• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Why are we struggling to score this season?

Wtf has happened to eriksens shooting and ball striking in general?
It's weird.

I rate him very highly but his shooting at the moment is weak

Free kicks in less concerned about as 95% of the time there never scored from by anyone

His corners though not reaching the first man (unless it's tactical) are very weak and lack pace too
 
Haven't bad the chance to read this thread through, but has anyone mentioned our shots/goals from distance last season?

It was an unusually high number and the goals were never likely to continue at that rate. It wasn't really a concern last season because good teams often go through a phase like that, but they gradually replace distance goals with more repeatable ones - we didn't.

It's entirely unsurprising that the goals we were scoring last season aren't happening, what is slightly worrying is that we're not creating instead.
 
We aren't creating enough. Its true. the scum had far more chances. If we'd have had their chances, I think we'd have scored. We did create though. Kane had a header wide. He also had two chances close to corner of the goal, one defended before it came to him, the other he kicked wide and it hit the defender. Janssen's volley. Eriksen's volley.

I think we need to double up down the flanks. We're more likely to move the ball back instead of getting a runner into the channel or working the ball into that square between box and corner flag. Someone like Son or the FBs could be lethal sprinting onto a pass into space there. It doesn't happen enough. We don't look drilled to exploit that.

Teams defend well in the PL, and we're not quite good enough at the moment. 1) Too many slow or misplaced passes. 2) Not enough effective movement when we tire after about 30 mins.
 
We aren't creating enough. Its true. the scum had far more chances. If we'd have had their chances, I think we'd have scored. We did create though. Kane had a header wide. He also had two chances close to corner of the goal, one defended before it came to him, the other he kicked wide and it hit the defender. Janssen's volley. Eriksen's volley.

I think we need to double up down the flanks. We're more likely to move the ball back instead of getting a runner into the channel or working the ball into that square between box and corner flag. Someone like Son or the FBs could be lethal sprinting onto a pass into space there. It doesn't happen enough. We don't look drilled to exploit that.

Teams defend well in the PL, and we're not quite good enough at the moment. 1) Too many slow or misplaced passes. 2) Not enough effective movement when we tire after about 30 mins.

The scum has 2 shots on target

Iwobis in the first half and girouds header

That's actually very poor and they dint have many that were close other then wallcotts shot that hit the woodwork
 
f792529cda6c419a8ed2af5f1cab9989




Credit goes to blogger @11tegen11 (his/her excellent site is here: http://11tegen11.net/). Methodology for calculating the quality of chances is derived from this approach - http://11tegen11.net/2014/02/10/what-is-expg/ .

So, what does everyone think? According to this, we create the most chances in the league on average - these are also the worst-quality chances in the league, on average. Basically, long shots, pot shots, floated crosses falling to players in difficult positions, etcetera. It's interesting to note the contrast with both our rivals, Arsenal (who create the highest-quality chances in the league, on average) and a doctrinally-similar side in Liverpool (who, despite using the same gegenpressing philosophy we do, are still managing to create relatively high-quality chances at relatively frequent intervals).
 
Last edited:
f792529cda6c419a8ed2af5f1cab9989




Credit goes to blogger @11tegen11 (his/her excellent site is here: http://11tegen11.net/). Methodology for calculating the quality of chances is derived from this approach - http://11tegen11.net/2014/02/10/what-is-expg/ .

So, what does everyone think? According to this, we create the most chances in the league on average - these are also the worst-quality chances in the league, on average. Basically, long shots, pot shots, floated crosses falling to players in difficult positions, etcetera. It's interesting to note the contrast with both our rivals, Arsenal (who create the highest-quality chances in the league, on average) and a doctrinally-similar side in Liverpool (who, despite using the same gegenpressing philosophy we do, are still managing to create relatively high-quality chances at relatively frequent intervals).
Doesn't that correlation actually just means that we're shooting from everywhere we can? that sounds reasonable if we have, on average, worse chance but we also shoot more than anyone.
If that's the case I guess it's interesting to think if that's intentional
 
Doesn't that correlation actually just means that we're shooting from everywhere we can? that sounds reasonable if we have, on average, worse chance but we also shoot more than anyone.
If that's the case I guess it's interesting to think if that's intentional
Indeed. Stats were posted here recently showing Eriksen's unusually low rate of return. Also, Kane has often been criticised for choosing to shoot rather than passing to someone supposedly better placed but if Poch was unhappy about either he surely would have coached it out of them by now.
 
But even allowing for all of that, it does seem we are increasingly snatching at our chances when that extra little bit of composure might make all the difference.

Thoughts?

Interestingly though we have scored more goals this season than we did after 17 league games last season. I guess perception is everything
 
f792529cda6c419a8ed2af5f1cab9989




Credit goes to blogger @11tegen11 (his/her excellent site is here: http://11tegen11.net/). Methodology for calculating the quality of chances is derived from this approach - http://11tegen11.net/2014/02/10/what-is-expg/ .

So, what does everyone think? According to this, we create the most chances in the league on average - these are also the worst-quality chances in the league, on average. Basically, long shots, pot shots, floated crosses falling to players in difficult positions, etcetera. It's interesting to note the contrast with both our rivals, Arsenal (who create the highest-quality chances in the league, on average) and a doctrinally-similar side in Liverpool (who, despite using the same gegenpressing philosophy we do, are still managing to create relatively high-quality chances at relatively frequent intervals).
I think it's very clear and fits with what I said further up this page.

