Opta insight: Which stats look good but are actually meaningless?

[davieG]

Despite online protests to the contrary, there is no such thing as a pointless statistic. How can there be when it is quite literally pointing something out?

You may not enjoy the thrust of the stat, or you may deem the fact that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is the highest scoring player in Premier League history to have all the letters in GOAL in his name relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but it's not pointless.

That said, there are certain football numbers that look impressive at first glance but actually, when you think about it, are masking something much less remarkable.

Here are just a few...

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47376512

[urban.spaceman]

xG

[Nicolo Barella]

26 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

xG

xG is really just a measure of performance and sustainability. When it's overused it's useless, but I think it is useful when measuring whether a team is likely to continue winning/losing, whether a team "deserved a point, etc

[sylofox]

As Leicester fans  we know 99% of stats are pointless. Just ask a spuds fan possession passes whatever you can have it all. 

 

The only stat that counts

 

2015/16 premier league CHAMPIONS

 

The rest mean feck all if you mess that small 1 up at the end

[Dan]

Number of shots without the context of where they were from.

 

Possession without the context of where you had the ball and what you did with it.

[Gerard]

10 minutes ago, Nicolo Barella said:

xG is really just a measure of performance and sustainability. When it's overused it's useless, but I think it is useful when measuring whether a team is likely to continue winning/losing, whether a team "deserved a point, etc

 

I'm a huge believer in XG. 

 

Most stats are meaningless without context but XG has little hiding place. 

[PoshhFox]

Winning a treble in the SPL

[StriderHiryu]

That's a good article and yes it really does put things into context. Our title winning year was the best example for this, if you looked at the stats of all of our games you'd think we were relegation form, but in many games it just didn't tell the story of the game. I think we beat Man City 3-1 away with 28% possession and the truth is that scoreline flattered them, as we could have had many more on that day.

 

However, at the same time stats and analytics based scouting is important and makes a big difference, if you know what to look for. Kante was signed from Caen based on his monstrous tackling and intercepting stats. Albrighton because his chances created stats were very high for someone who was not getting a game at Villa. Huth's aerial duel success way very high compared to Liam Moore who played at the back at the time, etc.

[urban.spaceman]

27 minutes ago, PoshhFox said:

Winning a treble treble in the SPL

[foxes21]

I think that chances created stat posted in the Maddison thread is a bit misleading.

 

I don’t remember many clear cut chances or real opportunities that have been created on a regular basis.

 

Didn’t we go through dry patches under Puel where we’d barely create anything meaningful and would have maybe 1 or 2 shots on goal if we’re lucky.