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Attack and defence: Difference between revisions

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Attack and defence (view source)

Revision as of 00:51, 24 December 2022

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{{a|devil|}}{{quote|“On 18 December 2022, he fouled Randal Kolo Muani to give away the penalty for France’s opening goal in the final, where Argentina eventually won 4–2 in the penalty shoot-out after the match ended 3–3 at extra-time, to win the World Cup.”
{{a|devil|}}
 
</small>}}}}{{quote|“On 18 December 2022, he fouled Randal Kolo Muani to give away the penalty for France’s opening goal in the final, where Argentina eventually won 4–2 in the penalty shoot-out after the match ended 3–3 at extra-time, to win the World Cup.”
:— Wikipedia, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicol%C3%A1s_Otamendi Nicolás Otamendi]}}
:— Wikipedia, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicol%C3%A1s_Otamendi Nicolás Otamendi]}}
{{Quote|“Mbappé became only the second player in history to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, scoring three goals against Argentina in the 2022 World Cup final. Argentina led 2–0 with just over ten minutes remaining before Mbappé scored twice in two minutes, the second from a volley after playing a one-two.”
{{Quote|“Mbappé became only the second player in history to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, scoring three goals against Argentina in the 2022 World Cup final. Argentina led 2–0 with just over ten minutes remaining before Mbappé scored twice in two minutes, the second from a volley after playing a one-two.”
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Interesting note: despite the widespread use of Enhanced Football Intelligence — every player in the tournament was GPS tracked and data exists for number, location and success rate of passes, tackles and touch rates — not one of the media ratings made reference to it.
Interesting note: despite the widespread use of Enhanced Football Intelligence — every player in the tournament was GPS tracked and data exists for number, location and success rate of passes, tackles and touch rates — not one of the media ratings made reference to it.
===Poor old Giroud===
It is worth comparing Mbappé’s with poor old Olivier Giroud, substituted off after 40 minutes.
“Seethed after humiliating early substitution but in truth the game had completely passed him by. 5” said the Guardian.
“Slightly lucky at one point not to give away a penalty and so ineffective up front he did not make it to half-time. 5” opined the Express.
“A miserable final for the former Arsenal man as he was subbed before half-time,” said the Express, before awarding the poor chap 3.
''L’Équipe'' was so outraged that it refused to rate him at all.
If you aren’t on the park, you can’t stick the ball in the net — but you can still get booked, as the hapless Giroud found out later.
===Relative cost===
The ten top-paid ''defenders'' in the world earn between £12m and £18m a year.<ref>https://www.johnfyucha.com/2021/12/highest-paid-defenders.html</ref> The top paid footballers earn between £20m and £35m, and most are strikers.<ref>https://www.johnfyucha.com/2022/10/top-10-highest-paid-footballers-in-2022.html</ref> Not one is a defender.
The point here is not to challenge these ratings but note the different success criteria for attackers compared to defenders. The ''payoffs'' are asymmetrical: A defender must put in a 90 minutes shift. A striker can piss about for half the game as long as she is canny enough to get on the end of at least one cross before the final whistle she will still be remembered as a hero.
You can — as the Argentinians did — shut the brightest star in football’s firmament out of a world cup final for 80 minutes and get 4; you can ''be'' shut out for that time by a not-especially notable centre back (who is apparently playing poorly!) and get a ten.
It seems like there should be an arbitrage here: one should pay ''more'' for quality defending — it’s cheaper, and definitely better value for money than a fancy-Dan striker who doesn’t do much for most of the game.
===On attack and defence===
Yes; this is an anecdote; but it a representative one. It translates to other scenarios with an “attack” and “defence” component. Like financial services. But here the payoff is asymmetrical the ''other'' way: If the business of banking is picking up pennies in front of a steamroller. Then “attack” is the actually unglamorous business of picking up pennies; “defence” is the risk management job of making sure you are not hit by a steamroller.
If you are Kilian Mbappé one well-timed volley can bring you immortality, this is almost never going to happen to a salesguy. ''Unless he blows up''. You would most likely not have heard of Nick Leeson, John Meriwether, Jeff Skilling, [[Bernie Madoff]], [[Archegos|Bill Huang]] or Gabe Plotkin ''had they not blown up''. Credit Suisse made USD$20m per year from [[Archegos]]; they lost $US$5.5bn on it ''overnight''.
The business of ''preventing'' Mbappé’s immortality requires a ninety minute shift and consistent but unglamorous execution and no-one is likely to remember you, either. Unless you fuck up. And then you may be assured Michael Lewis will be optioning books about you to Hollywood.
{{sa}}
*[[Roll of honour]]
----
===Those media ratings in full===
<small>
<small>
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
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|Telegraph||4||10
|Telegraph||4||10
|'''Otamendi''': Stupid mistake to give away the penalty against Muani as the 34-year-old had barely been troubled for 60 minutes by the French attack.  
|'''Otamendi''': Stupid mistake to give away the penalty against Muani as the 34-year-old had barely been troubled for 60 minutes by the French attack.  
'''Mbappé''': One of the finest World Cup performances in history. Struggling to generate a spark for 60 minutes, then the supercharger came on and he hit a hattrick.  
'''Mbappé''': One of the finest World Cup performances in history. Struggling to generate a spark for 60 minutes, then the supercharger came on and he hit a hat-trick.  
|-
|-
|Sun||6||9
|Sun||6||9
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'''Mbappé''': Not sure he was even playing for an hour and a half, but came right at the end.
'''Mbappé''': Not sure he was even playing for an hour and a half, but came right at the end.
{{tablebottom}}
{{tablebottom}}
</small>
===Poor old Giroud===
It is worth comparing Mbappé’s with poor old Olivier Giroud, substituted off after 40 minutes.
“Seethed after humiliating early substitution but in truth the game had completely passed him by. 5” said the Guardian.
“Slightly lucky at one point not to give away a penalty and so ineffective up front he did not make it to half-time. 5” opined the Express.
“A miserable final for the former Arsenal man as he was subbed before half-time,” said the Express, before awarding the poor chap 3.
''L’Équipe'' was so outraged that it refused to rate him at all.


