Football Stats

[ktvillan]

Dante I'm not disputing that stats are relevant, I've already agreed that some some clearly are.  The ones that give you some hint as to the player's skill level and effect on games (pass completion rate, tackles won, assists, goals scored, chance conversion rate etc.).  I can see the point of all of them.  I just don't see what this particular stat, distance covered, adds.  Even i f  you restate it as "hard work", there is no qualitative element to it.

[Dante Lavelli]

Dante I'm not disputing that stats are relevant, I've already agreed that some some clearly are.  The ones that give you some hint as to the player's skill level and effect on games (pass completion rate, tackles won, assists, goals scored, chance conversion rate etc.).  I can see the point of all of them.  I just don't see what this particular stat, distance covered, adds.  Even i f  you restate it as "hard work", there is no qualitative element to it.

Fair enough.  My annoyance is largely aimed at the old school mentality that exists in football where science and technology are ignored by loads of coaches.  Football seems to live in the dark ages compared to most other sports which is crazy considering that there is more money sloshing about in football than rugby or cycling for example.

[ktvillan]

That sort of stat isn't very nuanced, but expanded upon has uses. For instance, towards the end of his career Bergkamp used to complain to Wenger about being subbed off for the last 20 minutes. Wenger, however, had the stats up his sleeve to say "look Dennis, you started running less and less. And your speed decreased." The evidence of ones own eyes are not enough, but neither are statistics: together they inform a good decision.

Reasonable  point backed with an example, but to me that is a slightly different case.  There is a frame of reference, a comparative element over two time frames, the first 70  minutes compared to the last 20 minutes. In that example you can reasonably deduce from his slowing up and running less that Bergkamp was tiring.  Tiredness generally has an effect on a player's effectiveness.  Thus it tells you something useful.