Mateo

Reality is that in the vast majority of cases, players at this level will have holes in their game. If Meslier was better in the areas he needs to improve he wouldn't be here. He's a good championship keeper because he has those flaws, or else he would be a good Premier League keeper.

Yes, I'd like to see him improve his distribution (sometimes the way we set up doesn't help him) and his shots saved, but I think these are genuinely blown out of proportion. Think this is a bit of a make or break season for a still relatively young goalkeeper (bearing in mind how many keepers hit their peak early 30s).

Said in the summer, a lot of people calling to sign goalkeepers based entirely on certain sets of stats, ie Johansson from Rotherham. Keeping is the position on the pitch where I think stats can be most misleading imo. Meslier would have been tougher to replace at this level than people made out. I mean look at our track record for goalkeepers at this level.

Meslier turned 24 in March and I saw these stats from January listing him as 2nd in the world for an under 24 goalie.
https://everybodysoccer.com/even-the-goalkeepers-like-to/2021/1/9/the-worlds-top-24-goalkeepers-under-24

Now this was based on.....

"both current form as well as potential. Considering the demands of the modern game, goalkeepers with confident decision-making abilities, fluidness in the box, and strong athleticism scored high while others fell below or were left off the list entirely."

ie. none of the xg stuff, clean sheets, etc .
Like said above, stats can be made to look like what you want them to prove. Yet this approach could be considered basically opinion-based, having no more or less validity. Interesting thoughts though from an outside body.

At the end of the day, your own perspective will be based a mix of it all.... performance stats, level of experience and level being played, and your own expectations (whether reasonable or not).

No one is right or wrong.

However, I don't think anyone seems to be saying he's a major problem to be fixed this year.

comment by LIW 100 Points, champions, Undefeated (U8453)
posted 1 hour, 45 minutes ago
Take skum Liverpool yesterday

They had more possession, more corners and same amount of shots on target.

You’d think it was a close game according to the stats.

In reality, they got absolutely mullered, Liverpool toyed with them, didnt get out of second gear, in second half, and could have won 5/6, if they had put foot down.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You could even look at our opening game against Pompey, just going by the stats you would never believe the scoreline.

I always remember growing up in the 70's questioning the stat used by kitty kat cat food....8 out of 10 owners say their cats prefer it.....really????

comment by LIW 100 Points, champions, Undefeated (U8453)
posted 3 hours, 8 minutes ago
comment by Mattyp (U8926)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Lubo - Gyabi, you're gonna be the one that saves me. (U14008)
posted 1 hour, 44 minutes ago
comment by The Spanish Italians - Its all coming home aga... (U21595)
posted 25 minutes ago
I think you could pull out a couple of things and say, the stats don't really show the full truth..

but generally, stats are pretty close to the nuckle.

the team that wins the most games, scores the most goals or whatever usually wins the league etc.

the goalkeeper that keeps the most clean sheets.... the striker winger with the most assists, generally the better players.

of course we have variables, so you can't cling to them... for example a keeper that makes the most saves, usually means a crap defence
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Clean sheets for a goalkeeper and assists for a winger are stats that can be misleading on a fairly regular basis. A keeper who keeps a lot of clean sheets might just not have to save anything. A winger might not get many assists because the player they are creating chances for is a bad finisher.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
There is also the fact that wr essentially play a front four with a 9 a 10 and two wingers. So you can have, for example, a winger do the the hard work and get the cross in for another player to knock it down to the scorer.

The player who heads it on gets the assist, even though the work was done by the winger.

I think our forward line has worked well mainly because they are all involved in scoring goals be it with the goal itself, the assist or a pass just before that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Or a striker making a great run, which takes defenders away, creating the same for others to score.

Thats why I trust my eyes than stats


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Exactly. I turned on Liverpool game yesterday and the screen was covered with stats. The screen with the game was reduced to about a third the regular size Took me a few minutes to figure out how to get rid of it.
Watching like that you'd have no clue what's going on. Stats are good but they don't tell the whole story

comment by Macca & The Metal Hips: fka Wheelchair Dave (U8194)
posted 1 hour, 32 minutes ago
I always remember growing up in the 70's questioning the stat used by kitty kat cat food....8 out of 10 owners say their cats prefer it.....really????
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry, I pressed ‘send’ prematurely. It should have said ‘8 out of 10 owners who Kit-e-Kat paid said…’

comment by Lorralorimer (U18994)
posted 4 seconds ago
Sorry, I pressed ‘send’ prematurely. It should have said ‘8 out of 10 owners who Kit-e-Kat paid said…’
----------------------------------------------------------------------
👍

Sorry late to the party. Yes Joseph has looked good - we all thought he looked good last season though. He should have played more games.

Jurys still out on Bogle for me. Firpo been excellent so far though so there is hope Bogle will come good over time.

I made a comment about Mateo coming into the team last season when he was mainly used as a sub and I thought he should have been given a run of games.
I also made the comment he reminded me of Joe Jordan when he broke into the team all those years ago, mainly in his physical, aggressive style.
Mateo has some way to go yet before he can match Jordan’s match play but he shows promise.

I’ve always told the tale of when Leeds played Man City in those days and the big fight was Dave Watson, the centre half,up against Joe Jordan.
Watson was a big lad, very good defender, but Joe used to frighten him to death with his running and aggression,
so much so Watson developed a swivel neck from turning his head so much, you could tell he was waiting with much trepidation for Jordan to hit him!

Even years after they both stopped playing Watson was seen walking around town, frequently looking behind, ever watchful…waiting for you know who!