The world is built on information and the way we use it to our advantages. Accumulating the large quantities of data, storing it, keeping track of alternating trends, and most importantly, making something out of it, is one of modern times’ key challenges. Statistics are useful in many aspects of our lives. One enjoyable example is a game of football.
Having an analytical mind is always such a quality to be big advantage in all kinds of logic games and puzzles. You can see the emphasis on statistical value in every guide about how to become a pro poker player. You cannot calculate the sport betting odds without it, or make an educated bet, and so on. Football is too, a discipline largely dependent on statistics. Not only in terms of real money wagers but in areas like: evaluating risks, players performances on different part of the pitch, estimating their value and looking for new transfer prospects.
The first and foremost advantage the statistical approach brings to the table is simple premise that it consists of quantifiable and measurable data. There is no room for interpretation as to what statistics say or don’t say, because they portray real situations and present true facts. What to do with those and how to read them to formulate hypothesis and opinions is whole other matter. For what is worth, stats can be really helpful with determining the strong and weak sides of a team or a player. By accessing their general quality, we are more likely to predict their overall performance throughout the season. Thanks to that, we are also able to compare two teams or players and their relative qualities, which is most useful when trying to pick a winner out of two, especially in the direct game between two subjects. The predictions that we make, when supported by data, have got better chances to be precise.
It’s not like there aren’t any shortcomings in statistics. Depending entirely on stats may sometimes lead to ignoring other important factors that, even if not deciding on the final outcome, may surely effect the results. After all, games are played by human beings who can get distracted, ill, or simply have a worse day. That kind of context is something raw data does not provide. One player generating decent numbers could be seen as stronger due to the teammates around him. The team with great winning streak is perceived as favourites in the next game, but news is that their few key players are injured and they are about to face strong opposition outside their home stadium. Single piece of information, without some additional indicators, won’t do any good. Therefore, making conclusive decisions based on the stats alone is bound to generate mistakes. Such way of thinking is surely defected and cannot be a sole basis of any good research.
The more diverse are the statistics, the more data to work with, the better. More sophisticated and complexed theories can be established with it. Some time ago the only things you could get were merely number of goals and assists. This, of course, has changed profoundly since then, and now football specialists and fans have access to many interesting configurations about their teams.
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