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Assombalonga the main man


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1 hour ago, Changing Times said:

I think you are being a little unfair here mate.  I can get with the Assombalonga isn't finishing well enough this season and all of that but some of that is just wrong.  He makes runs that any striker of his type makes and half the time doesn't get the ball because we don't have any players with a creative thought between them.  He does lose possession in the last third, the same as every other striker in the world, so what are you saying that he should somehow be different?  Statistically speaking, he has 2.7 unsuccessful touches per game and he's dispossessed 2.1 times per game.  Neither of those are even in the top 10 in the Championship and that's just looking at attackers.  Mitrovic, who I think most people would see as a superior all round player, is worse in both stats for example.   His key passes per game is comparable to the likes of Bamford, Hugill, Lyle Taylor and Puscas, which is a very different group of players but I suspect people many would prefer to see them here instead of Assombalonga.  The rest of our players being poor in front of goal can't be laid at Assombalonga's feet albeit I can accept the idea that we could use a different type of striker to try and bring them into the game more - I'm just not sure how much difference it will make with this group of midfielders etc.

Got a feeling someone has a soft spot for Britt.

By no means am i trying to start an argument but i disagree with a lot with what you said and hear me out as i know you will come back with more stats to shoot me down.

I felt to Britt at times under Pulis as he was completely isolated and just a target man, however towards the back of last season and this season he has had Fletcher who has played alongside him and things havent improved in performances as a whole.

Strikers miss chances and for that i wont be over critical because more often than not they will score, but his all round game is shocking. I actually believe PART of the reason he misses so many chances is because of fatigue and how tired he is because of needless runs and playing as a target man.

The amount of needless runs is incredible and if i was a coach i would want my striker to make runs in behind or separate the Centre halves and Britt does neither. Woody should be accountable for this as our wing backs dont press the opposite full backs and Britt ends up doing it.

Britt doesn't lay the ball off to team mates or spread the play and he constantly dwindles on the ball for far too long and slows our attacks down.

I actually think his hold up play has massively improved but he should be a poacher and not a target man.

Britt will score goals at this level but because of the reasons i have stated above i don't think he will never be prolific other than the championship.

Edited by diggerlad07
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I don't have a soft spot for him.  I wasn't convinced when we bought him unlike most on here and I rated Bamford as the better player as I also said repeatedly on the forum, preferring to keep him and

Yes, horribly, in my opinion!  He's not a complete footballer (which is why he's still a championship player) but I would argue we haven't had a goalscorer as good as him in a decade or so. 

Bamford is clearly the better of the 2 it’s not and never has been up for debate for me.

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1 hour ago, diggerlad07 said:

Got a feeling someone has a soft spot for Britt.

By no means am i trying to start an argument but i disagree with a lot with what you said and hear me out as i know you will come back with more stats to shoot me down.

I felt to Britt at times under Pulis as he was completely isolated and just a target man, however towards the back of last season and this season he has had Fletcher who has played alongside him and things havent improved in performances as a whole.

Strikers miss chances and for that i wont be over critical because more often than not they will score, but his all round game is shocking. I actually believe PART of the reason he misses so many chances is because of fatigue and how tired he is because of needless runs and playing as a target man.

The amount of needless runs is incredible and if i was a coach i would want my striker to make runs in behind or separate the Centre halves and Britt does neither. Woody should be accountable for this as our wing backs dont press the opposite full backs and Britt ends up doing it.

Britt doesn't lay the ball off to team mates or spread the play and he constantly dwindles on the ball for far too long and slows our attacks down.

I actually think his hold up play has massively improved but he should be a poacher and not a target man.

Britt will score goals at this level but because of the reasons i have stated above i don't think he will never be prolific other than the championship.

I don't have a soft spot for him.  I wasn't convinced when we bought him unlike most on here and I rated Bamford as the better player as I also said repeatedly on the forum, preferring to keep him and sell Assombalonga if I had a choice.  But he is the best we have right now and it's not even close. 

We have a big problem with goal scoring within the rest of the team but he's the one taking the flak for that as well, which is just nonsense.  The other players aren't missing chances because of anything he does.  Wing and McNair have had almost the same number of shots as Assombalonga this season.  Assombalonga's shots and chances are better (closer to the goal) than either of them of course so quite rightly he will be expected to score more goals.  But as a team we have the worst goal scoring record in the league and Assombalonga is the joint 9th highest scorer in the Championship so how is that his fault?  Look at the league table - West Brom's top scorer has 6 goals, Swansea's top scorer has 6 goals, Bristol City's top scorer has 6 goals, Leeds top scorer has 5 goals.  There are plenty of teams who don't have a single player who has scored 6 or more goals this season, we do but it's his fault that we're struggling?

