2018/19 Bernard

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Arrived after not playing for 4 months, come into the most physical league in the world as one of smallest players and by the end looked like he's played here years. For all his deft touches and skills I was genuinely suprised by his fitness and workrate the last 2 months.

With a full season in ths league behind him, a full pre-season to come and a year of knowing the players around him, I reckon we are going to see a special player this year.
 

Stats are all well and good, but, if you have grown up playing and watching football from a small child you just get an instinct, you can just tell when you are watching a good player. As your man in the States said “there are lies, damned lies and statistics.”
As for the stat of assists, if you have Harry Kane playing in front of you he will convert a lot of the chances you make for him. If, on the other hand, you have DCL then, perhaps, your assists will not look as impressive.
So I completely agree with you, I think a good use of stats is because you can't watch every game everyone plays and it's a cost effective way to find players that MAY fit the profile of the player you are looking for. The Kane example is an important one because every stat is circumstantial. They have to be understood within context.

But if you know what type of player you want in your tactics and you know enough about the possibilities of metrics and measures out there, you can develop a model that can identify players you might be interested in and/or help you confirm/deny what you THINK you and your scouts are watching.

You still have to watch the players, though. Stats are historical, they don't necessarily tell you how players are going to perform within a team and tactical context. They don't necessarily give you insight into their mentality and how (if) they will improve.
 

So I completely agree with you, I think a good use of stats is because you can't watch every game everyone plays and it's a cost effective way to find players that MAY fit the profile of the player you are looking for. The Kane example is an important one because every stat is circumstantial. They have to be understood within context.

But if you know what type of player you want in your tactics and you know enough about the possibilities of metrics and measures out there, you can develop a model that can identify players you might be interested in and/or help you confirm/deny what you THINK you and your scouts are watching.

You still have to watch the players, though. Stats are historical, they don't necessarily tell you how players are going to perform within a team and tactical context. They don't necessarily give you insight into their mentality and how (if) they will improve.
Stats cannot define the moments that win or lose football matches. If, for instance, a player is the type who defenders fear because of his ability, he can, if he has a good football brain, drift out of position and take 1 or sometimes 2 defenders with him leaving a huge gap in the defence, if his team then score due to the space he has given them you will not see him credited with an assist.
Football is a simple game and cannot nor should not be turned into an over complicated set of spreadsheets. Anybody with an eye for the game will be able to watch a player and decide whether they are quick, fast, brave, hard working or gifted. No amount of JCBx8 or SASx6 can ever be anything more than a very small part of judging a player.
My criteria over the years has always been that I don’t want to see players who can do all the things I could do on a pitch, but faster and more efficiently, i want to see players who can do the things I could never of dreamt about. Bernard is one of those players.
 
Stats cannot define the moments that win or lose football matches. If, for instance, a player is the type who defenders fear because of his ability, he can, if he has a good football brain, drift out of position and take 1 or sometimes 2 defenders with him leaving a huge gap in the defence, if his team then score due to the space he has given them you will not see him credited with an assist.
Football is a simple game and cannot nor should not be turned into an over complicated set of spreadsheets. Anybody with an eye for the game will be able to watch a player and decide whether they are quick, fast, brave, hard working or gifted. No amount of JCBx8 or SASx6 can ever be anything more than a very small part of judging a player.
My criteria over the years has always been that I don’t want to see players who can do all the things I could do on a pitch, but faster and more efficiently, i want to see players who can do the things I could never of dreamt about. Bernard is one of those players.
That moment when he took down and controlled with one touch, Pickfords long high punt out to the left wing will live with me for a long time.
Its moments like that that make it worthwhile supporting Everton .
That and Siggys goal against leicester were the highlights of the season.
As @roy vernon says , they are things we can only dream about doing
 

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