Stats are boring but

Stats are boring but

I've been tracking the stats for the Phoenix and some interesting trends have come up.

 

Firstly as far as attack goes the Phoenix is sixth on the table in terms of shots at goal at 11.3 shots per game. However they are no 1 in terms of goals per shot at 8.5 shots per goal compared to an average of 13.4 per game for all teams in the A-league.

 

In terms of defense the Phoenix are 5th worst in terms of shots allowed at 14.4 shots per game compared to an average of 14.0 for the league as a whole. However at 8.3 conceded goals per shot against they are at the bottom in terms of this defensive stat.

 

The conclusion: The Phoenix has to tighten their defense while increasing the number of shots per game if they are to move up the table. With their most effective defender, Dodds out this will be a challenge.    

what's happened to Dodd?

Thats an understatement in stating the obvious....

you can take what you want from stats, like you say 6th on the table in terms of attack  yet i read it as 3rd worst  while you say 5th worst defence  i see it as 4th best but your right fundamental rule of football score more than the opposition and more up the table 

So in other words we need to score more and concede less?

man i hear chelseas looking for a new manager, with that kind of insight you could manage at the highest level

well i find it innaresting

He has had 4 yellow cards.

score more concede less ay..... thats an interesting concept

I think the whole concept of football has just been revolutionised. If only we'd known earlier...

hmmm yes tragic really

Wow its a revelation!

I'm always interested in these sorts of stats. It's true: what they do underline is that football is amazingly simple when you break it down. But remember, a lot of professional clubs now days employ people just to track these stats, run them through computers and come up with the magic formula for winning. Maybe even the Phoenix?

Once again some very valid points have been shot down by sarcasm.  Grumpleweed has some very valid points;  for starters we allow an average number of shots but concede more than anyone, maybe we do have a keeping problem?

There are only three teams in the league that have taken less shots than us but yet we have the best success rate, does this mean that if we had strikers playing with more confidence we�d take more shots and therefore score more goals?  How many times on Sunday were our strikers (Smeltz in particular) one on one with the last defender or in space on the edge of the box and decide not to go at goal?   I know Smeltz has scored goals, but how many would someone else with a more individual attacking mindset have scored?

Thanks for that Grumpleweed. Have you been entering the stats in a spreadsheet? I was thinking of doing that myself. If you have, would you consider posting it on the forums -- there are several of us interested even if a couple of us a grumpy at the stats confirming the bad news...

all i said was stats are what you want to make from them   much like the government do

they do highlight areas of concern and delight and do serve a purpose  i.e half time is an example on tv they give you shots on  target, passing completion etc
 
 i was watching a piece on ryan nelsen at blackburn and after a game or training they are each given a dossier letting them know what they ate how many tackles made,shots on goal, metres run, heart rate etc and it was pretty indepth and involved i'm sure the phoenix have something similar going on too

You can use statistics to prove anything. 89% of all people know that

Yes I have it in a spreadsheet for anyone interested. It is only the summary stats which I've downloaded from the A-league website.

here's a stat for ya   melbourne v newcastle  only needs 7,216 people for the next game and they'll have cracked 1,000,000 people who have attended as A-league match featuring melbourne    don't know if it's been mentioned elsewhere on here giddyup2007-10-26 16:26:24

That's impressive! Hopefully the Nix will get there in the next few years!

The non-underlined comments are from DLB, the underlined are my responses - Ed

Once again some very valid  (and yet gloriously tedious ) points have been shot down by sarcasm.  (without sarcasm, most football fans would have slit their wrists long ago!) Grumpleweed has some very valid points;  for starters we allow an average number of shots but concede more than anyone, maybe we do have a keeping problem?

There are always multiple interpreatations available to establish a  cause and effect relationship in the context of  a correlation DLB,whilst your keeping error speculation is possible it might be that we are good at closing players down outside the box, but a lack of communication is allowing players space in positions where shots are more likely to produce goals.

I know Smeltz has scored goals, but how many would someone else with a more individual attacking mindset have scored? possibly, but ask Michael Ferrante what kind of feedback you get for taking risks in front of goal.


tigers2007-10-26 18:31:14

i've had a rewuest to share the spreadsheet so for anyone who is interested here is the URL for the game stats

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pZxiOp826cNOj1PWnV-UZeQ&hl=en_GB#

grumpleweed2007-10-27 19:16:14