@billyiddo has a point about removing outliers, the issue is two things
- Let's say Pool had 1 game where they conceded 7, the rest conceding 1 or 2, and one (not true, but example) where they kept clean sheet, to remove the 7 fairly, you would have to consider removing the clean sheet (top and bottom outlier)
- Bigger issue is sample size, too small to really make a conclusion. You would be better off looking at top 6 teams mid year performance re GA over last five or more seasons and seeing if this season is an anomaly (I suspect it is with all but two teams in league average more than 1 GA per game)
Personally I find looking at stats in isolation an incomplete picture
- Sure, lets look at crosses, but what about set pieces, what about short/long passes, player take ons?
- In a full 90 minutes, if you took the attacking opportunities created, how do they fit into all the buckets, what is the percentage breakdown, what is the success rate of each?
- Add in variables like if you force the opposition to be narrow or wide, does that have any effect on the success of cross vs. attacking through middle?
- You can plan x number of crosses per game as a tactic, but the variable may end up being who is crossing and who is in the box more than the tactic itself.