soon enough!

[Monty]

If he's coming with Lambert what role does Karsa play? Is 'head of football operations' essentially the same as a DoF on the board, so effectively leaving Faulkner to look after commercial aspects while Karsa would deal with all footballing aspects/contracts etc?

Karsa is a big secret at Norwich, but it is believed he does a lot of the players contractual stuff and is part of Lamberts decision making process on players to buy.

It sounds like Lambert was a big fan of the movie 'Moneyball'.

If he was that would just make my day!

Edit: a quick Google shows that lots of people, Norwich fans and outsiders, have that same view: that Lambert seems to look objectively at the statistics and find out which ones are most important, then signs apparently unheralded players he knows what to do with. I have to say, the more I find about this man the more positive I am.

[mozza]

Looking forward to following my team home and away next season (complete reversal ofhow I felt a couple of weeks ago)

Welcome to Villa Park Paul Lambert -

[Toronto Villa]

If he's coming with Lambert what role does Karsa play? Is 'head of football operations' essentially the same as a DoF on the board, so effectively leaving Faulkner to look after commercial aspects while Karsa would deal with all footballing aspects/contracts etc?

Karsa is a big secret at Norwich, but it is believed he does a lot of the players contractual stuff and is part of Lamberts decision making process on players to buy.

It sounds like Lambert was a big fan of the movie 'Moneyball'.

If he was that would just make my day!

Edit: a quick Google shows that lots of people, Norwich fans and outsiders, have that same view: that Lambert seems to look objectively at the statistics and find out which ones are most important, then signs apparently unheralded players he knows what to do with. I have to say, the more I find about this man the more positive I am.

You know the irony of all of this "Moneyball" stuff? It's that John Henry, owner of the "mighty" Reds, who famously tried to hire Billy Bean from Oakland for Boston because of his obsession with the principles of Moneyball, then allowed Comolli/Dalglish to spend obnoxious amounts of money on average PL players and give them top wages. That completely flies in the face regarding everything the Moneyball principle is built on.

Clubs like us, that currently sit in the middle of the pack in terms of size/value/reputation/revenue etc need to find ways of finding the next big thing before they become the next big thing and then sell them off at their peak. As we get better or more successful that retain threshold changes regarding who we can keep and for how long, but right now we need to be astute in the market. We can still buy top players because they have proven performance metrics like Bent, but the design is to avoid paying over the top for average talent based on short term thinking or because they suddenly got hot. If Lambert is a true believer in this we should expect some players that we've not heard of to be arriving at B6 in the future and trust his judgement when it happens.

[Arsey]

Didn't we try the same trick with the blues but ended up paying them?

As for Kos, I think it is crap.

[supertom]

So basically, Brad Pitt is our manager? Should get the swooning females back to the club who came and left with Daveeed Ginola. Honestly, looking into the crowd at Villa park will be like seeing into a Brazilian or Dutch crowd at a World Cup.

[Legion]

Can't wait.

[eastie]

Karsa i believe is lamberts brother in law and along with culverhouse plays an important role in his backroom team , i think they will soon get to grips with things and all 3 will be an asset to the club.

[Monty]

You know the irony of all of this "Moneyball" stuff? It's that John Henry, owner of the "mighty" Reds, who famously tried to hire Billy Bean from Oakland for Boston because of his obsession with the principles of Moneyball, then allowed Comolli/Dalglish to spend obnoxious amounts of money on average PL players and give them top wages. That completely flies in the face regarding everything the Moneyball principle is built on.

Clubs like us, that currently sit in the middle of the pack in terms of size/value/reputation/revenue etc need to find ways of finding the next big thing before they become the next big thing and then sell them off at their peak. As we get better or more successful that retain threshold changes regarding who we can keep and for how long, but right now we need to be astute in the market. We can still buy top players because they have proven performance metrics like Bent, but the design is to avoid paying over the top for average talent based on short term thinking or because they suddenly got hot. If Lambert is a true believer in this we should expect some players that we've not heard of to be arriving at B6 in the future and trust his judgement when it happens.

I think there was a quote somewhere where Henry just said "yeah, we don't think it applies to football, so we're just making it up as we go along." I think Rodgers might be smarter than that, sadly, but it would be good to see us under the management of someone with more guile than that! As Beane himself said in an interview, football can use the techniques he's come up with - it's just about "finding the right metrics."

[damon loves JT]

it's just about "finding the right metrics."

isn't everything?

Baseball is a game of statistics though, while the most critical skill in football - I'd say - is the ability to take the correct position on the pitch. That's impossible to quantify objectively.

[Monty]

it's just about "finding the right metrics."

isn't everything?

Baseball is a game of statistics though, while the most critical skill in football - I'd say - is the ability to take the correct position on the pitch. That's impossible to quantify objectively.

But not impossible to study objectively, and then quantify as, for example, number of times during a game, relative to possession, that a midfielder runs ahead of the ball, and then use other statistics to judge his effectiveness in doing so. Statistics are always useless and misleading in isolation - they need to bee tested against theories and other statistics to work. However, I'd say that something like finding the right positions can be turned into a statistic, and then quantified.

[Legion]

I'm changing your username to Statto.