Football

Just here to stamp on the misconception of moneyball. It's about getting value, and replacing payers you can't afford to keep with cheaper ones, undervalued ones who will still get you wins. You do this by using statistics to discover these hidden gems, that no one else knows about, who in combination replace the wins you would have gotten through the players you sold.

In football, the stats are still being created that show how valuable a player is, not just distance covered or passes completed, or shots on target, but more specific ones that can define a players worth to the team and in general against other players of the same position.

So in a broad example, Newcastle sell Carroll and Barton, and replace them with Ba, now Cisse and Cabaye. But also have a returning Ben Arfa. Different players with different worths, combine to produce the goals, and wins of the two they replaced for less money. But the moneyball option only becomes valid, when Ben Arfa, Cisse, Cabaye and Ba are sold again for more money, or do a bosman and leave, then you need to find other cheap players to replace them.

Football is different from baseball, or most american sports in the fact that statistical analysis has only been in use for the last ten/fifteen years, american sports are defined by stats, which have been used to define their sports since they were created. Especially Baseball, which in the way it is staged is almost perfectly designed for statistical analysis in that it is a series of set confrontations, and players performances, personally and how they rate over other players of the same position, can be analysed to death, and not just for players of this generation, but they can be compared to players right from the birth of football so you can to a certain extent get definitive answers about how a player from the 30's was as good or better, or worse than a player from the 70's or 90's.

Moneyball was also about finding statistics which dig deeper to give you a players true worth, not taking into account, how prettily they hit a ball, or pitched, about using numbers to define a players worth because the numbers wouldn't fall in love with how a player looked when they performed, so the difference between a kuyt and a berbatov, one works hard and the fans love him, the other doesn't work hard (or looks like they work hard) and the fans jeer him.

So just to assume you buy cheap to replace like for like is a misnomer, there's still a lot of human fallibility in the football way of doing things..

tl:dr

it's all about the numbers, and not just about buying cheap, and the numbers are still being created to show you how valuable a player is in football.. so stop misquoting moneyball in relation to liverpool and other football teams which may want to use it in future