those stats data are specifically used by BETTING and SCOUTING teams internally ... unfortunately there is no gain in pubplic view for that! I know that in EPL along Opta had everything for players and even coach since 70s - I suggest you can wirte to Martin Tyle in Skysports Football and see.
schwuppe Following on from this I wanted to let you both know that Opta have just put a bit on their website whereby you can compare individual performances from every World Cup since 1966. Put in the tournament and the nation and player and go from there. Fascinating in my opinion. Would love to see someone try and extract the stats. http://www.optasports.com/
Excellent. BTW, I just asked the head of marketing at Opta if they ever considered putting out their stats in a book and he said that since they were a Business to Business company (ie they provide their stats to other media organisation) it was only through twitter and this widget that they released them in order to avoid a conflict of interest.
Suggestion: Take first 100 in the Castrol ranking. Differentiate in position: FW, MF and DF That would provide a good start. Most interesting stats are I think: shooting accuracy, passing accuracy, duels won %, recoveries, tackles won%, fouls won, fouls conceded, chances created.
Recovery This is where a player wins back the ball when it has gone loose or where the ball has been played directly to him. Tackles A tackle is defined as where a player connects with the ball in ground challenge where he successfully takes the ball away from the man in possession. A Tackle Won is deemed to be where the tackler or one of his team-mates regains possession as a result of the challenge, or that the ball goes out of play and is “safe”. A Tackle Lost is where a tackle is made but the ball goes to an opposition player. Duels A duel is an 50-50 contest between two players of opposing sides in the match. For every Duel Won there is a corresponding Duel Lost depending on the outcome of the Duel. ------- Problem with everything is that it requires interpretation. A high amount of fouls drawn can be interpreted in two ways: a magnet for dirty defenders or high level of protection from ref. Depending on context. Also a reason why some are overdoing it when Iniesta is debated. Players have a role to play and that role might very well lead to others accumulating high levels of stats.
Paul Breitner in 1982 is also here categorized as defender while he clearly played in midfield. Same in the Castrol ranking (as mentioned in other thread).
I will not include OPTA Positions in my summary. It's hardly revealing if Jairzinho, Xavi and Matthäus are all 'MF'. Stats will give a better insight on the players role.
'Of course' you disagree with Beckenbauer and Jairzinho not playing the same position. Uhm no sorry why exactly?
Three reasons: 1) Position, which is something different as role, has an effect on the stats they show. Defenders will never draw the same amount of fouls as attackers. 2) Some stats will show low and therefore insignificant numbers by nature. Blocks and clearances will be higher and revealing for defenders while forwards will generally never have more than one or two which makes it unreliable as well. It tells a lot more when you talk about 20, 30 or 40 clearances - big numbers. Similarly, the 'pass accuracy on opponents half' will be very revealing for defenders (in contrast to total pass accuracy) while less relevant for midfielders and forwards. 3) You can look at who performed the best within their position. Defenders will never have the same chances created stat as midfielders or forwards but can nevertheless rank among the best in their position. But why don't you answer the question? What are you planning to do?
Some other things I found remarkable: Maradona has an insane high aerial duels won %. Cruijff has a high shot accuracy, in the regions of Gerd Müller (or higher even) and higher as Romario or Ronaldo. Stats also show what I said earlier: Eusebio was really the complete forward and also defensively strong. He has the record amount of shots on target in a world cup (with 31) but also a low shot accuracy (50.8%). Maybe he was forced to do too much on his own?
The 'shot accuracy' stat is kind of missleading. It measures '% of shots on target' and not '% of goals per shot'. Eusebio's 'goals per shot' is 0,1. For comparison Jairzinho has 0,58 and Rossi 0,46. Müller in 1974 0,2.
That can be misleading as well. Both can be misleading and revealing. Eusebio66 has in that way you propose 14.7% Cruijff74 17.6% Romario94 15.1% Ronaldo02 28.5% Müller70 38.4% Pelé70 15.3%
It measures a kind of shot proficiency irrespective of goalkeeper qualities. That is one thing (when compared with the other stat). It is also less sensitive to shooting position as the alternative you provide. I.e. if you shoot from 20 meters distance you might say 'good job' to yourself if you aim between the posts. In contrast, if you miss from 6 meters distance (or hit the goalkeeper) you have to explain something. That might also provide an explanation for why a high percentage of Müller his shots on target resulted in a goal while his overall 'OPTA SA%' is not better as the others. If you understand what I mean. Same with Paulo Rossi in 1982 (7 shots on target, 6 goals).
As simplification I'd say that the first one comes closer to 'shot proficiency', i.e. can you aim the ball remotely where it is supposed to land; the other one comes closer to 'finishing proficiency', how many shots does someone need to score a goal (from close range).
Other strange thing: According to FIFA Messi attempted 30 shots in 2010WC. According to OPTA only 21 shots. FIFA has 50% shot accuracy (total shots/shots on target), OPTA 57.1% OPTA says: 12 shots on target, 9 shots off target. FIFA says: 15 shots on target, 15 off target. Difference is maybe related to amount of blocked shots. FIFA also notices amount of shots blocked. That are 7 blocked shots at 2010WC, so what account for the difference between 21 and 30 shots?
Well STATS only be meaningful when the number of samples is HIGH. Hence there are 2 scenarios: 1- can not compare MF vs ST/FW, unless the samples are even higher ... 2- At NT or WC/Euro level is differet from club level for many reasons So take Rossi at WC82 as >50% (a few shots per game and all landed in goal) is totally misleading compared to some others with many more games. It would be more accurate if we take it over at least 100 shots (like over the season) and compare them as FW and MF in different category= again unless we take 300+shots as samples. The closest STATS one between NT and Club was Ronaldo: - Shot accuracy = shots on target/ number of shots >50% - Shot successful rate = goals/shots on target >40% Overall he got ~30% goals/shots For example WC02 8goals/18shots on target/28shots => 44% succesful rate, and 64% accuracy At club: average 1goal /5,6 shots (at Real) and 1goal/7shots at Barca/Inter