[Albion] You need three regular goal scorers.

[Bozza]

I think our xG was 2.69 which would suggest another goal would have been underachieving and a third would have been clinical finishing. I'd suggest the best chances were the not given stonewall penalty and Dunk's header. Maupay's instinctive jab from a yard when their keeper dropped the curling cross also goes in on another day.

I've just checked out an xG chart from the game. The numbers differ slightly from those reported on TV on the night, but all xG models differ slightly I think.

Anyway here it is: https://understat.com/match/11806

What's striking is that...

- Maupay's three chances, including the one he scored, account for over 80% of our total xG.
- Dunk's two headers were only 0,12 and 0,05 - perhaps we (and me, given what I posted above) expect too much from these headed chances.
- The highest rated pot-shot had an xG of 0.05 (ie a 1-in-20 chance), whilst others (I'm looking at you Yves Bissouma) were 0.01 (1-in-100).

 

[West Upper Seagull]

There were 2 big observations from the Palace game for me:

1. I can’t remember the last time I saw our midfielders shooting from the edge of the box so often than I did Monday night. Mooy, Bissouma and Propper all got in a number of good shots and this was great to see. More of the same needed and if some of these don’t start going in then the likes of Maupay and Connolly will pick up more goals from re-bounds.

2. Our final balls from the wide areas rarely looked like troubling the Palace defence or giving Maupay chances. Far too often the balls into the box were ‘floaty’ crosses straight to a Palace defender and Maupay is never favourite to be winning these sort of aerial battles ! The one time we had a more meaningful ball into the danger area we scored, from Trossard’s delightful low volley across the box ! You cannot be too critical of our overall performance against Palace but this is the key area I feel we need to be improving on to help us start scoring more goals. Trossard’s final ball often let him down apart from the goal. Where I’d like to see us developing our game is to start delivering early low balls at pace into the box in between the six yard box and the penalty spot in the way De Bruyne and Trent Alexander-Arnold do for their strikers and midfielders to run onto. You see the top sides scoring so many goals like this whereas we take too long out wide before delivering any sort of ball into the box - again our goal proved that an early low ball across the box before the defence could settle provided the killer chance that Maupay gratefully took. Give him more service like this and he will score a shed load more goals for us.

 

[Napper]

Connolly, Trossard, Maupay, and Gross.
Propper is also playing further forward.

Propper needs some serious shooting practice

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Connolly will get goals , He's only 19 and is already a fantastic player. I wouldnt be surprised that by the time he reaches 22 he will be banging 15 + a year consistently

100% this.

I am sure this is a big part of TB investment going forward, producing these diamonds from unearthing them in house.

To buy a top three like the ones the OP mentions is quite frankly off the scale in purchase fees, let alone wages.

I say trust in TB and his set up.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Propper needs some serious shooting practice

He scores for the Netherlands, in a different position, to that which he has been playing for the Albion.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

He scores for the Netherlands, in a different position, to that which he has been playing for the Albion.

It is a bit of a myth that.

1. Outside of back-to-back games against Bulgaria and Belarus, he's never scored for the Netherlands.

2. generally, he plays in exactly the same position Internationally, as he does for us (a couple of games apart, when they had a load of players missing).

 

[Deleted member 2719]

We have three who are 25 years old, 23 years old and 19 years old and are all in their first season in the Premier League.

I'm happy to show a little patience

Looks like you have snapped out of the doldrums now Watford, hope you have replicated that on the political threads.

 

[Bozza]

He scores for the Netherlands, in a different position, to that which he has been playing for the Albion.

I think that's a bit of a myth...

1. He has scored three goals for Holland, which came in two consecutive fixtures.
2. He hasn't scored since those games, which were over 26 months ago.

(However his goals per game stat is better for Holland than the Albion)

 

[Thunder Bolt]

It is a bit of a myth that.

1. Outside of back-to-back games against Bulgaria and Belarus, he's never scored for the Netherlands.

2. generally, he plays in exactly the same position Internationally, as he does for us (a couple of games apart, when they had a load of players missing).

I think that's a bit of a myth...

1. He has scored three goals for Holland, which came in two consecutive fixtures.
2. He hasn't scored since those games, which were over 26 months ago.

(However his goals per game stat is better for Holland than the Albion)

If I didn't know you two in real life, I'd say you were the same account.


Ok, I stand corrected.

 

[AmexRuislip]

Imagine if we had Diane Abbott as coach.
This three up front conundrum would be mind blowing.
A case of the one, two three potato.............

 

[fleet]

Whilst you're correct I don't feel we're getting that many "clear cut" chances - how many of those 20 shots against Palace should have been goals?

Then again I know that can be a bit of a chicken-and-egg argument, i.e. a better striker would make more chances for themselves.

Much as I hate to say it- the Zaha goal shouldn’t have been a goal. It was a half chance, defended well and finished even better

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Looks like you have snapped out of the doldrums now Watford, hope you have replicated that on the political threads.

Imagine if we had Diane Abbott as coach.
This three up front conundrum would be mind blowing.
A case of the one, two three potato.............

Any chance people could keep the political sniping, to the politics threads? It's not as though there are not plenty of them.

 

[AmexRuislip]

Any chance people could keep the political sniping, to the politics threads? It's not as though there are not plenty of them.

I feel like I've just been told off by my language tutor

 

[Stat Brother]

The AU chaps also made the point at how few of our centre-half set-piece heading opportunities are finding the back of the net, which is also fair comment.

Did Dunk have two the other night, or just the one? Regardless, it feels like he should have several more headed goals this season than the sole one scored against Man Utd.

That's mainly my fault.

I believed there were 'value' bets for all of our back 4 scoring, on Monday.

I had any time money across the board, hence not scoring despite the chances they were offered.




Montoya's odds are particularly high for a player frequently seen roaming around the opposition box.

 

[doogie004]

Propper needs some serious shooting practice

As does Stephens


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Midfield needs to chip in its fair share of goals far more. If they can't, ship 'em out for those that can. Use Jonjo Shelvey as an example. Hugely valuable player to his club. Stephens seems to suffer from a lingering crisis of confidence at this level. Had a tremendous shot on goal v Wolves, tho sadly it was such a rarity that we all turned to each other in the North in semi-disbelief. There's a half-decent attacking midfielder in there somewhere.

In short: Be More Shelvey!

 

[schmunk]

In short: Be More Shelvey!

Mooy is our Shelvey.

 

[Stat Brother]

Mooy is our Shelvey.

Just with more hair.

 

[blue-shifted]

Propper needs some serious shooting practice

It's incredible just how bad he is isn't it. I mean, you watch him in the centre of the park and he looks like an exemplar of coaching manual technique. But if he's lining one up from 20 yards, may as well get your phone out of the pocket, get a minutes candy crush in or something

 

[blue-shifted]

Midfield needs to chip in its fair share of goals far more. If they can't, ship 'em out for those that can. Use Jonjo Shelvey as an example. Hugely valuable player to his club. Stephens seems to suffer from a lingering crisis of confidence at this level. Had a tremendous shot on goal v Wolves, tho sadly it was such a rarity that we all turned to each other in the North in semi-disbelief. There's a half-decent attacking midfielder in there somewhere.

In short: Be More Shelvey!

He is a vital player for them, and this is something we don't have. Most of the teams around us have at least one midfielder who is weighing in with goals.

Ship em out is harsh, because our midfield have been dominating possession and have been in sparkling form. I do think though if one of them, Alzate perhaps, could add goals from outside the box to their game it could tilt some of the tight selections in central midfield their way