Do you think stats ruin the game?

GibbosEmpire

GibbosEmpire

Well-known member
The game is stat based these days, everything is analysed, everything is xG, sometimes I think it takes the fun out of football, it takes the good play out of football. Most teams now play possession football because of Pep Guardiola. Football 15 years ago would have such a variety of different football styles, something just doesn't feel as fun anymore, would the great footballers of the past get on in todays football world of stats?

Also noticed nobody really plays with 2 strikers any more? And most formations are 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1.
 
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I don't think it hurts to have the information.

I don't like xg as a stat though.

Formations have always changed, they used to play 1-4-5 or something in the black and white days didn't they?
 
Yes I think stats do ruin the game.

I also don’t think they are hugely relevant.

You can’t measure the game changing killer ball or off the ball run which opens up a defence with a stat, and these are the unmeasurable things which affect the outcome of a game.

I think they are used as a security blanket these days when overpaying for players or justifying poor team selection.
 
The other point with stats is that if you are making a big thing about measuring say pass accuracy and the players know it then a lot of players will make a lot of very safe passes and avoid trying the defence splitters in case they get dropped.
 
By stats ruining the game I mean if you don't have the stats, they won't play you kind of thing. Some clubs look into extreme depth at a players stats, like how much they run, how much they keep possession, how much they tackle etc. By doing that some very skillful players who may not be the top of the stats will fall through the cracks. We may not have a Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Zidane, Maradona if they played in todays game.
 
Aet290204 said:
I have absolutely no idea what xG is or how it is calculated.
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It's the number of goals a team would expect to score given the chances they created in a game. Easy chances have a high xg. 1 would be a certain goal and should never happen 0 is no chance of scoring and, probably shouldn't happen either,unless it's an own goal, I suppose with no opposition player involved.

If a team has 3 chances all with an xg of 0.5 it means 50% of the time you would expect a player to score that chance. The teams xg for the game would be 1.5,even if they scored 0 or 4 goals.
 
Personally I can’t take much notice of them and for that reason no I don’t think they are “ruining the game”. I’m not sure they fashion the way the game is played and unless managers are picking players based on their statistics rather than visible form both on the pitch and in training (and I’m not sure they are) then how can they be?
 
Stats xg expected goals _ wtf? cart before the horse.
Stats are inevitable and should just be indicators. Unfortunately they are consider a 'bible' by some people.
 
Laughing said:
It's the number of goals a team would expect to score given the chances they created in a game. Easy chances have a high xg. 1 would be a certain goal and should never happen 0 is no chance of scoring and, probably shouldn't happen either,unless it's an own goal, I suppose with no opposition player involved.

If a team has 3 chances all with an xg of 0.5 it means 50% of the time you would expect a player to score that chance. The teams xg for the game would be 1.5,even if they scored 0 or 4 goals.
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Easier and more accurate to look at bookies odds.
 
HolgateCorner said:
But all teams use stats these days so what about Burnley and Luton who are bottom? Why aren’t they working for them?
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Burnley and Luton aren't owned by the same people that have the stat experience as Brighton and Brentford, if you read into how they got to where they are it will make more sense. You can't just suddenly do that without that background. You could start but it's not instant
 
Does xG take into account the player that has the chance?

I.e. if Haaland or Lee Dong Gook had the same chance in the same place would the xG be the same or is the the xG higher in the scenario that Haaland has the chance because he is much more likely to finish?
 
Of course stats are important to the game. Every side will use them.

I think the op was querying whether they'd ruined the game a bit. By making it a bit too clinical etc maybe? It's a fair argument.
 
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