I have no idea what you mean by needless runs.  It's a strange thing that some people criticise the bloke for not working hard enough and now you appear to be saying he works too hard?   He does make runs behind the defence, he does it repeatedly and doesn't get the ball.  Because he's playing up front on his own mostly he is also having to play the role of target man as well, coming short to try and get on the ball, which clearly doesn't suit him as you say.  So he's effectively trying to be two different players and I think he's caught somewhere in between.

He doesn't spread the play well enough and he does dwell on the ball, I completely agree with that.  These things do my head in because it really should be an easy thing to fix and it hasn't been done by now, which either means they aren't working on it or he's just not improving that aspect of his game.  I don't think he's a particular intelligent footballer, which might have something to do with it.  He's missed some chances he should have scored this season but then I bet every player in the league has done the same.  It's standing out more for us because nobody else is contributing anything that's why he has scored as many goals as everyone else. 

A few more stats that are worth noting; we have the 2nd highest number of shots outside the penalty area and I believe the 3rd lowest inside the penalty area.  In other words, we're taking a lot of longer shots and we aren't scoring from them.  It's not Assombalonga who is doing that.  I suppose what I'm saying is criticise him for the things that he is responsible for rather than placing all of the failings of the team on his shoulders.  He should be doing better this season, but all of them should be, and our goal scoring issues are a team wide problem, not just his.

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9 hours ago, Will said:

I don't like people bullshitting, which is what you've been doing about Britt for over a year. You even said on the previous page that it was Pulis who wanted rid of Britt, not the other way round. At least it's now clear to everyone that you like to embellish things that you're told.

Nope, not embellishing anything. In fact I received a PM a few weeks ago from someone on here who has been ITK as recently as the summer just gone saying Britt still wants to leave.

Pulis DID want rid of Britt, that's what started the whole thing off. When Gibson blocked the transfer Britt realised he was stuck here unwanted by the manager. I don't even know why i'm bothering explaining this to you though, you'll still continue to attack me.

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So now that Britt has been out a few weeks and we have had to adopt different players. Is anyone still clinging to the Britt is the main man theory?

19 games with him 19 points

6 games without 11 points

We've scored just under a goal a game with him, and just over a goal a game without. 

But the biggest difference is defensively we have improved. Now maybe it is coincidence, or maybe we work harder as a team with 11 men, than we do with 10 men and Britt?

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5 minutes ago, BoroMart said:

So now that Britt has been out a few weeks and we have had to adopt different players. Is anyone still clinging to the Britt is the main man theory?

19 games with him 19 points

6 games without 11 points

We've scored just under a goal a game with him, and just over a goal a game without. 

But the biggest difference is defensively we have improved. Now maybe it is coincidence, or maybe we work harder as a team with 11 men, than we do with 10 men and Britt?

To be fair to Britt he was just getting into form when he got injured. The last few games before he got injured was probably the best I’d seen from him

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Britt is obviously a very good striker at this level but I just don’t think we are the right fit for him. In a team like wba I think he could thrive. They have Robson-Kanu up front and I think they would seal promotion if they managed to get someone like Britt in. Feel he could get goals for them like Gayle last season. 
All that said I’m getting increasingly impressed by fletcher. He is definitely a better target man that Britt and has a better eye for his teammates too. Works hard and is relatively quick. If he keeps up the latest development he could be our main striker for years to come and we might even get a good part of our money back. 

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I'm not sure that he is a 'very good striker at this level', this is his 6th season in the champo and he still doesn't look capable of breaking 16 goals. I'd say slightly above average not quite good enough for a promotion chasing team, but good enough to keep a poor side out of trouble

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Yet again, we're talking about a guy who scores 15 goals a season regardless of the team he is in or the situation. He's played under Pulis for a season and a half for christ sake and scored 30 goals in that time. 

A striker CONSISTENT enough to score you 15+ a season rain or shine is 100% a very good striker at this level.

I will accept the argument of whether he fits into our team or not but come on man, he's one of the most consistent strikers this league has seen.

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The Nketiah to Bristol City link is an interesting one given the links with Britt. Could be that Bristol are aware we're struggling to sell and want us to stop playing hard ball so much so are threatening to look elsewhere, at a target we're also interested in.

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6 hours ago, Brunners said:

Yet again, we're talking about a guy who scores 15 goals a season regardless of the team he is in or the situation. He's played under Pulis for a season and a half for christ sake and scored 30 goals in that time. 

A striker CONSISTENT enough to score you 15+ a season rain or shine is 100% a very good striker at this level.

I will accept the argument of whether he fits into our team or not but come on man, he's one of the most consistent strikers this league has seen.

