The only valid list of summoned by Spain for the friendly matches against Albania and Iceland will be the one that Luis Enrique announces this Friday from the Cornellà-El Prat stadium, but it is also interesting to know the choice that Artificial Intelligence (AI) would make. In this sense and according to the methodology used by Olocip, a pioneering company in the implementation of AI in the sports field, the best valued Spanish players based on their performance are those that appear in the graph that illustrates this page. To prepare the aforementioned list, Olocip has computed those players who have played at least 500 minutes since the last match of the National Team, on November 14.
Most of those selected by the AI are common in Luis Enrique’s calls, but there are some cases that are more striking, such as those of Juanmi (Betis), Grimaldo (Benfica) and Edgar Badía (Elche), who lead the evaluation in their respective demarcations.
Nobody would be surprised if Luis Enrique could call Juanmi, a Betis striker who has scored 12 goals this season and is the third national scorer after Raúl de Tomás (14) and Aspas (13).
Nor should it squeak that Alex Grimaldo, Benfica’s left back, is new today. The 26-year-old from Valencia is a fixture in Benfica’s eleven and one of the keys to the team that has just qualified for the quarterfinals of the Champions League. In addition, Grimaldo has a lot of arrival and this season he has five goals and five assists in the Portuguese League.
There are other striking names such as Badía, Sancet, Pedro Porro, Son, David García, Vivian, etc… Without a doubt, all of them stand out on their own merits.
How it’s done.
For Olocip, The important thing when analyzing a player’s performance is not the number of actions performed (frequency), but the value that these actions generate and their impact on the team. The AI bases its assessment on the quality of the actions (value) and not only on the quantity (frequency). What it takes into account is the value of the actions measured based on the variation in the probability of scoring or conceding a goal when the actions are carried out. Actions have to be valued positively when they causea transition to a more favorable state for his team, i.e. when the probability of his team scoring a goal is increased or the probability of conceding a goal to the opponent is reducedl. And negatively when they penalize your team by decreasing the probability of scoring a goal and increasing the probability of being scored.
You should not fear for your position Luis Enrique. Computers are not intended to act as coaches. But all help is little. Artificial Intelligence is already in football and has come to stay.