Call me patronising/condescending all you want, but this bit is the red flag. It's likes saying "you say that plane crashes are actually statistically rare events, but I don't buy it - I saw a plane crash on the news yesterday, so I'm not flying anymore because flying clearly isn't safe". It's just ignores the facts and realities of the situation. If you want to do that, fine. But don't try to then put forward arguments that then fly in the face of the reality. You don't get to twist the way the game plays out to suit your own view.
aye, except your analogy is weak, as it isn't anything like that. I didn't say, we conceded yesterday from a set piece yesterday so that statistic must be wrong (which would be the equivalent), I said that within a broad statistic such as that (even an accurate one) many things are going on, and perhaps if a team is a statistical outlier within that broadly accurate statistic, judging how one should proceed by the broad statistic becomes misleading.
In any case, I'm not at all sure what that one opening phrase, even if a red flag to you, has to do with your ignoring the rest of the post and asking me to play guessing games. I mean look mate—I value and frequently learn a lot from your posts, but I'm fast moving toward never responding to them either positively or negatively because I don't come on here to get condescended to—I'm in academia and there's plenty of that at work.
Phase of Play is a highly experienced coach who shares his insights here. He's not being patronising, he's doing what all good educators do - asking us to think for ourselves.
The internet is full of opinions masquerading as The Truth. PoP honours us by challenging our prejudices and preconceptions from a position of knowledge and experience. I for one, really appreciate his insights, as I am woefully ignorant of football philosophy. This forum benefits from his excellent posts, however infuriating one finds the question being asked - and trying to find the post wherein the answer may be addressed!
christ mate, seriously, he honours us? You think that's what he's looking for here? I think he's excellent generally—top writing filled with insight about the working and current understanding of the game, and I very much like it that he writes on here. But seriously, ignoring the pith of a considered post (that was questioning as much as stating) and pulling the guessing game lark on people, esp. after a difficult loss? Hardly the Socratic method is it? Look, I freely admit POP knows a good deal more about football than I do in general and a shocking amount more about the way it is currently understood, but experts and educators both get caught up in the structures of current understanding and theory and the rhetoric and narrative that forms the current state of their discipline too, and they make mistakes and go down blind alleys too, frequently, and the good ones attempt to guard against this by considering and valuing critically engaged questions and they don't get condescending with their answers—particularly if they're also trying to educate. More to the point, it's a forum—I'm glad to learn things from POP, but he's not my sensei, and as I said, I don't come on here to get patronised.
and now I've made my point and will shut it—no hard feelings POP, I was in a wretched sodding mood last night—much better now.