'Messi vs Ronaldo' in two different templates, and the use of data, in general.

A quick thread.

Firstly, let me get this out of the way. Data is very open to manipulation, and can often be tweaked in small ways, which can then display very different results.

Up there, I plotted Messi and Ronaldo as Strikers and Wingers/AM, and Messi comfortably outperforms Ronaldo.

But the same could be said in almost any calendar year. That is because Messi and Ronaldo do very different things. Messi is a creative behemoth, whereas Ronaldo (this decade) has been more narrow in his approach to the game, and has stuck to what he's good at. That is smart.

At 35, Ronaldo does a few things and he does them very well. His shot volume is through the roof, and he is still managing an xG+xA of 0.99 p90, this season. The fact is that the team only requires him to do that, to stick to certain things.

Ronaldo and Messi have never been similar players, and it's a fallacy to think that they were. That doesn't make one necessarily better than the other because ultimately such comparisons are arbitrary (even though I much prefer Messi).

When people have a certain favourite player, it usually comes from a conception of the 'right way to play football' and ,therefore, we look for information that confirms our biases.

Moreover, just as the way simple stats (G+A,etc) can be interpreted to make players such as Xavi and Iniesta seem ordinary, the same may be said of complex stats. And yes, I'm no expert. I speak from personal experience only.

The interpretation of complex data can run into the same problems. But, because this data is usually far more holistic, the sort of anaylsis that stems from it is more accurate. Without context, however, even complex data can be used to paint wildly inaccurate pictures.

Data, in all its forms, remains as one of the many facets in the judgement of a team and a player. It cannot be the be all and end all. Especially when you are dealing with humans, and the complexities that come with.

My point with this thread is more than Messi and Ronaldo.

It is more to talk about objective analysis and how that is ultimately futile, because people never judge things objectively (or not fully, atleast). So yes, these radars show that Messi is superior to Ronaldo (and I totally believe that he is) but that itself can be manipulated.

But I could have changed the metrics, I could have changed the sample size, or I could've brought in subjective measures.

There is no one way to judge a player, or a definite way to say one is 'better' than another. I guess that was my point.

Ultimately, arguements in objective persuasion are often reduced to subjective ramblings (speaking for myself here).

So yeah. That's about it. Sorry for the yapping, lol.

Retweets are appreciated.