If you aren’t on the park, you can’t stick the ball in the net — but you can still get booked, as the hapless Giroud found out later.
{{ref}}
===Relative cost===
The ten top-paid ''defenders'' in the world earn between £12m and £18m a year.<ref>https://www.johnfyucha.com/2021/12/highest-paid-defenders.html</ref> The top paid footballers earn between £20m and £35m, and most are strikers.<ref>https://www.johnfyucha.com/2022/10/top-10-highest-paid-footballers-in-2022.html</ref> Not one is a defender.
 
The point here is not to challenge these ratings but note the different success criteria for attackers compared to defenders. The ''payoffs'' are asymmetrical: A defender must put in a 90 minutes shift. A striker can piss about for half the game as long as she is canny enough to get on the end of at least one cross before the final whistle she will still be remembered as a hero.
 
You can — as the Argentinians did — shut the brightest star in football’s firmament out of a world cup final for 80 minutes and get 4; you can ''be'' shut out for that time by a not-especially notable centre back (who is apparently playing poorly!) and get a ten.
 
It seems like there should be an arbitrage here: one should pay ''more'' for quality defending — it’s cheaper, and definitely better value for money than a fancy-Dan striker who doesn’t do much for most of the game.
 
===On attack and defence===
Yes; this is an anecdote; but it a representative one. It translates to other scenarios with an “attack” and “defence” component. Like financial services. But here the payoff is asymmetrical the ''other'' way: If the business of banking is picking up pennies in front of a steamroller. Then “attack” is the actually unglamorous business of picking up pennies; “defence” is the risk management job of making sure you are not hit by a steamroller.
 
If you are Kilian Mbappé one well-timed volley can bring you immortality, this is almost never going to happen to a salesguy. ''Unless he blows up''. You would most likely not have heard of Nick Leeson, John Meriwether, Jeff Skilling, [[Bernie Madoff]], [[Archegos|Bill Huang]] or Gabe Plotkin ''had they not blown up''. Credit Suisse made USD$20m per year from [[Archegos]]; they lost $US$5.5bn on it ''overnight''.
 
The business of ''preventing'' Mbappé’s immortality requires a ninety minute shift and consistent but unglamorous execution and no-one is likely to remember you, either. Unless you fuck up. And then you may be assured Michael Lewis will be optioning books about you to Hollywood.
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