[Albion] Goals to shots stats

saafend_seagull said:

Some interesting ones.

Click to expand...

father_and_son said:

Have to add though... I am a statistician. I work in insurance and look at stats and propoensity models constantly. But I go to football to be entertained. I will look at the stats for a game I didn't see but when I have seen a game and compare what I saw to the stats, I am squarely in the "Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics" camp. You never get a true view of the game from the numbers that are readily available to Joe Public!

Click to expand...

GingerBeerMan said:

Post the list so we can see for ourselves?

Click to expand...

Pavilionaire said:

It's about time football got its act together over meaningful stats.

Number of shots is a meaningless figure. What is relevant is the percentage of shots that a) are on target and b) result in goals.

Similarly, % of possession is a meaningless stat. What is relevant is the ratio of proper chances created per 90 minutes of possession.

On target and off target are also misleading as a bullet header that pings the bar counts as off-target but a tame shot from 20 yards into the keeper's breadbasket counts as on-target.

In Major League Baseball they have adjudicators who score plays as either hits or fielder errors. We need the same in football. A greater weighted emphasis on goal-scoring chances created will put pressure on teams to deliver the numbers, which should make for more attractive football. Newcastle is a classic case in point of a team that tap it around to boost the possession stats and try ill-judged shots that boost their shots tally.

Beleaguered managers then point to these stats as some sort of justification for "deserving something out of the game" when what counts is quality, not quantity.

Click to expand...

nickbrighton said:

i watched the recent Spain v England game on a stream, it was NBCSNs coverage I think, one of the commentators asked the other about all these statistics we get now, from %possession, shots, Xg, running totals , the list is endless. I wish I could remember who it was, but he came up with the most meaningful analysis of it all... (I am paraphrasing here) Well, (insert name of commentator), they are all basically meaningless, made up stats to give pundits like us, who dont know any better something to talk about. The only stats that matter are how many goals you score and how many you concede, anything else is just twaddle.

Most sensible thing any football pundit or commentator has said in years

Click to expand...

sussex_guy2k2 said:

Except it isn't, is it. What he's saying is utter tosh. It's like a businessman saying "I don't care about anything aside from sales numbers". In reality, there are so many variables that influence sales numbers, that to overlook such things as the "how" shows not only an ignorance of the subject matter, but probably suggests that long term said business wont be especially successful as they wont know how they're going to go about getting better sales numbers, or lowering costs etc etc

Click to expand...