We were very similar last season too, it's just that an unusually high proportion of those long shots went in.
 
Indeed. Stats were posted here recently showing Eriksen's unusually low rate of return. Also, Kane has often been criticised for choosing to shoot rather than passing to someone supposedly better placed but if Poch was unhappy about either he surely would have coached it out of them by now.
Eriksen shoots a lot from low xG areas so you'd expect him to have a low conversion rate.

Last season his goal tally was huge compared to his xG, this year, it's just normal for a good player.
 
Doesn't that correlation actually just means that we're shooting from everywhere we can? that sounds reasonable if we have, on average, worse chance but we also shoot more than anyone.
If that's the case I guess it's interesting to think if that's intentional

Yep. Shoot-on-sight, basically. I think it *is* intentional - difficult to imagine such a constant component of our play (since we've racked up the most low-percentage chances in the league) being something Poch has a problem with. The question is, why are we choosing to go with that approach? And what is the logic that prioritizes that approach over, say, Liverpool's?

Indeed. Stats were posted here recently showing Eriksen's unusually low rate of return. Also, Kane has often been criticised for choosing to shoot rather than passing to someone supposedly better placed but if Poch was unhappy about either he surely would have coached it out of them by now.

Again, true. Personally, my suspicion is that Poch sees it as a natural outgrowth of our direct attacking approach - the quickest, most efficient route to goal will, if tried enough times, probably result in a goal. Trying to create higher-quality chances is dependent on a number of factors - good playmakers, constant tempo being kept up, team chemistry and mutual awareness of the positions of fellow team-mates at any given moment, composure. Maybe we're not particularly proficient in those areas, which is why we're going with this strategy to compensate?

I think it's very clear and fits with what I said further up this page.

We were very similar last season too, it's just that an unusually high proportion of those long shots went in.

I agree - looking back to last season, there really wasn't a sustained spell of intricate goals being scored. Our goals came from efficiency and flashes of skill that allowed us to put away fairly prosaic chances resulting from our pressing or (alternately) shots from range - that might be something that isn't sustainable over long periods. Although, as @NaijaSpurs points out, we do apparently have more goals now than we did at this stage last season.
 
Last edited:
I agree - looking back to last season, there really wasn't a sustained spell of intricate goals being scored. Our goals came from efficiency and flashes of skill that allowed us to put away fairly prosaic chances resulting from our pressing or (alternately) shots from range - that might be something that isn't sustainable over long periods. Although, as @NaijaSpurs points out, we do apparently have more goals now than we did at this stage last season.
I think it's an effective tactic when the press is working. One of the reasons long shots are so unlikely to result in a goal is the fact the you're usually shooting through a crowd. If you've just won the ball and the defence isn't settled, you often only have to beat the keeper (who also may not have got his lines yet).

Although we've scored more than at this point last year, we started last year fairly poorly too. We can't expect last year's glut of long distance goals to happen again so I'd like to see more signs of us creating I'm other ways.
 
I think it's an effective tactic when the press is working. One of the reasons long shots are so unlikely to result in a goal is the fact the you're usually shooting through a crowd. If you've just won the ball and the defence isn't settled, you often only have to beat the keeper (who also may not have got his lines yet).

Although we've scored more than at this point last year, we started last year fairly poorly too. We can't expect last year's glut of long distance goals to happen again so I'd like to see more signs of us creating I'm other ways.

I agree that it's effective when combined with a unified pressing system - however, I am deeply intrigued by the difference between us and Liverpool in this regard. We both prioritize pressing and direct, quick transitions - the forms differ somewhat (Liverpool use a medium block when pressing, while we press right up to the opposition goalie), but the philosophy remains the same. Yet, Liverpool are evidently consistently creating chances of far higher quality than the ones we're managing to create, while only slightly suffering in terms of the volume of chances created when compared to our own approach.

So, what are they doing differently? And is their approach more sustainable in the long-run than our own approach is?
 
I agree that it's effective when combined with a unified pressing system - however, I am deeply intrigued by the difference between us and Liverpool in this regard. We both prioritize pressing and direct, quick transitions - the forms differ somewhat (Liverpool use a medium block when pressing, while we press right up to the opposition goalie), but the philosophy remains the same. Yet, Liverpool are evidently consistently creating chances of far higher quality than the ones we're managing to create, while only slightly suffering in terms of the volume of chances created when compared to our own approach.

So, what are they doing differently? And is their approach more sustainable in the long-run than our own approach is?

Liverpool get the chances from pushing more men forward and get plenty of second and third ball, like their goal vs Everton's and quite a few of Origis for example

They alos have a lot of goals come from rebounds and deflections to a pool player which we simply haven't as we dont throw bodies into the area to capitalise on it

We are how we're more stable IMO across the board and don't get sucker punched as much in comparison as we have a better defensive set up (we wouldnt have conceded like the did vs West Ham IMO)

Pool look prettier but what the actually achieve will come down to how they defend in key matches. For me they are the same as they were a few season back when they had the gerrrad slip

And to Answer your last question their approach is only sustainable if they outscore teams
 
Back