Goalscoring

[silvertop]

But its his only 8 of the season, and scored 7 last season. Nowhere near the level we need to move us forward.

IMO need to be looking at someone with a profile like Igor Thiago. 15 league goals, 20 in all comps when he's 21, moves leagues and then scores 18 league and 29 overall. Bags of goals at a young age, has stepped up a quality level and performed even better.

Massive injury last year, but now 11 goals in 14.

I assume you mean we need to find someone like Thiago? He will not come to us.

 

[MrRobbo]

I assume you mean we need to find someone like Thiago? He will not come to us.

Exactly, we need to find a young goalscorer. Who like Thiago has show improvement season on season, even with a step up in league quality.

 

[stevo]

I re-iterate that Mateta has only scored 1 goal in 'Open play' in his last 12 matches.

A confidence thing IMO, he's snatching and scuffing just like Wharton & Pino are.

 

[eaglesdare]

I certainly enjoy all the chances we have. Makes the games more exciting.

It makes a stark difference from the days when we would have maybe 1 chance a game and miss anyway or better yet not even entering the oppositions penalty box 🤣

 

[PatrickA]

Anyone would think that we have been a free scoring team in the past and its all gone wrong this season. Nothing could be further than the truth, last season we had scored 17 goals after game 16, this season 20 after week 16. The difference is, we let less goals in 15 apose to 21 last season.
Its all down to fine margins and an element of

I agree we have not been a free scoring team, but in the first 16 games last season we didn't win in the first 8 so the lack of goals isn't surprising in that period.
One could easily take a similar period e.g the end of Glasner's first season when we couldn't stop scoring as being representative of how prolific we were.

The critical issue is taking enough chances in the game to score more than the opposition to win a game.
On occasions

 

[PatrickA]

Watching Bournemouth tonight they've scored with four text book finishes giving the goalkeeper no chance.
Outstanding examples of ruthless finishing.

 

[Teddy Eagle]

It's a concern that we've only scored two more than Burnley.

 

[mileend]

Watching Bournemouth tonight they've scored with four text book finishes giving the goalkeeper no chance.
Outstanding examples of ruthless finishing.

Which means we retain 5th place, for now at least

I really want to beat Leeds and beat KuPS first

Why can't we just always beat everyone!?

(this is a tongue in cheek and slightly rhetorical question given the thread)
(also quite drunk, but I've had neat gin since and it's brought things back into focus)
(except my eyes)

 

[CrazyBadger]

JP's problem is a lack of Form, most likely born from his reported knee injury. He needs resting - to recover from his injury, and to regain his form.
Our problem is that we have no one to replace him with. Nketiah isn't it and Uche is still a little way away. There is no one else.

We need to find some competition for him in January.

 

[HeathMan]

I was going to start a thread about our forwards but this one will do nicely.

Look, we're having an amazing season so it feels a bit mad and entitled moaning. However, yesterday was a clear example that, if our forwards were taking their chances, we would be doing even better. And all the xG stats completely back that up.

Our xG (expected goals) this season is 26.5, whereas we've actually scored 20. We are the most underperforming side in the league on this metric by a mile, with Wolves (underperforming by 4.4) and Forest (underperforming by 3.3) the next worst.

On an individual player level, Mateta has a xG of 10, with 7 goals actually scored, Sarr has an xG of 4.1 with 3 goals scored and Pino has an xG of 2.7 with 1 goal scored. In short, all should have scored more based on their chances.

I am extremely worried about Mateta in particular, who seems to have reverted back to the form of his pre-2024 purple patch. I don't know if it's tiredness, confidence or something else but he just hasn't been the same this season regardless of his return in the league.

We clearly don't have good enough back up options to rotate either and adding at least one more forward in January should be absolutely mandatory. We should see if Chelsea will loan us Delap for the rest of the season.

Delap is injured until early to mid January - Chelsea would certainly loan an injured player for us to get fit on out treatment tbles.

 

[sprites]

JP's problem is a lack of Form, most likely born from his reported knee injury. He needs resting - to recover from his injury, and to regain his form.
Our problem is that we have no one to replace him with. Nketiah isn't it and Uche is still a little way away. There is no one else.

We need to find some competition for him in January.

Trouble is, anyone any better won't really be happy with a bench role. Nketiah is probably the best we can hope for in terms of a striker who's content sitting on the bench. For example, Delap isn't going to come here unless we can guarantee him football, I'd have thought.

 

[taylors lovechild]

JP is still doing his other work well, holding the ball up and bringing others into the game in good positions, so for my mind we would be better off focusing on finding a goal-scoring wide player to compete with Pino and Sarr. Brennan Johnson is rumoured and, although he has received some stick from Spurs supporters, he has a very strong goal-scoring record, plus he's quick like Sarr. BJ could also slot straight in as he's PL ready and experienced. The issue of course would be the price tag. He's not a £50 million player, but nearer £30 million and that might be more in our range.

