Football Stats

[ozzjim]

I love a distance run stat. It CAN show how a lazy player in perception is actually covering a lot of ground in a match without looking like they are doing so. See Darren Bent a few times last season. It is not fool proof, but I like stats as indicative measures. But then I enjoys formulas in excel that make different workbooks do different things, so am likely to enjoy a good stat or two.

It proves nothing for me, For example Bannan covered more ground than Holman yesterday, but it's the intensity of Holmans runs that are so beneficial for the team.

How far? Where from?

[Dante Lavelli]

I love a distance run stat. It CAN show how a lazy player in perception is actually covering a lot of ground in a match without looking like they are doing so. See Darren Bent a few times last season. It is not fool proof, but I like stats as indicative measures. But then I enjoys formulas in excel that make different workbooks do different things, so am likely to enjoy a good stat or two.

It proves nothing for me, For example Bannan covered more ground than Holman yesterday, but it's the intensity of Holmans runs that are so beneficial for the team.

By coming up with that observation you have in effect used statistics and applied them which is all that anyone is suggesting.  Besides didn’t Holman come off after about 70 minutes.

[Louzie0]

If you don't usually get the Times/Sunday Times online, it's free this weekend.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/clubs/astonvilla/article3539555.ece

I found some interesting stats on their match centre especially the ones about where the players operated (touches) during the match yesterday.  Well, I found them interesting, anyway!

Meant to say, using this, if you put Ron Vlaar and Ciaran Clarke together, they covered the entire pitch betwen them!
 

[Larry Duff]

Todays Sun has a page on Mileage etc.  They have Barry Bannan as the player in the Premier with the most distance covered yesterday at 6.76 miles.

I disagree that its all about the intensity of the run. Bannan often finds himself in space to receive a pass from a team mate.  He hasn't got himself unmarked through magic.  He goes and supports the man on the ball.  Its intelligent but its also hard work that goes unseen quite often.
Hard work is not just about making tackles.

[hawkeye]

The distance stats are misleading for Bannan due to his shorter than average legs.

[Percy McCarthy]

Whatever the stats show about individuals, one thing is for sure: under Lambert each player will be expected to work like a slave, so any future transfer targets will not be signing for Aston Villa if all they want is easy money.

I'm quite looking forward to the next few years.

[Hookeysmith]

Whatever the stats show about individuals, one thing is for sure: under Lambert each player will be expected to work like a slave, so any future transfer targets will not be signing for Aston Villa if all they want is easy money.

I'm quite looking forward to the next few years.

This times many

He said he wanted hungry young players and we have them in abundance

[Mazrim]

Anton Ferdinand completed the least amount of handshakes (9) than any other player.

[ktvillan]

I love a distance run stat. It CAN show how a lazy player in perception is actually covering a lot of ground in a match without looking like they are doing so. See Darren Bent a few times last season. It is not fool proof, but I like stats as indicative measures. But then I enjoys formulas in excel that make different workbooks do different things, so am likely to enjoy a good stat or two.

Depends on how important you view perceived laziness, or I suppose "work rate".  For me Bent's game is not about running around a lot to prove he's not lazy, it's about intelligent movement to be in the right place at the right time to stick it in the onion bag, or to link up play, plus  to do his share of pressing when necessary.   It ought to be fairly obvious from the general play if he is doing those things effectively.  Reading the game and using anticipation can also reduce the need to cover huge distances - see Paul McGrath for example. The actual distance covered is irrelevant in my view.     

[paul_e]

I love that people still don't see distance covered as an important stat.  Barcelona for 3 seasons have had the highest average distance covered in europe, and have been hugely successful in that time.  Internationally this applies for spain and again they've been hugely successful during that time.

Applying pressure in the right areas of the pitch is hugely important in modern football, doing this means working hard.  Add to this that keeping the ball is all about the players who don't have it not the man on the ball, again having players in space to receive the ball requires them to be working hard.

I've said repeatedly that Bannan, for example, given his size needed to watch xavi and iniesta and apply their style to his game.  Whilst not in that class he clearly is doing this as he harries the ball really well and works his socks off finding space to take passes.  Once we have a full season of data the key one would be to compare the passing accuracy of KEA, and the defence when Bannan is there or not.  I think you'll see a decline when he's not playing and I think he'll prove himself a key part of the side under Lambert for this very reason.

[PeterWithe]

Anton Ferdinand completed the least amount of handshakes (9) than any other player.

Very good.

[avfcpg]

Not a stat so to speak but we are still 3/1 to be relegated....yet 2/1 to finish top ten.

[ktvillan]

I love that people still don't see distance covered as an important stat.  Barcelona for 3 seasons have had the highest average distance covered in europe, and have been hugely successful in that time.  Internationally this applies for spain and again they've been hugely successful during that time.

Applying pressure in the right areas of the pitch is hugely important in modern football, doing this means working hard.  Add to this that keeping the ball is all about the players who don't have it not the man on the ball, again having players in space to receive the ball requires them to be working hard.

I love that some people need a pointless stat to perceive what is blatantly obvious from watching Barcelona and Spain - that they work extremely hard to gain and keep possession.  How far they each run in doing so is of no interest to me whatsoever.

[paul_e]

I love that people still don't see distance covered as an important stat.  Barcelona for 3 seasons have had the highest average distance covered in europe, and have been hugely successful in that time.  Internationally this applies for spain and again they've been hugely successful during that time.

Applying pressure in the right areas of the pitch is hugely important in modern football, doing this means working hard.  Add to this that keeping the ball is all about the players who don't have it not the man on the ball, again having players in space to receive the ball requires them to be working hard.

I love that some people need a pointless stat to perceive what is blatantly obvious from watching Barcelona and Spain - that they work extremely hard to gain and keep possession.  How far they each run in doing so is of no interest to me whatsoever.

It's not a pointless stat, if it was pointless it would have no bearing.

The value of stats of any kind is that they give you an impression of what you're getting if you haven't watched the entire game.  Watching a player will always be more useful but none of the stats are pointless.

For example if we were linked with a striker from Romania who had a record of 30goals and 10assists in 40games you'd have the impression that he was a decent player to look at, based purely on those stats.  People would then find youtube videos to see what kind of goals he scored, etc to make a more informed decision.

To me distance covered is a useful stat to see for midfielders and full backs where finding space for the pass and getting back to cover a gap are very important elements.

[ktvillan]

I'm well aware that some stats have value, I've not argued otherwise.  But how can you tell, from distance covered alone,  whether a player was getting back to cover, or finding space?  That stat doesn't give you any of that information.