BBC stats today...

[Easy 10]

BBC Sport - Football - Brighton 1-1 FC Utd of Manchester

Possession at 50/50, and 5 attempts on target for FC United ??

Either do these things properly or don't BOTHER, ffs. Christ up a stick, whats the frigging point.

*grumpy*

 

[kevo]

The possession stat is obviously nonsense - it always is! God knows how they calculate it.

I do remember FC United having at least 4 attempts on target tho - shot from distance saved in first half before they scored, the goal, and a tame shot and a header from a corner after they'd gone down to ten men. May well be another one I've forgotten - so quite feasible it could have been five.

 

[trueblue]

Their stats for the Southampton game seemed ridiculous too. I think they must have counted every effort they had that was blocked by a defender on the edge of the box as a shot on target... the one they couldn't fiddle, corners, was a much fairer reflection of the match in its entirety at 10-9 Southampton.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I can remember... one and they scored from it. Granted, I would give Auntie the benefit of the out if it were two or three, but five?

I can also pick a random number...

4.56733828284859292388382911119383859493932034058668651

 

[Yoda]

ITV only showed two of these so called five shots on target in their highlights programme, unless they are counting a almost instantaneously blocked shot as a third. The goal, and a free header from said blocked shot from the resulting corner after they were down to ten men.

 

[Mustela Furo]

Official Stats as compiled by the club.

Brighton : 11 shots on target; 5 blocked; 9 off target; 6 clear cut chances
FCUM : 4 shots on target; 2 blocked, 2 off target; 1 clear cut chance

 

[Mustela Furo]

Their stats for the Southampton game seemed ridiculous too. I think they must have counted every effort they had that was blocked by a defender on the edge of the box as a shot on target... the one they couldn't fiddle, corners, was a much fairer reflection of the match in its entirety at 10-9 Southampton.

Corner count at Southampton was actually 10-10

 

[Mustela Furo]

The possession stat is obviously nonsense - it always is! God knows how they calculate it.
.

Get ready to laugh. You may be aware that the BBC do "text commentary" on most matches.

The same text commentary also appears on other websites as it is provided by the Press Association, via their reporter at the game who is on a telephone back to base, where an operator will type in his comments.

The "Possession" figures quoted merely comes from an accumulated analysis of his comments every time the ball changes possession and something happens.

So where, for example from todays report it says

3: 74:59 : Mauricio Taricco produces a cross, clearance by Ashley Barnes.
2: 74:51 : The ball is delivered by Marcos Painter, clearance made by Martin Parker.
1: 72:55 : Effort on goal by Francisco Sandaza from inside the penalty area goes harmlessly over the bar.

The 1 minute and 56 seconds between 1 & 2 go to FCUM possession as nothing says Brighton have won back the ball.
The 8 seconds between 2 & 3 "probably" go to Brighton possession. (only probably as the statement says FCUM cleared the ball!)

In reality it is possible that the PA reporter will say things to the operator that she does not type up, like "Brighton possession" and "FCUM possession" but overall it is very inaccurate, totally relying on manual interaction and really not worth the electronic paper it is typed upon. (and that's before you begin to question just why Ashley Barnes is clearing Tanno's crosses!)

The only way to do possession properly is to watch the game with a chess clock (or a more modern technology-driven equivalent). But nobody does that at our level (I suspect that Sky in their live games may have some technical gizmo that performs much the same sort of function as their possession stats usually seem "about right")
ens

 

[kevo]

Official Stats as compiled by the club.

Brighton : 11 shots on target; 5 blocked; 9 off target; 6 clear cut chances
FCUM : 4 shots on target; 2 blocked, 2 off target; 1 clear cut chance

Ah, so I was right. Four efforts on target!

 

[kevo]

Get ready to laugh. You may be aware that the BBC do "text commentary" on most matches.

The same text commentary also appears on other websites as it is provided by the Press Association, via their reporter at the game who is on a telephone back to base, where an operator will type in his comments.

The "Possession" figures quoted merely comes from an accumulated analysis of his comments every time the ball changes possession and something happens.

So where, for example from todays report it says

3: 74:59 : Mauricio Taricco produces a cross, clearance by Ashley Barnes.
2: 74:51 : The ball is delivered by Marcos Painter, clearance made by Martin Parker.
1: 72:55 : Effort on goal by Francisco Sandaza from inside the penalty area goes harmlessly over the bar.

The 1 minute and 56 seconds between 1 & 2 go to FCUM possession as nothing says Brighton have won back the ball.
The 8 seconds between 2 & 3 "probably" go to Brighton possession. (only probably as the statement says FCUM cleared the ball!)

In reality it is possible that the PA reporter will say things to the operator that she does not type up, like "Brighton possession" and "FCUM possession" but overall it is very inaccurate, totally relying on manual interaction and really not worth the electronic paper it is typed upon. (and that's before you begin to question just why Ashley Barnes is clearing Tanno's crosses!)

The only way to do possession properly is to watch the game with a chess clock (or a more modern technology-driven equivalent). But nobody does that at our level (I suspect that Sky in their live games may have some technical gizmo that performs much the same sort of function as their possession stats usually seem "about right")
ens

That explains it. I did wonder how they could possibly calculate it. For live games I imagine it is very easy to do with some technological help, but as you say there's no way they're gonna do it at our level - so unless the reporter makes a note of every time possession changes the stat is meaningless!

 

[trueblue]

So what is a 'shot on target'? To my mind, unless it's saved between the posts by the goalkeeper or cleared off the line, it shouldn't be counted. Anything else is speculation - who can know if it was on target or not? So 'shots blocked' sounds meaningless to me.

 

[Mustela Furo]

So what is a 'shot on target'? To my mind, unless it's saved between the posts by the goalkeeper or cleared off the line, it shouldn't be counted. Anything else is speculation - who can know if it was on target or not? So 'shots blocked' sounds meaningless to me.

Exactly. "Shots Blocked" cannot be counted as "Shots On Target". They are a separate measure.

To clarify my earlier posting. Brighton : 11 shots on target; 5 blocked; 9 off target; 6 clear cut chances

This represents a total of 25 shots. Shots on Target, Blocked, and off target are separate measues

The 6 clear cut chances are a separate measure. This is not necessarily a subset of the 25 shots. For example, One of the clear cut chances we had yesterday fell to a player who received the ball in the area but failed to get it under full control and did not manage to get a shot away.


A "Shot on target" is one that without the intervention of the goalkeeper (or a defender standing inside the six yard box) would have gone in the net.... i.e . it would hit the target.

A "Shot off target" is the reverse of that, one that would not have been a goal even without a goalkeeper or a defender present.

"Shots blocked" is where a defender gets in the path of the shot but the block takes place outside of the six yard box. Typically had the defender not been there these would probably have resulted in an "on target" shot.

Some publications that only have "off" and "on" target count these "blocked" shots as "on target", but personally I believe this third category is an important one from both a statistical viewpoint and also from an accurate reflection of what happened in the match.

If our defenders block four or five shots on the edge of the area, then these should not go down as 5 on target shots for the opposition, but equally it is not the opposition who are being profligate, so they should not be classified as "off target" either (although strictly speaking they did not hit the target). "Shots Blocked" fills an important gap imho

 

[trueblue]

Well explained but personally I don't really see any point in shots blocked at all, unless it's on the goal-line.

 

[Neil]

thing is you could hit the woodwork 10 times but thats classed as SHOTS OFF TARGET

 

[Everest]

thing is you could hit the woodwork 10 times but thats classed as SHOTS OFF TARGET

Try telling Andy King that