One thing that really annoys me is pundits voicing their opinions on refereeing decisions based on what they think the laws should be rather than what they actually are, we all know who the usual suspects are. The other, is when pundits pick a statistic and use it to beat a team, or manager, with without any real substance.
Gers legend Ally McCoist is many things but, being known for being a modern thinking manager with high attention to detail and sports science is not one of them, and his continued use of running distances to criticise Rangers performance in the Champions League is one that doesn’t stand up.
Speaking on Talksport today, he said:
“There have been a couple of statistics that disappointed me but the big one is the running stats. In every game, the opposition have run more than Rangers. I find that difficult to accept particularly when you don’t have the majority of possession.
“If you have that then common sense would indicate the opposition have to run about more than you, so Rangers’ running stats should have been better. They’ve been poor.”
We were just behind Liverpool in both our games against them in terms of total distance – some 150m per player down – but that had no bearing on the result and, bizarrely, we were more competitive in the game we lost 7-1 than the 2-0 defeat at Anfield.
Common sense is one thing but it’s not as simple as that. For example, elite Italian teams tend to run more out of possession than in possession and we came up against their country’s current league leaders. Then there are tactical factors.
Who runs more; a winger who drops to build play with their full-back and midfield, or the winger who stays high and wide on the touchline waiting for a long ball out from a centre-half?
It’s the same with our midfield. In the Champions League they would invariable not do as much running to support the full-backs or central defenders because they were looking to support the wingers or forwards. You also don’t do as much running if you are trying to maintain a defensive shape rather than chasing attackers all over the place.
The distance we ran against Napoli away from home is also further than all but two of Napoli, Ajax and Liverpool’s games, what does this mean? Nothing, because without the context of the game or understanding of tactics, how far a team runs is meaningless.
Is McCoist saying that if we ran more we’d have been more successful in the Champions League, if not, why bother saying it at all? I’d say the technical and tactical level of our opponents, Rangers players not reaching anywhere near their potential and a crippling injury list were bigger factors to our dismal display.
McCoist is as good a pundit as there is, however, for a man who used to think that five-a-sides were a suitable method of conditioning, it’s maybe best he sits out conversations about sports science in the future, even if it is “common sense”.