Contrary to popular opinion, I find IIM-A is the best environment to study anarchism, not because it is home to amok-running social libertarians torching the dean's office and scrawling "We will rise" on his wife's forehead, but because it is home to amok-running nerds who frequently feel anarchic enough to try their morning tea with three spoons of sugar, then spend the day guiltily looking over their shoulder for men in yellow coats who saw their indiscretion, finally ending the day claiming it was the most exhilarating frenetic day ever. The point is of delta entropy in an ordered system being more noticeable than a disordered system with inherently higher entropy. In part 1, I look at 2 ordered systems in Valencia and Barca and consider entropy as a state of disorder rather than a thermodynamic property (both of which I mastered in the good old school days of poring over theses of Maxwell and their effect on explanation molecular kinetics of gas, rather than waste time like those punkbitches playing volleyball, watching swat kats and flirting with chicks. How dumb they must feel now, all that time spent researching has really paid off with a mention in this blog...)
Valencia ended last season, and began this one as an impeccably precise passing outfit of minimal entropy (in Mathieu, and Alba), and for some reason have slowly and surely increased in disorder till now the only particles of order remaining are Ruiz, Albelda, and Jonas. Principally, this is fine, entropy of a system tends to increase anyway, but the problem is its theoretic direct correlation with the number of states available. Valencia till 2 games ago, was the only team in Spain (and I suspect Europe) to have never fielded the same team in 2 consecutive games, their formations have frequently changed, which again is still quite ok for increasing entropy, but conversely the number of states available for each player (which should logically increase) have stayed the same. Apart from Piatti who's been played at LW and in the hole, every other player has been given the exact same role regardless of formation, how Feghouli has the exact same average position on the RW in a 4-3-3, a 4-4-2, and 4-2-3-1 is a lot more puzzling than the "so what...he's a RW..a RW is a RW is a RW" might suggest to me.
Compare this with Barca, a team that traded Ibra for Villa last year in the final vertice of a system in complete internal order, the pinnacle of precision any team could have achieved. I wont argue whether seeking increased entropy is the right move or not, although given they swept everything up last year, it doesn't strike me as obvious that minimal entropy is unstable. What I will argue is their changing the number of available states (and hence expecting proportional increase of disorder) while trying desperately to keep the same level of order in the overall system w.r.t gameplay. It isn't just the introduction of Cesc's brownian motion that I point to, Alexis has played up front, on the left, on the right, so have Villa and Pedro, and even Iniesta, while Busquets and Masch have taken turns at CM, CB and RB. It's not as simple as saying "don't play a natural LW at RW...duh..", that's pretty much the only thing separating them from Total Football, but it has led to decreased precision of passing in the final 3rd, where last year they'd blindly pass knowing the order of the system dictates there be someone there to receive. Unfortunately for these 2 teams, their completely ordered systems were just as stable, it only required one element of randomness (Emery for Che, Cesc for Barca) to rapidly predate increasing entropy. So why fight it, Valencia should start switching players' positions, and Barca should go psycho on formations.
Valencia ended last season, and began this one as an impeccably precise passing outfit of minimal entropy (in Mathieu, and Alba), and for some reason have slowly and surely increased in disorder till now the only particles of order remaining are Ruiz, Albelda, and Jonas. Principally, this is fine, entropy of a system tends to increase anyway, but the problem is its theoretic direct correlation with the number of states available. Valencia till 2 games ago, was the only team in Spain (and I suspect Europe) to have never fielded the same team in 2 consecutive games, their formations have frequently changed, which again is still quite ok for increasing entropy, but conversely the number of states available for each player (which should logically increase) have stayed the same. Apart from Piatti who's been played at LW and in the hole, every other player has been given the exact same role regardless of formation, how Feghouli has the exact same average position on the RW in a 4-3-3, a 4-4-2, and 4-2-3-1 is a lot more puzzling than the "so what...he's a RW..a RW is a RW is a RW" might suggest to me.
Compare this with Barca, a team that traded Ibra for Villa last year in the final vertice of a system in complete internal order, the pinnacle of precision any team could have achieved. I wont argue whether seeking increased entropy is the right move or not, although given they swept everything up last year, it doesn't strike me as obvious that minimal entropy is unstable. What I will argue is their changing the number of available states (and hence expecting proportional increase of disorder) while trying desperately to keep the same level of order in the overall system w.r.t gameplay. It isn't just the introduction of Cesc's brownian motion that I point to, Alexis has played up front, on the left, on the right, so have Villa and Pedro, and even Iniesta, while Busquets and Masch have taken turns at CM, CB and RB. It's not as simple as saying "don't play a natural LW at RW...duh..", that's pretty much the only thing separating them from Total Football, but it has led to decreased precision of passing in the final 3rd, where last year they'd blindly pass knowing the order of the system dictates there be someone there to receive. Unfortunately for these 2 teams, their completely ordered systems were just as stable, it only required one element of randomness (Emery for Che, Cesc for Barca) to rapidly predate increasing entropy. So why fight it, Valencia should start switching players' positions, and Barca should go psycho on formations.
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