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.