A Viewer's Guide to Reading Football Statistics
A useful statistic answers a specific question; an isolated number can hide differences in role and playing time.
Begin with a question: did the team create better chances, or simply keep the ball without progressing? Choose a statistic that addresses it. No single box-score entry summarises an entire match or a player's contribution.
Check the event definition
Attempts differ from attempts on target, and neither automatically describes chance difficulty. FIFA's near-post attempt analysis demonstrates why inclusion criteria and excluded locations matter when comparing findings. Read the provider's definitions, particularly when combining figures from different apps.
Passing accuracy offers another example. Completing eighteen of twenty passes is ninety per cent; completing nine of ten gives the same percentage. The volume differs, and neither percentage tells you the direction of the passes or the pressure on the passer.
Align minutes and context
Per-90 rates can help compare players with different playing time. Four attempts in 180 minutes produce two attempts per ninety. This is an arithmetic example, not a prediction of the next match.
FIFA's analysis of offering to receive uses time-based normalisation and considers how possession time affects opportunity. A player whose team spends most of the match defending does not have the same passing opportunities as one whose side frequently controls the ball.
Return to the footage
- Compare roles, minutes and score situations before interpreting a difference.
- Use more than one match and treat short samples cautiously.
- Find sequences that explain the number and others that expose its limits.
Data can challenge an impression; viewing can explain the data. Combining them is more informative than selecting whichever figure supports the opinion you already held.
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