Why Europeans hate soccer stats

Europeans always complain that we Americans have an over-reliance on statistics and that when it comes to soccer (football) we can’t just see with our eyes, we must look to break everything down numerically. In any team sport over-analyzing statistics can be dangerous, but none more so than soccer. With the only true result being scoring off a penalty and even that is not directly related to form, the numbers can and do lie. Ask yourself, what’s the difference between a guy dribbling the ball through five defenders and driving a laser into the top corner and a guy sticking his foot into a scrum in front of the net and poaching a goal? On paper they’re the same but to anyone who saw them…Statistic’s have a way of asking “who are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?”

With that said I present one man’s list of the 27 best attacking players (forwards and attacking midfielders) in the league according to his statistical analysis. I’m not going to go into detail explaining the formula (you can find it yourself if you click the links on the page) used to create these numbers nor am I going to discuss all the statistical anomalies (the Columbus Crew apparently have three of the best attacking players in the game yet they are eighth out of 13 teams in goals scored per game) because you only need to look at one player for me to prove my point, FC Dallas midfielder Ramon Nunez.

To start the season Steve Murrow put the offense in Nunez’ hands (or on his feet) but Ramon’s inability to get the ball to Carlos Ruiz (Ruiz was getting less than two shots a game) combined with his desire to routinely shoot from the middle of nowhere and not put the ball on target forced Murrow into placing Ramon on the bench. Yet if you look at that list again Ramon Nunez is supposedly FC Dallas’ most productive player. To make things more ridiculous, the fact that Nunez no longer even plays that often actually helps his rating (fewer minutes equals a higher rating.) I’m pretty sure if you go check your email right now there is a message from the stat book asking, “Who are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?”

To be fair this guy is looking for soccer’s Holy Grail, a formula to break down the beautiful game into ones and zeroes; but soccer may just be an analog game in a digital world. Don’t think this guy isn’t close to something though, if he asks you to join his soccer fantasy league, run, because you’re going to lose. But I don’t worry about that in Dallas where no matter what those numbers say the FC stands for “fielding a contender.”

HOOPS PRIDE!

Category: Team News