19-20 (to date): 6 goals (26th top goalscorer)

18-19: 14 goals (15th top goalscorer)

17-16: 15 goals (7th top goalscorer)

16-17: 14 goals (11th top scorer)

15-16: 1 goal (injured)

14-15: 15 goals (13th top scorer)

 

A) He doesn't score 15+ goals, he never has, if fit and selected he scores 14-15 goals

B) He is consistently not good enough to be one of the top strikers, as proven by the fact that in 5 goes he has managed to be 7th top scorer once, and failed to get in the top 10 in the other 4 seasons (I'm presuming he won't make top 10 this year as he will need another 12 goals). Surely 11th-15th top scorer puts him exactly in the average bracket.

He is a poor footballer who scores tap ins vs bottom half teams, but is anonymous vs the well organised teams. We'll do well to get 8 mill back on him, but that means getting a top half side to gamble, and if they've scouted him then they will look elsewhere. The Pulis comments are daft, Pulis isn't responsible for Britt not being able to finish a 1-vs-1 or a tap in.

Edited by BoroMart
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I think the main thing is to concentrate on the now and not the past!

As already alluded to it does seem as if his attitude has changed and that he is working harder, we all know he can score and yes his tally could be much better, but there is more to come from him and a confident Britt is worth keeping and playing.

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If we judge Britt on stats alone he's one of the best strikers in the league. If we judge him on what we actually see with our own eyes he's a very limited second tier striker. 

His work rate is poor, his touch and holdup play is absolutely dreadful and we look a better team without him. Give me a striker who scores a few less but contributes to the team and I'll be happy. I'd pick a 2015 Kike or Nugent all day long over Britt. 

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I just hope anyone that wants to buy him does not look on the forum.

Its very off putting reading how bad this fella is and what a waste of good money he has been.

So to anyone interested I think he's a fantastic player great goal scorer a person for all seasons rarely ill or injured and deserves Boro's golden boot of the season, oh and he's a great bench warmer..

So please frigging buy him asap.

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I find it a bit mad when people go on about the types of goals strikers score. Who gives a *** if Britt only scores tap-ins, there's a reason not many others do and calling them all tap-ins makes them sound like something your Nanna could do after a few whiskeys.

I'd absolutely agree he's a second tier striker at best and that we overpaid for him and such. But I'm seeing a lot of the same comments come up about his hold-up play when throughout this season in particular, his hold-up play and decision making has actually been getting better most the time. He presses often when the team does but then he can't be held accountable every time the team doesn't as it's a bloody team thing. He often gets it in the neck then though because he's the one who has to do it for most the game.

You can tell when fans have a gripe against one man in particular because if he does something right it's "Thank God he actually did something today" and if he does something wrong it's "Told you, he's ***". There's no bloody balance in the discussion half the time and it'd be nice if some of those so desperate to see the back of him actually gave him credit where it's due. After all, we're the daft ones as a club for paying £15m for him and whatever daft salary he's on, that's absolutely nothing to do with him, judge him on what he does. Complaining that he doesn't score more than 15 goals is bloody farcical when you look at the teams he's been in, for a start.

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On 12/31/2019 at 1:07 AM, BoroMart said:

19-20 (to date): 6 goals (26th top goalscorer)

18-19: 14 goals (15th top goalscorer)

17-16: 15 goals (7th top goalscorer)

16-17: 14 goals (11th top scorer)

15-16: 1 goal (injured)

14-15: 15 goals (13th top scorer)

 

A) He doesn't score 15+ goals, he never has, if fit and selected he scores 14-15 goals

B) He is consistently not good enough to be one of the top strikers, as proven by the fact that in 5 goes he has managed to be 7th top scorer once, and failed to get in the top 10 in the other 4 seasons (I'm presuming he won't make top 10 this year as he will need another 12 goals). Surely 11th-15th top scorer puts him exactly in the average bracket.

He is a poor footballer who scores tap ins vs bottom half teams, but is anonymous vs the well organised teams. We'll do well to get 8 mill back on him, but that means getting a top half side to gamble, and if they've scouted him then they will look elsewhere. The Pulis comments are daft, Pulis isn't responsible for Britt not being able to finish a 1-vs-1 or a tap in.

The pulis comments aren't daft.

In a pulis team britt is lucky to get one good chance a game and no striker scores every 1 on 1 or good chance they're given, so is it a surprise he misses more than he scores? Not really.

Add on to that he will have the fact that if he misses pulis will almost certainly throw him under the bus post game floating around the back of his head, that isn't going to help his confidence.

I'm with wilson on this one, I'm not saying we didn't overpay or he is worth his salary. What I am saying is he is far better in this division than people give him credit for when you look at his circumstances.

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