There are anomalies - such as the <received the ball and dribbled past 5 players> notion - but assist is typically a sound metric for quantifying a player contribution.

You can say the same about goals though then.

Someone could dribble around 10 players and pass for someone to tap the ball in goes the down the same as someone scoring a worldie from 35 yards

I have been saying this for ages. Truly pointless stat imo

Although If you want to see how could a creative player is then you should check key passes or chances created over assists.

Any stat in isolation is bobbins but throw it in with key passes and assist stats start to become relevant.

You can be sure clubs analyse it as a metric.

Assists come by a variety of ways as do goals. Should we remove penalties from goalscorers because that person hasn't done anything except place it from 12 yards with nobody around and all the time in the world?

As ex-player, I agree we have too many stats that make certain players "sound" world class, and yet some don't have technical skills, even the basic ones.

Watched some play-offs, and couldn't belief certain players didn't look comfortable receiving ball?

Saying that, maybe we should replace with "Diving or simulation" stat

Does anyone believe miregreaves is an ex player and if so who?

I'm going for Arro.

If a player gets 20-25+ assists a season it's the best indicator they're a top creative player (one who can supply that crucial final ball).

In my opinion Penalty Goals should be a separate stat to actual goals. It makes players like Pogba, Kane, Milivojevic look like they have had a great season

comment by Tomkins (U1116)
posted 1 minute ago
In my opinion Penalty Goals should be a separate stat to actual goals. It makes players like Pogba, Kane, Milivojevic look like they have had a great season
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Kane we only got 4 this season

The key is consistency. A 1 season wonder for either goals or assists doesn't make a good player.

Pogba and Milivojevic especially, Palace pens have made me so much money on fantasy this year

Expected assists is where it's at.

As a current player I find assist stats very worthwhile. So what if the pass is a simple one yarder to someone who then goes on a pitch length run, beating 10 players before scoring? He wouldn't have done that if I hadn't given him the ball in the first place.

DJ

Shout out for the assist assisters too. Very much under appreciated. The man who plays the ball to the man who plays the ball to the goal scorer

Pogba is the king of assist. Pass the ball to someone 30 yards away from goal. They shoot and score and he gets the assist.

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 1 minute ago
Shout out for the assist assisters too. Very much under appreciated. The man who plays the ball to the man who plays the ball to the goal scorer
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Expected pre-assists too. It's not their fault if their pass to the player who makes the pass to the player doesnt end in a goal.

Point being, you can make the best pass youll ever see and the eegit finishing can miss and there will be no mention of your worldie pass, and you could make 10 a game, and the eegit misses time and time again. Assists completely depends on the ball being put in the net by someone else.....!!

Well it obviously isn’t pointless given there’s usually a correlation between the most talented, creative players as you’d judge with an ‘eye’ test and the most assists over a season. The limitation that assist can be of different quality applies to all players and so when you measure over a season (or longer) it is likely to cancel out anyway. It is not just players playing at the best clubs who can do well at assists, see Ryan Fraser this year or Groß last year. Like literally any stat it simply relies the reader to know how it is measured and apply some critical thinking and context when making any conclusions about it.

TLDR: no it isn’t really a pointless stat, this is just a pointless article

Expected points should decide the league table

#MUFC
#100 expected pts
#PL Champs
#2019

+ if you’re that bothered then you can just focus on chances created which is pretty widely available as well. But then you’ll argue that ‘one player can create a chance by just pass 5 yards to a teammate who shoots from 30 yards out, and another player can create a chance by dribbling past 10 players and laying it on a plate. Pointless stat’.

comment by Kunta Kante (U1641)




posted 32 seconds ago



Well it obviously isn’t pointless given there’s usually a correlation between the most talented, creative players as you’d judge with an ‘eye’ test and the most assists over a season. The limitation that assist can be of different quality applies to all players and so when you measure over a season (or longer) it is likely to cancel out anyway. It is not just players playing at the best clubs who can do well at assists, see Ryan Fraser this year or Groß last year. Like literally any stat it simply relies the reader to know how it is measured and apply some critical thinking and context when making any conclusions about it.

TLDR: no it isn’t really a pointless stat, this is just a pointless article
--

Pointless enough for you to comment on...

I would like to know if the OP is speaking as an ex player or a current player? The ex players seem a little bitter, tbh.