Modern football is not what it was 10 to 15 years ago. The age of analytics has crept into a sport that has seemingly never needed it. However, with more money being pumped into the game to go with advances in technology, there was no avoiding the use of analytics and statistics.
As we enter a new era, stats are going to be used more and more to tell a story about how the match went. It’s important that we use a combination of watching the game for ourselves and then compare stats to see if that aligns with what you’re seeing in each match. Let’s dive deep into understanding soccer stats and what you need to know.
Traditional Statistics
Traditional stats are stats that most soccer fans will pay attention to, such as possession, shots, shots on target, saves, fouls, yellow cards, red cards, offsides, and corners. There are inferences you can make based on these stats, but it’s important to remember that unless you’re watching the game yourself, the stats can be misleading. For example, possession is a stat that fluctuates based on game flow.
Take the USWNT’s recent run through the Gold Cup, for example. If you hadn’t watched any of the matches and just looked at the score and possession, you might think the USWNT wasn’t as dominant as usual. In…
