Why did rutherford say that bombarding atoms with particles was like playing with marbles

Rutherford bombarded a gold foil (so, a foil of atoms of gold) with alpha particles, and he observed that:

- most of the alpha particles traveled through the foil with no deflection

- some alpha particles were deflected with a certain angle

- few alpha particles were reflected backwards

Based on these observations, he concluded that the atom consists of a nucleus of positive charge which is confined in a very small region, like a small ball. This is why he said that bombarding atoms with particles is similar to playing with marbles: because the two situations are similar (in fact, the alpha particle is like a marble that is thrown and it goes to hit the nucleus, and if it hits the nucleus perfectly, it is reflected backwards, otherwise it is just deflected or not deflected at all (if it passes far from the nucleus)