Oh, it's a pet hate of mine. Nowadays it does go down as a draw but before OPTA started compiling stats it used to show as a 'win on penalties etc.' There was a whole discussion on this a few years back when one of City's sequence records was made and a journalist quoted someone at Opta and the whole thing was written to make it look as if City were 'cheating the system' by claiming a win in the sequence when it was a win on penalties and therefore in their terms a draw. I dug out sequence records that both Utd (for a Fergie winning sequence) and Arsenal had claimed which included a win on penalties. Both of these had been heralded as major achievements without anyone saying the club was manipulating stuff.
The main argument used against City I challenged and I contacted various longstanding statisticians (I was a life member of the Association of Football Statisticians and all I contacted agreed that it should be a win in sequence records) and IFAB for them to confirm whether wins on penalties can be included in sequence records. David Elleray (I've edited this - earlier I said it was Howard Webb but it was Elleray) replied and said yes they should as penalties were used to determine the winner. I posted this. About a year or so after that a journalist (can't remember if it was the same one) did a piece on how MCFC had these false records and he contacted IFAB (which he claimed had not been done before) and this time IFAB said it was not a win BUT the journalist missed the argument that it was in sequence records that was the issue.
The argument goes that including wins on penalties isn't fair because it over promotes a record BUT how ridiculous is it that City (or anyone else) lose a match on penalties but Pep's/City's unbeaten sequence record continues?
Whether it's in or out isn't an issue to me so long as there's consistency and in the past a win or defeat on penalties was included as a win/loss not as a draw in records. Today OPTA and others do not - but there are inconsistencies done to suit a story being promoted.
The reason it changed was because the spreadsheets used were black or white - win/loss/draw not really able to cope with 'won on penalties'. So adding up number of wins/losses etc. was easier their way.
Personally, I don't like technology (or lack of it) determining something like this. To me wins on penalties feel like wins and teams progress. Defeats on penalties feel like defeats. None of them ever feel like a draw. I did say to one journalist 'next time City get knocked out of something on penalties go up to Pep and ask him if he feels happy with the draw and see what reaction you get'.
I wrote this a few years back (there's a link to the Arsenal sequence record that includes wins on penalties within this too):
Manchester City’s victory over Swansea last night in the FA Cup (3-1 on 10th February 2021) caused a number of fans, media outlets and statisticians to question the record set by City in 2017. Between August 26 and December 3, 2017 Pep’s Blues managed a 20 game winning run that included a League...
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