Consistency the key for last season"s pass master Ozil

For about 15 years people have been collating data about teams’ passing during matches and during that time it has moved from being a virtual curiosity to an integral measurement of a player’s performance. At the forefront of this have been Opta, the Barclays Premier League’s official data suppliers, who can call on the world’s largest resource of football statistics.

Yet passing data remains one of the most misused metrics, with total numbers of passes and players with high completion rates of passes regularly bandied about without sufficient context. So a central defender completed 97% of his passes? He probably should have, given his team’s relative strength and the position he plays in.

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Consistency the key for last season"s pass master Ozil

Harm nightmare goes on for Bayern"s Badstuber - UEFA Champions League - News - UEFA.com

FC Bayern Munchen central defender Holger Badstuber confronts another long spell out after rupturing a tendon in his left thigh during Saturday’s 2-0 success against VfB Stuttgart.

Badstuber will require surgery to correct the damage, having just returned to action this summer after 20 months outside with cruciate issues. “I am clearly really disappointed right now,” the 25-year old told the Bayern web site. “But of course I now understand the way you cope with scenarios in this way. Do not stress. I will be back, and I Will pick it up from where I left off after fighting to come back from my long injury layoff. I will not give up!”

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Harm nightmare goes on for Bayern"s Badstuber - UEFA Champions League - News - UEFA.com