Pictured in this graph: what xG does to a motherfucker.
I thought this graph was super interesting as it is a near-perfect illustration of when data analytics and advanced statistics started to enter into football (2014-2016) and some of the effects it’s had on the game.
EDIT: Forgot to paste a link to the complete article.
Pep Guardiola basically drew these lines himself.
I was thinking I wonder if he’s going to reinvent shooting from distance as his next evolution
See, the thing about Arsenal is they always try to walk it in.
Did you see that ludicrous display last night?
What was Wenger thinking putting Walcott on that early?!
I miss screamers (even the attempts)
Has defense improved or declined?
Has the average distance of shots resulting in a goal also decreased.
This, I’d be so interested to see average goal distance plotted on the same axes.
The original article didn’t have that plotted, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t follow this line fairly closely.
I’d be more interested to see a graph of the proportion of outside-of-the-box shots scored over the years. Has it gone up, because people are only taking good long distance shots now and fewer random potshots? Or had it gone down because good players mostly know to avoid them and bad players are bad at scoring them?
