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General Football & Sports / Statistics in Football
« on: April 24, 2014, 10:04:17 PM »
Reading the Chris Brunt topic has got me thinking about the nature of statistics in football, especially in light of Bayern v Real yesterday. With the rise of Opta, Pro-zone, online betting, and even the 'moneyball' approach to scouting and developing teams, statistics have an even increasing influence on the sport. Yet out of the major sports, surely football is the hardest to quantify in terms of statistics?
We have all seen those sublime pieces of skill or those horrendous mistakes that go on to define matches, seasons, even careers, but which won't really feature on the statistical analysis of a match. I can think of any number of goals which cannot be adequately defined by statistics.
Likewise, because of my accounts background, I know about how easy it can be to manipulate figures. Often what might seem high or low can be might be the opposite when put into context... but then the context can be shifted as well.
So where do we all stand on statistics in football? A useful tool, a nice discussion point, or is the only statistic that matters the league table?
We have all seen those sublime pieces of skill or those horrendous mistakes that go on to define matches, seasons, even careers, but which won't really feature on the statistical analysis of a match. I can think of any number of goals which cannot be adequately defined by statistics.
Likewise, because of my accounts background, I know about how easy it can be to manipulate figures. Often what might seem high or low can be might be the opposite when put into context... but then the context can be shifted as well.
So where do we all stand on statistics in football? A useful tool, a nice discussion point, or is the only statistic that matters the league table?