Changing Times 12,218 Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 Expanding on the goal scoring side of things, and looking at the rest of the squad, Saville has 5 goals, Johnson and Tavernier have 3 goals, then you have Hall and McNair with 2 each. Saville is interesting in that he has often been played as a kind of number 10 type, but really a defensive one, as he's been there to close down defenders and stuff like that. If you view him as a number 10 then 5 goals isn't amazing but it is ok for a central midfielder. Wing actually has 2 goals as well, despite hardly playing, but that's still one more goal than Morsy and Howson, who have just one goal each, and have obviously played quite a lot. If you take our most often used midfield three as Saville, Howson, and Morsy, they have 7 goals between them, which doesn't seem enough to me. Last season Wing got 7 goals by himself, but he obviously isn't good enough. McNair also got 6 from midfield. Maybe this is part of our problem? Saville has just one fewer shot than Assombalonga this season for example. The same can be said for the wide attacking players, whoever has been played there really, they haven't scored enough goals. It feels like it's a more common theme than it's just our strikers who have let us down. 3 Link to post Share on other sites
Changing Times 12,218 Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 And while I'm at it I'll post a bit more. Assombalonga has the 42nd most shots in the league this season, and is the joint 42nd top scorer. Certainly not great but not exactly terrible is it? He's only had about 1600 mins this season, which is actually the most of our strikers, but is only 12th in our squad, 25th out of all strikers, 56th out of all attackers, and not even in the top 200 of all outfield players in the league. And again, he has the most mins of all our strikers. We were linked with a few players last summer. Kieffer Moore has had a decent season although not great. He has 16 goals from about 3,000 mins of football. Clearly he's had a better season than any of our lot. But for an historical comparison, Assombalonga's 15 goals for us a couple of seasons ago came in almost the identical number of minutes and his 14 goals the season before last came in just under 2,700 mins. He's not good enough though. Lyndon Dykes was another one we were supposed to be after. He's scored 7 goals this season in 2,400 mins of football. 4 of those goals were penalties as well. Lyle Taylor, 4 goals in 1500 mins. Cauley Woodrow, 11 goals in 2800 mins with 6 of those being penalties. The only attacking player on our books who could be said to have looked decent this season would be Watmore, with 7 goals in 1300 mins of football. But even that is not as good as it looks, as he's scored only 2 goals in his last 16 appearances (several starting on the bench though to be fair). He scored against Bournemouth, and he got that cracker against Huddersfield, but before that he hadn't scored since the end of December. I don't think our attackers are as bad as they are made out to be. They've had to contend with being in and out of the side all season long - we were changing the strikers from early in the season, which is why none of them have that much game time. They've had to contend with a style of play that doesn't suit any of them, and a manager who has failed to adapt his own methods to this. They've had to contend with a side that isn't exactly busting with creativity, Saville isn't a number 10 type but has spent a lot of time there. Whatever you think of Johnson, he's the type of winger who you'd definitely want a target man type of player playing because he is going to throw the ball into the box over and over again. Spence isn't any type of winger in my opinion, but he's been played there for other reasons. We've made some loan signings but we haven't really changed how we play, so the side is still struggling at times, even when our terrible strikers aren't playing, which again suggests they aren't to blame but are a symptom of the wider problem. 4 Link to post Share on other sites
DanFromDownSouth 1,706 Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 @Changing Times Slow day at work today? 😂 For what it's worth, I agree with pretty much everything you've highlighted. But the below for me is pretty much the crux of our issue this season and seasons past, including Warnock and pre-Warnock (probably since we got relegated) but that's another kettle of fish. 1 hour ago, Changing Times said: They've had to contend with a style of play that doesn't suit any of them, and a manager who has failed to adapt his own methods to this. Link to post Share on other sites
Changing Times 12,218 Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 1 minute ago, DanFromDownSouth said: @Changing Times Slow day at work today? 😂 It doesn't take that long to write the posts when you just make all the stuff up. Link to post Share on other sites
