Win, lose, or draw: trends in English football match results

I completely disagree with the premise of the article that draws are most boring and the wider the score difference the more interesting the game is.

Frequently draws are very exciting, they can make compelling viewing. In a game that is completely dominated by one team, there can be very little of interest.

An alternative metric would be the degree of uncertainty/jeopardy in the game. So a game that ends 1-1 has a high degree of jeopardy because at any moment a team can score and take point from the other team.

Agreed, classifying all draws as boring is just wrong.

There are boring draws, some are excruciating to watch because so little is happening.

There are also draws that are the most stressful, exciting, and action packed games you will ever see.

Yeah but if you’re actually hoping for one of those teams to win, and not just watching for the “quality” of a match a draw is, always boring.

Most of the time unless your club is playing, you'd root for a draw in games between top teams for the rivals to drop points. So rooting for a draw is more exciting for a Liverpool fan watching an Arsenal City game for instance.

The number of goals scored in a game would be a better metric in my opinion.

Like those thrilling 3-0 American Throwball scores that are labeled classic defensive battles? In proper Football, that’s just called parking the bus

Someone else mentioned needing additional stats to just the score line. There are most definitely boring draws. There are also boring blow outs. If the draw comes with lots of saves, which naturally means lots of shots on target, lots of corners, equal time of possession, then that would be a much more exciting match. A game with a low shot count and few corners would indicate a potentially boring game

The sum of positive possession-value deltas! Captures end-to-end games where exciting dribbles nevertheless don't convert into shots or goals.

What makes draws interesting or not depends on two things, what is happening on the field (were there good chances? A lot of goals? Interesting strategic play?), and also the context of the game. Does the outcome matter for your team, or not?

Some of the best games I've ever watched ended in draws, but that point mattered for whether my team was going to take over first place or not, or whether they made it out of the group stage or not.

The really boring draws are when one team is basically just playing very defensively and also the game doesn't matter to either team.

Agreed as well. I would say shots on target (not straight at the goalkeeper) are a good metric of an exciting game. I would also include near misses past the post and just over the bar as I don't think these are officially counted as "shots on target".

Dribbles or passing plays into the box which may not result in a shot are exciting too. For match excitement/entertainment value these should be measured also.