Lies, damned lies and Statistics

[southlondonyiddo]

I would hope this is not true but I fear it is


Opta team of the week from The Observer today

Right Back: Eric Dier

It just shows you what a load of bollox stats are more often than not

I also love the 'Gilfy Sigurdsson has run further than any other player in a league game' this season stat!!

Any other great stats out there in stato land that are pretty much a waste of time or unbelievable?

 

[Geyzer Soze]

1 in 3 threads posted on this forum are a load of old bollocks

 

[Mr Pink]

1 in 3 threads posted on this forum are a load of old bollocks

I'd say your post is one of those 'one in three'

 

[Wrenchy]

I needed to sit down after seeing this tweet from an hour ago...
‏
@OptaJoe
202 - La Liga goals since August 2009:
L Messi 202
C Ronaldo 200
K Benzema 80
R Soldado 75
G Higuain 75.
Battle.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I would hope this is not true but I fear it is


Opta team of the week from The Observer today

Right Back: Eric Dier

It just shows you what a load of bollox stats are more often than not

I also love the 'Gilfy Sigurdsson has run further than any other player in a league game' this season stat!!

Any other great stats out there in stato land that are pretty much a waste of time or unbelievable?

That's not a simple stat though is it ? That's like a bunch of things chucked together with an amalgamated/aggregate performance score, like how many tackles, how many interceptions, how many passes, dribbles etc etc.

The fact that he had a tough day but kept a clean sheet probably contributed to a high aggregate mark as he was probably making more tackles and interceptions than many RB's yesterday.

 

[Norwegian Spurs fan]

" All he believes are his eyes
And his eyes, they just tell him lies" Dylan

 

[southlondonyiddo]

That's not a simple stat though is it ? That's like a bunch of things chucked together with an amalgamated/aggregate performance score, like how many tackles, how many interceptions, how many passes, dribbles etc etc.

The fact that he had a tough day but kept a clean sheet probably contributed to a high aggregate mark as he was probably making more tackles and interceptions than many RB's yesterday.

Ok so the amalgamated/aggregate stats that means he got into the team of the week are/were bollox. He had a poor afternoon. Probably couldn't wait for the final whistle to blow. His performance defencively compared to his opposite full back Davies was like chalk n cheese

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

For the benefit of Spurs fans everywhere, this is an elbow

I was quite shocked myself when I looked it up

 

[Syn_13]

I needed to sit down after seeing this tweet from an hour ago...
‏
@OptaJoe
202 - La Liga goals since August 2009:
L Messi 202
C Ronaldo 200
K Benzema 80
R Soldado 75
G Higuain 75.
Battle.

Soldado is just a baffling one. When looking back from his 2 seasons and Getafe and 3 at Valencia he scored 88 goals in 161 league games. Fast forward to the 1 and a half seasons he's had with us and it's just 7 goals in 34 league games. Makes me sad.

 

[mw828]

I would hope this is not true but I fear it is


Opta team of the week from The Observer today

Right Back: Eric Dier

It just shows you what a load of bollox stats are more often than not

I also love the 'Gilfy Sigurdsson has run further than any other player in a league game' this season stat!!

Any other great stats out there in stato land that are pretty much a waste of time or unbelievable?

statistics are never wrong, people's interpretations of them usually are

perhaps how opta is turning the stats into player ratings, or perhaps how you overvalue how reliable stats should be over a 1 game sample.

 

[SlunkSoma]

Stats tell you the number of times something happened. We add the whys.

 

[Norwegian Spurs fan]

Stats tell you the number of times something happened. We add the whys.

Why?

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

I'd say your post is one of those 'one in three'

Two thirds, but that's strictly my opinion................

 

[parklane1]

Stats are a useful tool but they very rarely tell the whole story.

 

[kursaal]

I cannot fathom Soldado out at all. Deadly in Spain and bloody pathetic for us. You just know as soon as he goes elsewhere the goals will come.

 

[eddiev14]

I needed to sit down after seeing this tweet from an hour ago...
‏
@OptaJoe
202 - La Liga goals since August 2009:
L Messi 202
C Ronaldo 200
K Benzema 80
R Soldado 75
G Higuain 75.
Battle.

How many league goals have we scored since Redknapp left?

Genuinely interested to see if Messi has scored more than us on his own!

 

[Indisguise]

I cannot fathom Soldado out at all. Deadly in Spain and bloody pathetic for us. You just know as soon as he goes elsewhere the goals will come.

Don't know. I think we've broken him.

 

[eddiev14]

RE stats and football, even the experts admit it's a really difficult sport to draw good conclusions from.

There has been so much money thrown into this area at top level clubs yet you have someone like Damien Comolli saying that only a few years ago they were looking at totally the wrong things (things like possession/ball retention), and might still be.

This uncertainty has the danger of leading to personal conclusions without bothering to even watch a player, or simply picking out crumbs of data to fuel an agenda. The latter being something that the media and armchair pundits do all the time now.

It is the armchair stattos that really get on my nerves, because stats can be used to back up any opinion but it's generally agenda-driven nonsense. Not something that has been subjectively looked at in combination with what they've seen with their eyes.

I listen to a fair few Spurs podcasts and on pretty much every one there is at least one eager, stat hungry bloke in their early 20s trying to interpret the now readily available stats on our games or players we should be buying.

In truth, they don't have a fucking clue what the bigger picture is for Spurs and they've been spouting the same shit for over 2 years now. Also, don't let them lull you into some false notion that they have the slightest clue which young hotshots have the personal hunger, mental strength, family support etc to relocate to a new country and not look like a startled deer when James Collins nuts them in the back of the head for the 5th time! Because their insight most likely comes from watching a few YouTube compilations after creaming over the player profile on Sqwarka.com!

I've heard these guys over the years explain away countless poor performances from our players and suggest a bucket load of shit players for us to sign based on all manner of things that totally ignore cultural, behavioural and a tonne of other human factors that can contribute to poor performance or lack of progression.

In short, I think the increased stats are a useful 'contribution' to the game, mainly for the clubs who have proper experts monitoring their own players and targeting new ones. However, this should always be coupled with 'expert eyes' - highly qualified coaches, scouts etc who can spot not only strengths and areas for improvement in a player but, crucially, all the little human elements that separate a good player from a great one.

However, the patronising bleatings of amateur stattos who ignore what they see with their eyes and are only interested in what it says on their little StatZone heatmaps, I can do without.

 

[nightgoat]

How many league goals have we scored since Redknapp left?

Genuinely interested to see if Messi has scored more than us on his own!

Since August 2009 we've scored 330 league goals, 128 more than Messi. Since Redknapp left at the end of the 11/12 season we've scored 139 league goals. Messi has scored 87. So no, he hasn't. Not really sure what that proves or otherwise. This season he's scored more than eight La Liga teams.

 

[eddiev14]

Since August 2009 we've scored 330 league goals, 128 more than Messi. Since Redknapp left at the end of the 11/12 season we've scored 139 league goals. Messi has scored 87. So no, he hasn't. Not really sure what that proves or otherwise. This season he's scored more than eight La Liga teams.

Cheers!

Well I think it just proves that Messi is phenomenal! Which he is