Happy to label it fun only. Imagine the pleasure of the more complex system. Looking at a different thread we may have some disagreements deciding on the quality of Solanke
We all get different things from watching football. Our perceptions and enjoyment vary from person to person depending on our age, how much we have played the game, what teams and players we have watched and the number of games attended, and what particular aspects of the beautiful game we find most fascinating. The loyalties handed down to us by our family members are hugely important too.
It is interesting that Matt S is so intrigued by statistics generated by games (and for me xG is a psuedo statistic based on someones's opinions and algorithms that can't possibly account for the thousands of variables that define each opportunity). Even the widely accepted possession percentage seems a bit bogus to me - for example, which team is in possession of the ball when the goalie kicks it 50 or 60 yards through the air from a goal kick, or there is a bout of head tennis in the centre circle, or during a goal mouth scramble when half the players on the pitch are trying to get at the ball? These percentages always add up to 100, but there really should be a third percentage to indicate how long the ball was in the air and/or when neither team could claim to have possession of it.
Personally, I go to football for the love of the game and the enjoyment of the spectacle, seeing great players in action, marvelling at great pieces of individual skill or the uncanny magic of fabulous team moves, memorable goals, fantastic goalkeeping, in a word the excitement of the contest.
There are magic moments that live in the memory that have less than zero to do with statistics, real or bogus: Gordon Banks saving from Pele in Mexico in 1970, Nobby Stiles with his toothless grin jogging round Wembley with the World Cup in 66, seeing George Best slalom through half the Saints team to score a wonder goal at the Dell, Bruce Grobbelaar flying through the air to pluck a goal bound shot out of the sky - the list is endless. Who cares what the xG was for Bretts solo goal in the 5-1 at Craven Cottage, or Steve Cook's piledriver in the same game. And what about that magic moment when Pughie broke the tension at DC like puncturing a huge balloon with the frst goal against Bolton that sent us into the PL for the first time?
And what statistics could ever replace the gale of laughter that engulfed the whole ground when Warren Aspinall playing at DC for Brighton, and who had been booed relentlessly from the start of the game, was poleaxed when hit in the nuts twice in the space of five minutes, gamely getting up to carry on and then receiving good natured cheers instead of boos when he finally left the field.
For me first and foremost watching football is an emotional experience, and it's not just the action. Who present could ever forget the wonderful reception Ian Cox received from our supporters when he returned to DC with Burnley only a few weeks after he left us, or the heartfelt applause given to the young boy who came on to the pitch on Monday to ring a bell in the centre circle to signify his recovery from cancer?
So, sorry Matt, for me football has way to much to offer the senses and the emotions to boil it down to a few often meaningless numbers. I don't knock your fascination with numbers, although I don't share it myself, but I hope that you are not missing all the things that I describe when you examine them.
