The Stats Thread

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Reactions: RiverEndRick, GozoCanary, DHCanary and 1 other person
@lisboncanary
The data nerds must have been reading our exchanges regarding xG earlier in this thread. They seem to have designed xGOT specifically for you <ok> <laugh>
 
Robbie BB said:
@lisboncanary
The data nerds must have been reading our exchanges regarding xG earlier in this thread. They seem to have designed xGOT specifically for you <ok> <laugh>
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, Robbie. I have looked at the link provided by Canary Spring on xGOT.

Re. the specifics of xGOT and goalkeeping: Maybe I have misunderstood, but I still don't see how this allows for positioning, which is possibly the most important skill of all for goalies. Nor, of course, the role the goalie plays in organising his defence (which I recognise xGOT isn't trying to do), but an excellent shot-stopper is still not necessarily 'better' overall than someone who is excellent at the other two skills. More generally, it's good that the data nerds are trying to make their stats more sophisticated, but there's a danger that we'll end up with so many stats that subjectivism reappears in the decision of which stat we pay most attention to. In other words, whatever we want to argue, we can find a stat somewhere to support it.

As I'm sure you're aware, I'm sceptical of attempts to reduce phenomena to quantifiable data (and not just in football). Regarding their use in football, I realise that the eye-test is prone to all kinds of bias and therefore there is a role for stats; my problem is that stats often get treated uncritically, as if the mere fact that they involve numbers and maths, and are therefore 'science', obviates any need for interpretation. It is also easy to ignore that decisions are made before the stats are even collected, and if these decisions are poor ones, the stats have little worth. It's similar to the premises of a syllogism: an argument can be valid but not true if the premises are wrong.

I concede that I have personal reasons for an antipathy to stats in football. In my job I used to teach English and Critical Thinking, which meant that I had to try very hard to be grammatically precise and logically rigorous. Football was, and is, like a bowl of ice-cream for me after a week of eating sensibly. As many of my instant and overly emotional posts on here prove, I don't want to be logical when I watch or think about Norwich.

EDIT: Sorry, everyone, that this is so long, but at least it's not clogging up the threads about new signings, the season ahead, etc.
 
Robbie BB said:
Here's a really interesting statistic.

Since my user name changed from robbieBB to Robbie BB, my percentage of likes has risen from 15% to 55%. Must be losing my touch! <laugh>
Click to expand...

How did you change your user name, Robbie? I've left Lisbon and I would like my nick to show that.
 
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