The one true problem of the side today

[Shepherds Mush]

Great understanding, apparently a tackle on the half way line does very little. You realise that means that 1) the defenders have less to do, 2) you can start a quick counter attack from the half way line.

Henry won't start anything quickly, though no stat in the world will back up that FACT

[Romford Hoop]

Nasser 95. Ok we agree to differ on whether stats are important, I will trust my eyes and experience of watching the game to form an opinion, as I have done for nearly 50 years.

[nasser95]

Then of course there's all the hard work that goes on OFF the ball that mostly goes unnoticed (because people are watching the actual play) but is very important.

Exactly, these are things statistics can capture and analysts will notice.

[nasser95]

Henry won't start anything quickly, though no stat in the world will back up that FACT

Actually the stats do say that. He has the lowest proportion of forward passes which suggests he looks to move sideways or backwards far too much, which just puts our players under pressure. The stats actually did show that.

[ArthurQPR_NYC]

was also interested in your response to hertfood hoops question.

personally, from years of playing Fantasy Baseball, I know some of the more advanced stats engines for baseball are pay-for services. I know Bloomberg (THE name in financial trading) now have Bloomberg Sports for stats generation for baseball and american football. and it was $19.99 a month when I last looked 3-4 years ago.

I reckon its the same for opta or whatever you use, nass. Hence why I always had a sneaking suspicion you had a subscription thru your job or something

[nasser95]

was also interested in your response to hertfood hoops question.

personally, from years of playing Fantasy Baseball, I know some of the more advanced stats engines for baseball are pay-for services. I know Bloomberg (THE name in financial trading) now have Bloomberg Sports for stats generation for baseball and american football. and it was $19.99 a month when I last looked 3-4 years ago.

I reckon its the same for opta or whatever you use, nass. Hence why I always had a sneaking suspicion you had a subscription thru your job or something

Haha you'd sort of be right. I kind of get access to raw data from the work but not really the full set. I just work the data into useful information along with stuff from Whoscored.com

[très bon don]

You can select and skew stats to support almost any argument. They can reveal a lot but without context they're meaningless.

At least we can all agree Henry is awful.

[Shepherds Mush]

Aside from the leaky defence, the p*ss poor % of shots on target per game and the ludicrous belief that we belong in the Premier League then yeah, pace is the one true problem.

[nasser95]

You can select and skew stats to support almost any argument. They can reveal a lot but without context they're meaningless.

At least we can all agree Henry is awful.

I agree but that is why context is an element of everything I look at statistically. Even in this case, the position and direction of the passes is necessary but I have looked at all that in the analysis of the central midfielders.