Apparently, a few people think football needs more stats to crack the American market*. I’ll leave our American commenters to pass judgement on whether better statistics will make the beautiful game more popular across the pond, but what sort of stats would add to our understanding of the game?
Do stats add anything to analysis? Rich’s use of statistics and the examination of the game by Colin suggest yes, but I’ve been in many a conversation when trying to cite Dickson Etuhu’s passing success rate has made pub regulars think I’m even more of a nutter than usual.
*If the Offside wants to be taken seriously as a football blog, then it really should stop calling it soccer.
Although I cannot comment on my employers about the whole football/soccer thing…
I will say that no, stats will not make footy more popular here. There are a bazillion reasons why that is, and stats are not one of them.
to be fair, the term ‘soccer’ is a british one. We don’t use it anymore, but with another game called football already in place it seems reasonable to me that the mericans would use this term.
Stats? Well you can take it or leave it. I think it’s another way to learn more about the game, but I’m like that. Some people are happy without them. At some point, when the numbers get really good, then there might be disputes, but while we’re still feeling our way with them it’s hard to get too hard-line over the whole thing.
As for Dickson, well you might just be better saying “he hardly ever gives the ball away”!
I’m not sure if advanced stats alone will draw in more American fans, but I can see the reasoning. I started following the game closely around the ’94 World Cup, but at the time, I felt confused about who the good players were, and what made them good. I was used to basketball and hockey, where we would always see things like save and shot %, +/-, steals, assists, etc., and often wondered why football/soccer broadcasts didn’t mention anythingthing like this.
It started to sink in eventually after watching a lot of games and highlights (Serie A was the most accessible league for me for awhile, incidently), but I can see how a lot of fans that are accustomed to on-screen graphics telling them everything might be confused.
More stats are generally a good thing IMO, unfortunately there are a lot of meaningless stats that get thrown around, and we need to get away from that…its no wonder many fans are skeptical. For example, the Premier League has an award given to the best goalkeeper. The only criteria: most clean sheets. Jose Reina has won this award 3 times, but truthfully, it should be given to Carragher, Hyypia, Alonso, etc. This season, I noticed a lot of people point out Mark Schwarzer’s save percentage. That’s a much, much more meaningful metric, and its understandable that casual fans seemed to respond positively to it.
The game will always be called soccer in this country. That will never change.
More GOOD stats brought up by commentators and in small on screen graphics should appeal to the more casual fans here. I would like to see some more!