Possesion Stats - Make no sense

[Cleggy]

So Im Liverpool playing Barcelona at home, Ive had 20 shots at goal, they have had 2. They have had 55% possession and Ive had 45%, but its possible because its Barcelona right? Next game is Liverpool vs Bournemouth at home, 26 shots to 2, Liverpool win 4-0 yet possession is 58% Bournemouth to Liverpools 42%. Its disappointing that no one in testing has picked up just how poor this is, honestly id expect Liverpool to have 65-80% possession in that match...the game just loses credibility.

[Etebaer]

Maybe you have so little Possession bcs you shot so much more often than you opponents?

I would be glad to be that much more efficient than my opponents (which is what i usually try to achieve)!

[wkdsoul]

So your basing the possesion number on the club name? Why would you expect 65-80? are you setup that way? 

[Saintmat]

Possession % is the proportion of completed passes compared to the opposition. So it might be that although you are winning games you are giving the ball away with your passing. This would be likely if you are playing high tempo football, as players take more risky passes.

[Cleggy]

8 minutes ago, Etebaer said:

4 minutes ago, Saintmat said:

Ok that might make sense...But if I have players who have excellent passing skills, Neves, Savic, Salah, Henderson, Sane, Firmino etc id expect a Liverpool team to outpass a team such as Bournemouth who don't have their technical ability. Yes Im playing high tempo, pressing football but it just doesn't seem right to me...thanks for the comments though 

 

Maybe you have so little Possession bcs you shot so much more often than you opponents?

I would be glad to be that much more efficient than my opponents (which is what i usually try to achieve)!

 

[Mitja]

they were playing on defensive mentality which accumulates lots of possession.

[Saintmat]

30 minutes ago, Cleggy said:

Ok that might make sense...But if I have players who have excellent passing skills, Neves, Savic, Salah, Henderson, Sane, Firmino etc id expect a Liverpool team to outpass a team such as Bournemouth who don't have their technical ability. Yes Im playing high tempo, pressing football but it just doesn't seem right to me...thanks for the comments though 

It all depends on how you are asking your team to play. More risks = more giving away possession. As mentioned by Mitja, a team like Bournemouth are likely to play conservatively and try and keep the ball when they have it. Chances are they are giving the ball away not through misplaced passes but through your pressing. So while they have more completed passes compared to you, they do not have as much of the ball (note: this is a big reason people don't really like possession as a term as it is a bit misleading).

Another way to think of it might be to say if you have 45% and they have 55%, that means for every 100 completed passes in the game 45 were yours and 55 were Bournemouth.

Hope that helps!

[Cleggy]

Thanks for your comment, I agree its misleading. Whenever possession is talked about it usually means time on the ball. When supposedly weaker teams go to the stronger teams especially away they are usually happy to concede possession. You hear in the media possession in some games being as high as 80%...I think its worth taking a look at because im not sure how that stat helps me...

[Saintmat]

49 minutes ago, Cleggy said:

Thanks for your comment, I agree its misleading. Whenever possession is talked about it usually means time on the ball. When supposedly weaker teams go to the stronger teams especially away they are usually happy to concede possession. You hear in the media possession in some games being as high as 80%...I think its worth taking a look at because im not sure how that stat helps me...

I'd been under the same impression that the percentage stat simply just referred to the amount of time each team had the ball (literally, the number of seconds in possession) but there was an interesting thing from an Opta person who explained that it's really impractical to try and measure that during a game so instead they just track the number of completed passes. It reasons that if you have lots of the ball you have more opportunities to make passes and then that's why you see these super high possession stats.

I agree with you that something seems a little whiffy with how it's been implemented in FM as it isn't quite an exact mirror. I would say you've picked examples of two games where the opponents have something of a reputation for playing neat and tidy football (well, especially Barcelona). Perhaps if you get the same skew against teams who play with a lot of cut and thrust like Cardiff and Burnley then highlight it again. Otherwise I don't think it's a major issue given that you're still winning!!

[HUNT3R]

12 hours ago, Saintmat said:

Possession % is the proportion of completed passes compared to the opposition.

IRL, yes, but not FM.

[FrazT]

Possession stats were seriously wrong in FM 18 and were often reported as such.  In FM 19, in my view, they are much improved but may, sometimes, still need some tweaking.

[Mitja]

the issue OP has, it has more to do how defensive tactics are overpowered in a way that accumulate unrealistic number off passes. such tactics can easily outpass very strong opponents because they are ultra slow, patient and time wasting.