A research group of the International Center for Sports Studies (CIES) has released a report comparing match statistics for leagues across Europe. It is interesting reading. I have two cautions regarding the statistical analysis of soccer matches. First gamblers and the gambling industry are a huge driving force behind commercial sales of books on the subject. Second I have seen more misuse of statistics to justify a favored position than scientific use of statistics as a research tool. This paper in fact is just a mass of unrelated data with no mathematical analysis at all. Eyeballing statistics is not statistical analysis. Examples of the harm that the misuse of statistics may cause is found in the history of English football. Charles Hughes and Charles Reep used statistics to promote kick and run football in England at the same time that other European nations evolved the game and left English football behind. The report warns: "In terms of performance analysis, the greatest difficulty resides in the ability to interpret data taking into account the particularities of the context from which they arise." http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/mr/mr28/en/
I’m not a stat agnostic but the “geeks” take it to an extreme. Idiotic shit like crossing is a low percentage activity-then you show them all the goals Man U scored with giggs, Beckham and Van Nistelrooy. I think around 75% of their goals came from wide play. Think how many more that weren’t goals. Or that possession play doesn’t work-until you have Xavi, Iniesta, and Busquets in midfield. It’s still a human activity and the correct set of humans, properly instructed and motivated can buck the numerical trends.