
Football
Share
Published 18:46 24 Oct 2016 BST
Explore more on these topics:
Nowadays though, stats are bandied about as if they have any real correlation with the result. Shots from God knows where, possession however pointlessly, and bloody corners are tallied up to mean something more than just the numbers they are.
It's akin to beating your mate in a game of FIFA and he pauses the screen to go in and have a look at the statistics as if he's proving to himself, to you, and whoever's watching on that he's getting screwed over. As if anyone actually cares.
Jose Mourinho was criticised from pillar to post last Monday night for masterminding Manchester United's lowest ever possession tally since the inception of Opta. They went to Anfield and spoiled Liverpool, reduced them to a wonder Coutinho shot and one big chance for Emre Can but, although the hosts didn't get the result, they used 35 per cent as the stick to beat United fans with.
That stick wouldn't be allowed to emerge again. No f**king chance. The Red Devils went to Chelsea a different team. They went to Chelsea on Sunday evening and they bloody destroyed them.
More possession, more shots, more corners, more fouls.
Jose Mourinho's men bossed the ball, they dominated in attack, they controlled the set-piece battle and obviously they played with more aggression and intensity.
They did everything they could've done at Stamford Bridge. They played the United way.
Sure, okay, they lost 4-0 in the end but Chelsea were the ones who went away embarrassed looking at those possession stats.
But maybe, just maybe, those type of statistics don't actually mean much in isolation. Maybe they might not have any real correlation with the result.
Maybe.
You can still use them to get one over on your mate playing FIFA though. Only when you're losing of course.
You can catch up on the latest episode of JOE's Football Friday Live right here...
Football

How the final Premier League table would look if every refereeing error was erased
Things would have looked very different. Every major refereeing decision leading up to the final few weeks of the Premier League season have been analysed, to establish how things may have played out differently, had PGMO officials always made the correct calls, in an impressive new report from the Athletic. The 2025/26 season ultimately ended […]
Football
1 day ago
Here’s why French fans riot – even when their team wins
It’s now an infamous tradition Following Paris Saint-Germain’s win in the Champions League final against Arsenal on Saturday, at least 780 people across France were arrested with more than 450 in custody, as football fans clashed with police. A person was found dead after an accident on Paris’s ring road, which rioters tried to block […]
Football
2 days ago
WATCH: Comical moment footballer is run over by his own medical team
Football