By Andrew Tidswell (Spalding United player and Elite Sports Academy MD)
Football can be a strange game at times.
Often, you can be playing a fantastic game with the majority of the possession and all of the scoring opportunities – but end up losing.
On the other hand, you could also have a game where you don’t see much of the ball, but work tirelessly and end up winning.
I am writing this because the sporting world is becoming more and more fixated on statistics. But do they really matter?
If you win, you can point to the statistics to back your victory. But if you lose, you may be able to use them as an excuse.
Interestingly, at Spalding United FC we have been on both ends of this scenario already this campaign.
Early in the season we would statistically overwhelm teams, have all the chances and a lot of the play… but end up losing.
Looking at the week just gone, we recorded two 2-1 victories at home against Gresley and Coalville Town.
Anybody who witnessed both games will tell you that we didn’t control the game with the ball and had very little possession.
So for me, there is really only one statistic that counts in football – and in sport in general – and that’s the end result. At the end of the football season for Spalding United, it will only read in the match programme that we won both games.
Thinking back to many matches and sporting spectacles I have witnessed, there are numerous example I can use on this theory.
Celtic versus Barcelona in the 2012 UEFA Champions League is just one game that springs to my mind.
Barcelona, in this specific game, made 955 passes compared to Celtic’s 166.
On the possession front, Barca enjoyed 89 per cent of the ball, while Celtic only had 11 per cent.
With these overwhelming statistics in Barcelona’s favour, you would be mad to bet against them winning if you hadn’t seen the result or the match.
But although the Catalan side had that much dominance in terms of having the football, Celtic’s grit, shape, determination and work ethic on the night proved to be the deciding factor as it was the Scottish side who won the game 2-1 and took the three points.
There are many more matches and scenarios I could use to show you how statistics can be misleading, so why is it that they are becoming an area in which we are more interested?
I agree that having possession and having the ball longer than your opponent is giving you more opportunities to win the game and I for one enjoy being part of teams who love having the football.
However, if you don’t do anything with the possession and you don’t penetrate through the opposition, your possession becomes totally meaningless.
