Ben keeps Albion’s eye on the ball...
STATS the way to do it.
Albion, like all professional football clubs, are very in tune with statistics when it comes to analysing themselves and their opponents.
But the Baggies’ coaching staff also recognise that the trained eye can be more important than number-crunching in certain situations. Take possession, for example. Albion are among the lowest in the top flight when it comes to their average share of the ball in matches. Yet they are on course for their best-ever Premier League season.
Ben Garner, from boss Tony Pulis’s close inner circle of coaches, explains how old-school methods are used in tandem with new-fangled figures.
And he has provided a telling example of when the trained eye wins against the raw statistics.
“What is also crucial is that you trust your own eye in games,” said Garner.
“Sometimes you can come in on a Monday and see a stat that doesn’t read that well but that doesn’t chime in with what actually happened in the game.
“Possession is an obvious one. If you see an opportunity to play a ball forward that will have their centre-half retreating, putting him in an awkward position, he might win the header so, as the stats go, that’s a failed pass from us.
“But because you’ve played it in such a way that he’s stretching or uncomfortable you know we will win the ball off his knockdown and that’s got us in their territory, we are at their back four and can maybe create a goal from that.
“So you have to trust the evidence of your eyes above the stats in some instances because that ‘failed’ pass has been very effective.”