Decided to Compare Fuj and AJM
So yesterday during halftime of the football match, my buddy asked who’s actually better between Fuj and AJM. Stats get thrown around a lot, but I realized I’d never dug deep myself. Grabbed my laptop thinking this’ll be quick – boy was I wrong.
The Wild Goose Chase for Numbers
First, I googled basic stats pages. Found some tables but half the numbers looked like alphabet soup – what’s “xG90” even mean? And AJM’s passing stats were missing entirely on one site. Had to cross-check three different sources just to find basic stuff like shots taken and pass completion rates. Took me an hour copying-pasting into a spreadsheet before I had clean numbers for both players.
My Frankenstein Spreadsheet
Made columns for:
- Goals per game
- Assist attempts
- Tackle success %
- Those weird “key passes” things
Color-coded Fuj blue and AJM red so I wouldn’t mix them up. Almost did when comparing their defensive stats – their names look similar when you’re sleep-deprived!
The “Aha” Moment That Wasn’t
Tried plotting graphs first. Big mistake. The bars looked like skyscrapers versus bungalows – Fuj’s goals dwarfed AJM’s. But then I noticed AJM played way fewer minutes! Had to redo everything per 90 minutes. Felt like ripping out my hair when the formulas broke after I typo’d a cell reference.
Apples-to-Apples Mess
Realized Fuj takes penalties and AJM doesn’t. Removed penalty goals and suddenly AJM’s open-play goals were actually higher. Also, AJM’s team plays defensive football – no wonder his assists looked bad! Wrote sticky notes all over my screen reminding myself:
- “ADJUST FOR PLAYING TIME”
- “CHECK TEAM STYLE”
- “PENALTIES DON’T COUNT!”
The Final Showdown
Made a simple points system:
- 1 point for stats where they differed by more than 10%
- Extra half-point if one dominated clearly
Fuj won on goals (even after penalties). AJM crushed it on passes and tackles. Final tally was dead even at 5.5 points each. My buddy owes me a beer for this.
Turns out you can’t just eyeball stats slideshows or believe hype trains. Gotta roll up sleeves, fix the math holes, and accept when two players are just… different tools for different jobs. Next time I’m just telling people to flip a coin!