DanFromDownSouth 1,706 Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 @RiseAgainstThe weak link idea is interesting and has a lot of real world applications too. For me there's a lot of elements to it though. I think you should be constantly aiming to strengthen the starting 11 season upon season. Naturally the "former" first choice players become competition. I'm not hugely on board with signing squad players for the sake of it, although at certain times I can see the sense in it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
DanFromDownSouth 1,706 Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 3 minutes ago, Changing Times said: It doesn't take that long to write the posts when you just make all the stuff up. I'm half decent at that! Link to post Share on other sites
sanddancer 1,964 Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 (edited) As it’s a transfer thread I would like to nominate NW moves into retirement. I admire and grateful for his effort to keep us up and I can see why SG decided to stick then twist but for the love of the club, the game why lump us with another season of **** football. I seriously want to know what the town, the fans have done to SG that he feels it warrants a decade of misery. As a child I would walk from South Bank to Ayresome Park and get a squeeze into the boys end. Even shovelled snow off the pitch so we could play Man United, I think it was. Cried with the away crowd at Wolves when Terry Cochrane was taking off and we lost on our way to Wembley. Strange enough years latter I use to drive him to the Bongo club. Attended Charley Aimers garden party’s. Traveled the width and breadth of England to follow the BORO. Even though I was 30 years travelling I bought a shirt for me and the kids and wore it every Saturdays with pride in Dubai, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines yet lately I can’t be a**ed to watch them play. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites
TeaCider24 12,401 Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 (edited) 28 minutes ago, sanddancer said: As it’s a transfer thread I would like to nominate NW moves into retirement. I admire and grateful for his effort to keep us up and I can see why SG decided to stick then twist but for the love of the club, the game why lump us with another season of **** football. I seriously want to know what the town, the fans have done to SG that he feels it warrants a decade of misery. As a child I would walk from South Bank to Ayresome Park and get a squeeze into the boys end. Even shovelled snow off the pitch so we could play Man United, I think it was. Cried with the away crowd at Wolves when Terry Cochrane was taking off and we lost on our way to Wembley. Strange enough years latter I use to drive him to the Bongo club. Attended Charley Aimers garden party’s. Traveled the width and breadth of England to follow the BORO. Even though I was 30 years travelling I bought a shirt for me and the kids and wore it every Saturdays with pride in Dubai, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines yet lately I can’t be a**ed to watch them play. Why not just take a break from football if it's causing you so much grief? You're relentless. A decade of misery? It's not even been 5 years since we were promoted. We're all guilty of it, but football fans are some of the most melodramatic people in the world when it comes to the sport. It really puts things in perspective when you see even Man United and Arsenal fans trying to play their little violins and complain about how hard it is being a fan of their clubs. Edited April 8, 2021 by TeaCider24 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Old Codger 3,039 Posted April 8, 2021 Author Share Posted April 8, 2021 Coming soon .. the Four Yorkshiremen.. Boro Fans 🙂 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Dynamo Kev 1,552 Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 we have a few decent footballers in the squad. who would surely thrive if we actually played the ball on the floor rather than the 'turn the over and break up play' warnock misery we have to suffer. hes 'pulis light' . i've had enough of paying to watch our games and then thinking. i wish i never. we have been painful to watch. its just not good enough. if the fans were allowed in you'd see it in the stands because no *** would be there. get shot of bornock. get in an actual modern manager that will actually play decent stuff. Link to post Share on other sites
AnglianRed 6,229 Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 (edited) 10 hours ago, TeaCider24 said: Why not just take a break from football if it's causing you so much grief? You're relentless. A decade of misery? It's not even been 5 years since we were promoted. We're all guilty of it, but football fans are some of the most melodramatic people in the world when it comes to the sport. It really puts things in perspective when you see even Man United and Arsenal fans trying to play their little violins and complain about how hard it is being a fan of their clubs. Wise words. And at the end of the day, its only football. There are more important things to worry about. There are also a number of reasons why the club is in its current situation...Gibson's poor managerial picks and ill-advised spending sprees being only two of them. As I've said in other posts, I can understand why he is sticking with NW for the time being and am braced for more short-term disappointment, in the hopes that we can make a fresh start under a new manager, a season or two from now. While its normal (and cathartic) to moan about your club's problems, its also healthy to take a step back now and again to get some perspective. