Mikel will to have to build the team around young Viktor.

[IUFG]

Data is even less useful in football.

Yep.

It's a team sport. A goal may start from a great tackle from a full-back and then go through 20 passes before the goal is scored.

I don't want to know how many average touches a player makes or the mean average of passes that are made prior to a pre-assist or other such nonsense.

Leave that *******s for the FIFA players.

[redgunamo]

#playeroptimization

Wenger used to think he was being really clever, bringing it up in press conferences. Now, a few short years later, statistics is practically an incurable cancer at the heart of the game

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

Cricket shows the genuine limitations of data. If you look at Ben Stokes, his averages paint a picture of a player who is, well, average.

He is anything but....

Data is even less useful in football.

Exactly. He's be like a footballer who only scored 20-30 goals in his career but they included Sunderland in '79, Charlie's two in '87, Mickey Thomas at Anfield and Smudger in Copenhagen.

[Peter]

Exactly. He's be like a footballer who only scored 20-30 goals in his career but they included Sunderland in '79, Charlie's two in '87, Mickey Thomas at Anfield and Smudger in Copenhagen.

Or Ian Allinson at White Hart Lane in 87. One of the worst goals I've ever seen, but also one of the best

Perry Groves skipping past that tackle to set up Charlie's winner in the 87 final

Dennis Bergkamp's stats wouldn't blow you away. But anyone who ever saw him play knows what they saw, including those who refuse to admit it.

[Peter]

Yep.

It's a team sport. A goal may start from a great tackle from a full-back and then go through 20 passes before the goal is scored.

I don't want to know how many average touches a player makes or the mean average of passes that are made prior to a pre-assist or other such nonsense.

Leave that *******s for the FIFA players.

Heat maps

Someone was trying to convince me that Havertz was playing as a false 9 and used his average position from the season before last to prove it. I had to point out that he played 60% of those games in midfield......

In most areas of life, data is dangerous in the hands of an idiot.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

Or Ian Allinson at White Hart Lane in 87. One of the worst goals I've ever seen, but also one of the best

Perry Groves skipping past that tackle to set up Charlie's winner in the 87 final

Dennis Bergkamp's stats wouldn't blow you away. But anyone who ever saw him play knows what they saw, including those who refuse to admit it.

Spot on. Stokes is like a DB10.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

Or Ian Allinson at White Hart Lane in 87. One of the worst goals I've ever seen, but also one of the best

Perry Groves skipping past that tackle to set up Charlie's winner in the 87 final

Dennis Bergkamp's stats wouldn't blow you away. But anyone who ever saw him play knows what they saw, including those who refuse to admit it.

Speaking of which, Hleb's stats are useless - just looked and he scored 10 in 130 games for us - dunno about assists. Yet he was considered so good by AW that he played in the CL games instead of DB10 when we got to the final that year.

His replacement Nasri got 27 goals in 125 games.

[Peter]

Speaking of which, Hleb's stats are useless - just looked and he scored 10 in 130 games for us - dunno about assists. Yet he was considered so good by AW that he played in the CL games instead of DB10 when we got to the final that year.

His replacement Nasri got 27 goals in 125 games.

I believe Hleb was also quite low on assists. But he often made key passes. Very good player. As was Nasri.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

I believe Hleb was also quite low on assists. But he often made key passes. Very good player. As was Nasri.

Nasri I got. Remember one goal he scored jinking around people in the box that made me christen him Twinkle Toes. And who can forget his run and pull back for AA's winner against Barca?

But they had a thing at the new stadium where people {season ticket holders?} could pay to put their ashes with writing of their choice on their plaque. One apparently said "Never got Hleb."

Odin often makes key passes but when he's fit and firing he gets loads of goals and assists, too.

[Peter]

Nasri I got. Remember one goal he scored jinking around people in the box that made me christen him Twinkle Toes. And who can forget his run and pull back for AA's winner against Barca?

But they had a thing at the new stadium where people {season ticket holders?} could pay to put their ashes with writing of their choice on their plaque. One apparently said "Never got Hleb."

Odin often makes key passes but when he's fit and firing he gets loads of goals and assists, too.

The thing I remember most about Nasri is the first time we played that Barcelona side at home. For the first hour they squeezed us to death and gave us an absolute mauling. Couldn't win the ball, couldn't get out of our half when we did have it. In that first half, an awful lot of our players went missing and didn't want the ball. Nasri did. He went everywhere calling for it, even coming to the edge of our box. He and Gallas were the only guys I could see who weren't hiding.

Although that game was weird, if only for the fact that Denilson came on and played well, and Walcott came on and completely changed the game.