Lies, Damn Lies and...

In a season bereft of both meaningful achievement and, until recently, impressive if meaningless individual statistics, for the most part, I noticed a few of the latter (all PL) in the wake of a big win.

Ade: 15 starts 10 goals 4 assists
Eiriksen 18 starts 6 goals 7 assists
Gylfi: 12 starts 5 goals

So Ade would have scored 25 at that rate over a full season, and has, I believe, the best goal scoring rate of anyone outside Suarez of players with a decent number of starts in the PL (haven't checked). It's even more impressive considering he was obviously limping for a couple of his starts.

The numbers for Middlefart's favorite son are looking very healthy as well, comparing favorably to Ozil's 21 starts, 4 goals and 8 assists, and decently to the much-praised Ramsey's 17 starts, 8 goals and 6 assists.

Gylfi quietly remains the 15 goal a season scorer (if played regularly) he was when we signed him.

 

These stats are much vaunted by the Sky led media, but what do they mean? Success usually comes down to how teams did in crucial moments in games against rivals. Cumulative stats never tell you who made the difference in those games. Flat track bullies Arsenal will have great stats but who stood up to be counted in the decisive games away to City, Chelsea & Liverpool - just the mere 17 goals conceded by the apparently solid defence (according to the stats)?

 

Interesting as Adebayors best season was with the goons where he played 36 league games and scored 24 goals, impressive return and backs up that claim that if Adebayor is in his best form then he can reach 24/25 goals, while Siggy is someone who does virtually nothing all game but this season has added end product to his game.

There was a Sunderland on here the other day saying Fletcher is a 15 goal a season striker because over his career he has averaged 15 goals a season but I pointed out he has never scored 15 goals a season, at any club!

Stats are always good for a debate as they can be used or twisted in many ways!

 

Impressive stat's, TBF. I'd say only Suarez, Sturridge and Aguero have better goal to game ratio's this season. Likewise, I haven't checked!

 

I think you may be right, CCC. Both Suarez and Aguero do better than Ade in goals per game started. He just noses out Dzeko, incidentally. Eiriksen's numbers are also comparable to David Silva'a, for whatever that's worth (22 GS, 9 goals, 6 assists).

What the numbers (or perhaps their sudden appearance) do show is that Sherwood has succeeded in getting the best (or very nearly) out of 2/3 of our best attacking players. Add Gylfi in as one of our other likely goal options. You could even consider Kane as well, currently with one goal in one start.

I was thinking the story of the season may be AVB vs. ADE. AVB banished Ade as a malcontent after he criticized AVB's tactics in front of the team. AVB got sacked, and Sherwood not only played Ade, but seems to have been happy to listen to his ideas as well. The result is that IMO Ade has become a kind of coach on the field (I've seen him take over various roles at various times as he thought he should). It's no coincidence that the team's recent downturn coincided with Ade being out and/or injured, I think. Compare Ade's season to Soldado's, who did everything AVB asked, and fell into a slump he has yet to emerge from.

Consider that the Sherwood team with Ade featured in it is doing much of what we hoped the team would do this year. Since it's Spurs, it must mean it's time to get rid of both of them. Or is there a case for trying a little continuity here? Keep Sherwood for next year, sign Ade to an incentive-based contract?

Individual stats in true team games like football and gridiron always tell something about how the whole team is playing (as opposed to games that are really based on 1 V 1 matchups, like baseball and cricket, where the individual stats measure individual achievements reliably). American sports is the happy hunting ground of both flat-track bullies and stat freaks. But stats still may be interesting if they're interpreted. As it happens, I'll note in passing, Spurs have scored very few meaningless goals this year (as opposed to Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal). Really, it's just the fourth and fifth goals Monday, the third and fourth against Newcastle, and the consolation against Man City, that I can remember. All the others either reached or started from no more than a one goal difference, I think.