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Borodane 6,246 Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 20 hours ago, Changing Times said: And while I'm at it I'll post a bit more. Assombalonga has the 42nd most shots in the league this season, and is the joint 42nd top scorer. Certainly not great but not exactly terrible is it? He's only had about 1600 mins this season, which is actually the most of our strikers, but is only 12th in our squad, 25th out of all strikers, 56th out of all attackers, and not even in the top 200 of all outfield players in the league. And again, he has the most mins of all our strikers. We were linked with a few players last summer. Kieffer Moore has had a decent season although not great. He has 16 goals from about 3,000 mins of football. Clearly he's had a better season than any of our lot. But for an historical comparison, Assombalonga's 15 goals for us a couple of seasons ago came in almost the identical number of minutes and his 14 goals the season before last came in just under 2,700 mins. He's not good enough though. Lyndon Dykes was another one we were supposed to be after. He's scored 7 goals this season in 2,400 mins of football. 4 of those goals were penalties as well. Lyle Taylor, 4 goals in 1500 mins. Cauley Woodrow, 11 goals in 2800 mins with 6 of those being penalties. The only attacking player on our books who could be said to have looked decent this season would be Watmore, with 7 goals in 1300 mins of football. But even that is not as good as it looks, as he's scored only 2 goals in his last 16 appearances (several starting on the bench though to be fair). He scored against Bournemouth, and he got that cracker against Huddersfield, but before that he hadn't scored since the end of December. I don't think our attackers are as bad as they are made out to be. They've had to contend with being in and out of the side all season long - we were changing the strikers from early in the season, which is why none of them have that much game time. They've had to contend with a style of play that doesn't suit any of them, and a manager who has failed to adapt his own methods to this. They've had to contend with a side that isn't exactly busting with creativity, Saville isn't a number 10 type but has spent a lot of time there. Whatever you think of Johnson, he's the type of winger who you'd definitely want a target man type of player playing because he is going to throw the ball into the box over and over again. Spence isn't any type of winger in my opinion, but he's been played there for other reasons. We've made some loan signings but we haven't really changed how we play, so the side is still struggling at times, even when our terrible strikers aren't playing, which again suggests they aren't to blame but are a symptom of the wider problem. It's the gameplay more than the players that's at fault. We've got decent enough players in Hall, Fry, McNair, Bolasie, Kebano, Britt, Fletcher yet we play awfull football that hardly suits any of our players. 3 Link to post Share on other sites
sanddancer 1,964 Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 21 hours ago, TeaCider24 said: Why not just take a break from football if it's causing you so much grief? You're relentless. A decade of misery? It's not even been 5 years since we were promoted. We're all guilty of it, but football fans are some of the most melodramatic people in the world when it comes to the sport. It really puts things in perspective when you see even Man United and Arsenal fans trying to play their little violins and complain about how hard it is being a fan of their clubs. Good advise. Link to post Share on other sites
TLF10 4,440 Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 I felt our chances of signing Kebano rested on Fulham surviving. They lost to a 92nd min Adama goal tonight and are currently 3pts shy of Newcastle who have 2 games in hand. Feel it will be difficult for them to survive now. Therefore I feel they will have a use for Kebano next season. I dont mind Kebano. I feel over a full season he could be a good signing but equally dont think he the be all and end all. They relegation means they also make take up the year option on Bettinelli as they current on loan no.1 Areola wont be sticking around. Will probs stick with Rodak and hopefully Bettinelli. Link to post Share on other sites
TeaCider24 12,401 Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 Would be happy to have Kebano in the squad for Next season, but I won't lie, I've not really been overly impressed by him beyond the initial few games. Part of it will be the management style here, but Fulham tend to be an attacking side and there's a reason he was often a bit part player for them. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
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