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Gareth Bale

Re: Gareth Bale

Hopefully Bale' rich vein of form continues and he can come close to matching C. Ronaldo' tally of 31 Premier League goals (from 181 shots) plus 7 assists for ManU when he was 23 years old back in 07/08...

Twitter / OptaJoe: 5 - Five players in Europe's big five leagues have had 100+ shots this season: Ronaldo, Suarez, Messi, Ibrahimovic & Bale. Elite.

Yep, and 9 out of 10 stats are made up. 8)

However, if true, pardon my ignorance but would it be fair to say he also the only one of those not strictly a striker? (Not sure if Ronaldo counts as a striker?)
 
Re: Gareth Bale

It's true:

Ronaldo 166
Suarez 152
Messi 131
Ibrahimovic 106
Bale 102
Bit of a crap stat. A higher conversion rate would be more appropriate

Messi: 131 shots, 35 goals = 26.7%
Ibrahimovic: 106 shots, 21 goals = 19.8%
Ronaldo: 166 shots, 24 goals = 14.5%
Bale: 102 shots, 13 goals = 12.7%
Suarez: 152 shots, 18 goals = 11.8%

and for comparison

Defoe: 98 shots, 10 goals = 10.2%
 
Re: Gareth Bale

Messi: 131 shots, 35 goals = 26.7%
Ibrahimovic: 106 shots, 21 goals = 19.8%
Ronaldo: 166 shots, 24 goals = 14.5%
Bale: 102 shots, 13 goals = 12.7%
Suarez: 152 shots, 18 goals = 11.8%

and for comparison

Defoe: 98 shots, 10 goals = 10.2%

Comparisons like this are inevitably over-simplistic. For a start no one is seriously suggesting Bale is on a par with Messi or Ronaldo.

That said, it's not as though we're comparing apples with apples here. Apart from Ronaldo the rest are either inside forwards or out-and-out strikers whereas Bale is a wide player who also drifts inside. Ronaldo mostly plays further forward but though he also uses the flanks statistics show he seldom crosses nowadays, whereas Bale still puts in a decent number every game.

Having started out as a left back I'd guess Bale also does more and better defending than the rest. Eg how often is it his powerful header that clears the danger from corners nowadays?

So to confine the comparison to total shots and number of goals is selling Bale's overall contribution far too short imo.
 
Re: Gareth Bale

Messi: 131 shots, 35 goals = 26.7%
Ibrahimovic: 106 shots, 21 goals = 19.8%
Ronaldo: 166 shots, 24 goals = 14.5%
Bale: 102 shots, 13 goals = 12.7%
Suarez: 152 shots, 18 goals = 11.8%

and for comparison

Defoe: 98 shots, 10 goals = 10.2%

so Hoddle was actually being complimentary about Andy cole all them years ago
 
Re: Gareth Bale

Bit of a crap stat. A higher conversion rate would be more appropriate

This. It doesnt take into account how dangerous the shots actually are...no point floating 100 shots straight into the goalkeepers arms. Also, stats like these dont take into account WHERE the players are shooting from. A conversion rate of around 12% from a high number of long shots [a la Bale] is surely more impressive than 12% from the penalty spot [a la Suarez].
 
Re: Gareth Bale

This. It doesnt take into account how dangerous the shots actually are...no point floating 100 shots straight into the goalkeepers arms. Also, stats like these dont take into account WHERE the players are shooting from. A conversion rate of around 12% from a high number of long shots [a la Bale] is surely more impressive than 12% from the penalty spot [a la Suarez].

These kind of stats are largely a-contextual and pretty much useless
 
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Re: Gareth Bale

I have no idea what these stats are about but Bale is 5th and Lennon 16th.
But Torres is in the top 20 too and Lampard ain't.
 
Re: Gareth Bale

I agree. So many stats are presented like this by various sources, journos, blogs, commentators, TV etc...

I'm big into stats generally but not massively for football.

Watching SSN this morning and they were talking about Barcelona completing 600+ passes compared to Milan's 250. Who gives a brick? Did we used to get this sort of useless information?

Seems now there are stats for everything and conclusions are being drawn on them. Not only are the stats not absolute - in football they are barely indicative. Without context, as stated above, they are useless.
 
Re: Gareth Bale

I'm big into stats generally but not massively for football.

Watching SSN this morning and they were talking about Barcelona completing 600+ passes compared to Milan's 250. Who gives a brick? Did we used to get this sort of useless information?

Seems now there are stats for everything and conclusions are being drawn on them. Not only are the stats not absolute - in football they are barely indicative. Without context, as stated above, they are useless.

Not me, thats for sure. Be nice for Sky and the others to get that message though.
 
Re: Gareth Bale

I'm big into stats generally but not massively for football.

Watching SSN this morning and they were talking about Barcelona completing 600+ passes compared to Milan's 250. Who gives a brick? Did we used to get this sort of useless information?

Seems now there are stats for everything and conclusions are being drawn on them. Not only are the stats not absolute - in football they are barely indicative. Without context, as stated above, they are useless.

Did they also compare the stat that Barcelona scored 0 goals to Milan's 2? I think that stat was the most important one from the game.
 
Re: Gareth Bale

Did they also compare the stat that Barcelona scored 0 goals to Milan's 2? I think that stat was the most important one from the game.

I think it was just one of the minor stats behind the average distance travelled by a Xavi pass in the first twenty minutes with his left foot in the right quadrant of the pitch.

There's a radio station over here (Ireland) called Newstalk which does a sports bulletin every morning as you'd expect. Every fudging football result over the last couple of weeks, the taco gives the score and then tells us how much possession each team had and how many corners they had. IT DOESN'T fudging MATTER.

Too much knowledge in the hands of an idiot is a dangerous thing.
 
Re: Gareth Bale

So...Zizou was at the game last night, which was true as he was sitting a few rows behind me....the rumour is this morning in Lyon that he was there to watch Bale....only a rumour though..
 
Re: Gareth Bale

Platini was there too... Like the Lyon boss said we will beat the roast beef. They all came to see.
 
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