Stats are important in some sports, tennis, golf etc. Not sure they have the same relevance to football. I remember a Man United match back in Fergie's day when they needed a point away to Blackburn to win the league, a point would also have seen Blackburn just about safe from relegation. 1-1 with twenty minutes to go and Fergie brings on Scholes who was returning from injury. He was clearly told to just keep the ball, and Blackburn decided to retreat into their own half. Scholes made some ridiculous amount of passes but he was basically passing to United's defence and getting it back. His passing stats were brilliant for a cameo appearance but in reality meant f**k all.
I think my ideal game of football would be to watch Scholes and Riquelme pass the ball to one another all day long while achieving absolutely nothing. Utter football porn.