acc to sky we had 33% possession and only 59% pass completion. watching the game now and the majority of Southamptons passes and play seem to be across the back and middle. 2 areas that we're not really gonna chase for the ball. our passing was poor at times though.
We worked hard and pushed the ball forward well when we were allows ... it was not a great performance but a good result
Your body does funny things when you are under stress and the pressure is on, hopefully the pressure will have eased and they will play more naturally from now on. Granero really seems to be suffering from that and it was obvious the likes of Hoilett and Remy do not.
2 goals to 1 goal is the only stat that matters in the end. To answer your question..yes they can be very misleading.
Inky, statistics are, by definition, historical. Id est, they mean sh1te. Id est, we can win all remaining games, and stay UP!!!!!!!
The problem with statistics comes from considering one in splendid isolation of other facts. If, for instance, you consider the Rs possession statistics as a trend across the season to date and alongside the points and wins tallies, then you could correctly infer that there is a positive correlation between a generally low possession percentage and a poor points accumulation. There are always exceptions, such as may have been the case today (er... yesterday), but it would be pretty difficult to argue that this, as a longer term indicator, is misleading. If my feet are in the freezer and my head is in the oven, then, on average, I'm comfortable.
I think the possession stat on its own is useless, possession in the final third is a lot more useful to determine strength of play than possession overall. Just think of Rodgers Swansea who spent 90% of their possession passing along the back four.
