I went into the post game thread thinking there´d be replays of any one of a number of goals, but particularly that Szobo goal, and generally a lot of talking about how great it was. Afterall, worldies are actually the greatest part of football, remember? Yes, I like beautiful team goals, but there´s something very democratic about bashing one in from distance, as we just found out to our cost against Fulham. It´s the goal I imagined myself scoring, or rather the only goal I could imagine myself scoring. Even in my dreams I didn´t have the technical ability to beat 3 players. But I could whallop a ball, and an astonishingly small amount of the time it went very right.
But no. There was a lot of discussion of xG instead. What was the xG of szobo´s effort? How fucking repellent. It also isn't particularly statistically valid, is it? Like, there's a limit to this stuff. If Robbo takes a shot from there it goes in 1/500 times in a game. If Szobo does, it goes in 1/10. But the percentage is for the position. Also, what Szobo did, yesterday goes in 10/10, because it went in.
His xG from that position isn't the same as most players. His outside the box conversion rate is elite. That's why we actually have a player regularly hitting them from there, and not just having their day in The Lying Rag (Fabinho). And do you see how your brain right now just did a neat trick of playing you a really great goal that Fabinho cunted in against City? That same brain that can't remember the name of one of your cousins? Your brain isn't going to remember the xG of a shot. It would rather have a stroke.
It's been written about tons that these goals are a dying breed:
BBC - Death of the Screamer
But, I do remember players taking shots from outside the box that were a fucking pointless waste of time. It could be a crutch to not develop play, it could be a lazy hopeful choice by a player lacking focus. But so can aimless ball retention. Or long throws. Or any strategy. Statistics should be exceedingly custom. They shouldn't lead to uniform outcomes. The fact that they are leading to all the teams, with a range of players, doing much the same shit, shows that the statistics are just driving the same monkey see monkey do metagame progression that happened without them. Except now we don't get fucking bangers as much, and when we do, people are somehow grumpy we didn't work a higher percentage shot. Everything really is shit now.
What got me thinking about this more recently is I stumbled upon this compilation of Gerrards top 5 goals for England and I didn't remember seeing any of them, because, well, who the fuck thinks of Gerrard playing for England? It was like seeing a new joke from a dead standup.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-OnUQQqARY
I realized within this that there's an archetype of a goal that we almost never see anymore, but used to be so normal. Not the "fuck it, I'll hit one" but the side passed, or slightly backpassed ball to an on running midfielder at the top of the D that was a standard solution to a low block in the past. I've seen so many of these, and many many of them are preserved perfectly in my brain. Lovely cushioned header...
Anyhow, that type of goal, if you had the quality shooter, was a normal way of scoring a goal in the past. It was a normal bit of punditry too, like, oh, this team is sitting off, start taking this type of shot, then they'll have to commit a little closer, then you can find space in between or room for a pass behind. It definitely beats the perimeter passing.
If you have an elite outside the box striker like Szobo, it's my contention that the maths works out. Plus don't give a fuck about the maths.
But no. There was a lot of discussion of xG instead. What was the xG of szobo´s effort? How fucking repellent. It also isn't particularly statistically valid, is it? Like, there's a limit to this stuff. If Robbo takes a shot from there it goes in 1/500 times in a game. If Szobo does, it goes in 1/10. But the percentage is for the position. Also, what Szobo did, yesterday goes in 10/10, because it went in.
His xG from that position isn't the same as most players. His outside the box conversion rate is elite. That's why we actually have a player regularly hitting them from there, and not just having their day in The Lying Rag (Fabinho). And do you see how your brain right now just did a neat trick of playing you a really great goal that Fabinho cunted in against City? That same brain that can't remember the name of one of your cousins? Your brain isn't going to remember the xG of a shot. It would rather have a stroke.
It's been written about tons that these goals are a dying breed:
BBC - Death of the Screamer
But, I do remember players taking shots from outside the box that were a fucking pointless waste of time. It could be a crutch to not develop play, it could be a lazy hopeful choice by a player lacking focus. But so can aimless ball retention. Or long throws. Or any strategy. Statistics should be exceedingly custom. They shouldn't lead to uniform outcomes. The fact that they are leading to all the teams, with a range of players, doing much the same shit, shows that the statistics are just driving the same monkey see monkey do metagame progression that happened without them. Except now we don't get fucking bangers as much, and when we do, people are somehow grumpy we didn't work a higher percentage shot. Everything really is shit now.
What got me thinking about this more recently is I stumbled upon this compilation of Gerrards top 5 goals for England and I didn't remember seeing any of them, because, well, who the fuck thinks of Gerrard playing for England? It was like seeing a new joke from a dead standup.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-OnUQQqARY
I realized within this that there's an archetype of a goal that we almost never see anymore, but used to be so normal. Not the "fuck it, I'll hit one" but the side passed, or slightly backpassed ball to an on running midfielder at the top of the D that was a standard solution to a low block in the past. I've seen so many of these, and many many of them are preserved perfectly in my brain. Lovely cushioned header...
Anyhow, that type of goal, if you had the quality shooter, was a normal way of scoring a goal in the past. It was a normal bit of punditry too, like, oh, this team is sitting off, start taking this type of shot, then they'll have to commit a little closer, then you can find space in between or room for a pass behind. It definitely beats the perimeter passing.
If you have an elite outside the box striker like Szobo, it's my contention that the maths works out. Plus don't give a fuck about the maths.