 

[Willo]

It is more realistic to expect Loan deals in the forthcoming 'Window' rather than permanent signings costing significant sums. 👍

 

[BromleyMonkey]

It’s always been a thing for us since promotion “we need a goalscorer” but that’s not really the case now, missing great chances seems to run through the team at the moment
If Mateta, Sarr and Pino had taken just half the really good chances they’ve had in recent weeks we could be top of the table now, premier league and Europe
I know all teams can look at missed chances, but it’s been ridiculous recently, especially getting no points out of the two Manchester teams when against city and the first half against United we played really well as a team imo

 

[CrazyBadger]

Trouble is, anyone any better won't really be happy with a bench role. Nketiah is probably the best we can hope for in terms of a striker who's content sitting on the bench. For example, Delap isn't going to come here unless we can guarantee him football, I'd have thought.

There's got to be someone better than Nketiah 🤣
Uche is exactly that type of player, but whether he'll make the grade is still unclear.

There will be players out there who fit, but many will be untried in the PL, and that's the risk.

What we need is for someone to explode out of the Academy.. even if they can have 3 good games, then it'll give JPM a rest - and something to think about.

 

[park the bus]

I caught up with the Bournemouth highlights as recommended, and said to myself: "So that's how it's done! Aim the ball where the keeper is not and inside the big sticks! No wonder we keep missing!"

 

[PatrickA]

It's noteworthy that 3 formerly highly rated youngsters at Arsenal - Nketiah, Smith Rowe and Nelson- have not pulled up trees since leaving Arsenal.
A few years ago they were seen as the foundation of the club's future.

It's also evident that the highly rated Harvey Elliott has really struggled for game time since leaving Liverpool for Villa, with Villa now purportedly looking to cancel the loan.

It perhaps highlights the risks of going for young players who in a sense are 'over hyped' because they are at a big club when their achievements don't warrant the hype.

There are exceptions (e.g Gallagher's loan to us was the making of him), but in general terms I think it's preferable to try and get undiscovered gems from the Championship (or overseas) than disappointed youngsters from top clubs.

 

[Nicholas91]

It's noteworthy that 3 formerly highly rated youngsters at Arsenal - Nketiah, Smith Rowe and Nelson- have not pulled up trees since leaving Arsenal.
A few years ago they were seen as the foundation of the club's future.

It's also evident that the highly rated Harvey Elliott has really struggled for game time since leaving Liverpool for Villa, with Villa now purportedly looking to cancel the loan.

It perhaps highlights the risks of going for young players who in a sense are 'over hyped' because they are at a big club when their achievements don't warrant the hype.

There are exceptions (e.g Gallagher's loan to us was the making of him), but in general terms I think it's preferable to try and get undiscovered gems from the Championship (or overseas) than disappointed youngsters from top clubs.

It's a good observation.

I was a very 'technically gifted' player, as I am sure many of the bigger club's academy players are. I'm of the opinon that seeing such players perform cameo roles alongside world class players, in teams which typically dominate matches, essentially inflates the value of said players so long as they don't f**k up too badly.

It's a different story when you're expected to contribute a lot more to a non-top tier team however. I think this is where Gallagher made his mark, just through sheer input/work-rate. Some of these other players look almost stunned to be a bigger fish with responsibility beyond not doing anything catastrophic, and hence not able to perform at the level required of them.

 

[silvertop]

Which means we retain 5th place, for now at least

I really want to beat Leeds and beat KuPS first

Why can't we just always beat everyone!?

(this is a tongue in cheek and slightly rhetorical question given the thread)
(also quite drunk, but I've had neat gin since and it's brought things back into focus)
(except my eyes)

Good Lord Mileend there are better ways to fill your boots.

It's Christmas. Treat yourself to a fine plantation rum, single malt or Armagnac.

 

[silvertop]

It's a good observation.

I was a very 'technically gifted' player, as I am sure many of the bigger club's academy players are. I'm of the opinon that seeing such players perform cameo roles alongside world class players, in teams which typically dominate matches, essentially inflates the value of said players so long as they don't f**k up too badly.

It's a different story when you're expected to contribute a lot more to a non-top tier team however. I think this is where Gallagher made his mark, just through sheer input/work-rate. Some of these other players look almost stunned to be a bigger fish with responsibility beyond not doing anything catastrophic, and hence not able to perform at the level required of them.

The clubs were very careful in their selection and had cause to be optimistic.

Nketiah still holds the record for England U21 goals. And Elliott was the standout player at the last England U21 tournament (which we won).

Every young player has to be a passenger, to some extent, when they play in the first XI. But not f*****g up also means attaining a standard whereby they do not look out of place in that illustrious company.

On any Moneyball assessment, both should be pulling up the trees. Why neither are can be attributed to a number of factors e.g. spending their whole career from age 9 playing one way and the new club making them play another. Who knows? Thus, perhaps Elliott needs more time to settle, but Villa cannot afford him that while they chase a title. He could still come good if given time.