As a football analyst, statistics are of course very helpful tools for evaluating players and teams. So simply, statistics really help football. But, can statistics be trusted just like that?
Many media put forward statistics as an approach to determine the good or bad performance of players or teams. But after 2016/2017 season finished, I had surfed in some football media and found if Nicolás Otamendi entered the recap as the second best central number two in Europe in WhoScored.
Not up there, CIES Football Observatory also featured Dejan Lovren as the ninth best central defender in Europe. While Francesco Acerbi present as the third best defender in Europe version of Squawka.
Statistics have all the answers and reasons
It is interesting to know how CIES, Squawka, and WhoScored provide a value for determining the best defender. They must have different formulas or formulas.
For example, dribel may have a high value for the winger, but not for the central defender. So the center-back who successfully made the most dribels, such as Jan Vertonghen with 25 successful dribels throughout the 2016/2017 season, was not in the top position among the other central defenders as his statistics of defensive action (sweeps, blocks, intercepts and tackles) were not as good as Otamendi , Lovren, or Acerbi.
We do not need to seek justification anywhere. Just go to sites like Opta, CIES, Squawka, or WhoScored, then we can find a defense if Otamendi and Lovren deserve to be in the top 10 of the best central defender in Europe.
On average, Otamendi plays a role in sweeps, blocks, intercepts, tackles, air duel wins, operands, and long passes in Manchester City's defense. So also with the Lovren do in Liverpool.
These attributes are the things that show a modern central defender who is ballistic playing ball. But to be honest, seeing Otamendi and Lovren as top-flight defenders of the Premier League or even Europe, surely makes us wonder. Why not many teams are eyeing them in the transfer window this time? Though the statistics have shown if they enter the top 10 of Europe's best defender.
For audiences of the Premier League, especially for example Liverpool supporters, they may think Lovren is not even the best defender in Liverpool. We can generalize Lovren as a vulnerable defender of error even though statistics show if he "only" made three mistakes with one goal ending.
So, if we believe in statistics, we want-no-need to believe if Otamendi and Lovren are right are two examples of the best defender in the Premier League.
But statistics may not necessarily be the ultimate answer to all questions
Watching a game is not always the same as looking at the data and statistics. Again taking Lovren's example, he did "just" make a leading to goal error when he was wrong to kick in the match against Crystal Palace. But if we look at a bigger picture that sometimes can not always involve statistics, at least he contributed to seven conceded Liverpool who came from a corner kick or cross. Among other Liverpool center-back defenders, the number that Lovren donated for conceding via crossing is the highest.
But again, statistics managed to cover up the mistake. Croatian defender himself managed to record 65% victory duel ball air. The figure is a good figure for a central defender. Honestly, Lovren really won many air duel. But what the statistics do not show is that 35% of the air duel Lovren did not win, seven of which led to conceding for the team.
In football, statistics are not always the answer. Not like for example in baseball. There are pressures that affect certain situations. For Lovren, he is a central defender who excels in the air. But that is in general. While in special situations more crucial, he did not even win the air duel.
The next problem, from which we can judge if the situation is crucial? The goal keeper who recorded 10 rescues in one game is not necessarily called a great goalkeeper. Perhaps the nine kicks he received were a weak kick towards the middle.
Meanwhile, a goalkeeper who has only one rescue in one game may be in a "more powerful" position because he managed to do it at the end of the game with his fingertip save that made his opponent fail to score a counterweight.
So how do we judge salvation to be crucial or not? Here the statistics can not answer it.
Nothing is perfect in the world of football. However, many people judge if statistics are one of the more accountable approaches as they are shown with numbers.
The numbers that we can access on sites like CIES, Squawka, WhoScored, and so on, actually show only things that do not represent the whole. That's what distinguishes man from machine, because man has intuition.
Statistics may indicate if Lovren or Otamendi can be relied upon in 80-85% defense situations (according to their value based on CIES, ie 80.5 and 84.5 respectively). But the statistics do not show that if between 15-20% of the situation is the situation that makes people want to slam the TV remote.
That's why the best statistics used to judge players, we still have to see with our own eyes.
