[Albion] Carlos Baleba in the "SHOOT!" zone

Bozza said:

" the midfielder with a short-term memory who isn't afraid to smash a beer out of that guy's hands who's sitting 30 yards behind the goal."

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Bozza said:

Interesting and amusing article about bad shooting, particularly midfielders who, under no pressure, fancy themselves to ping it into the top corner from 30 yards out but, instead, put it in Row Z...

The guy who continues to dial his own number even when the phones are down, the player who wants to land on the Premier League's goals of the season list from 2002, the midfielder with a short-term memory who isn't afraid to smash a beer out of that guy's hands who's sitting 30 yards behind the goal.​

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For that, this season, there's only one candidate: Brighton's 20-year-old midfielder, Carlos Baleba. He's attempted 16 shots this season from an average of 23.4 meters away. He's scored one goal this season, but that came from his one shot from inside the penalty area:​

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To zero down on the type of shot we want, I filtered out any shots that don't occur in the center third of the field. And then I only looked at a block of space 12 yards beyond the circle at the top of the penalty area. It's arbitrary, but it includes the kinds of shots we want -- the ones where players think they can score even though they rarely do -- and eliminates attempts where a player thinks he can chip a goalkeeper who is off of his line.​

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In this area, Baleba has attempted 10 shots -- three more than any player and four more than any player who hasn't scored a goal from this area. Baleba is averaging a shot from the "SHOOT!" zone with every 5.9 touches he takes in that part of the field.​

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However, you only really get egged on by the fans when you're at home. (Pro tip: A savvy fanbase would stay silent when their home players had the ball in this area, but go absolutely wild screaming "SHOOT" when their away opponents occupied this base.) And at the American Express Stadium, Baleba has only attempted five of these shots.​

From Bruno Fernandes to Man City: Who are the worst shooters in the Premier League?

These are the Premier League players that fans should stop yelling "SHOOT!" at when they have the ball at their feet in the open field.

www.espn.co.uk

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jcdenton08 said:

I could be over-generalising here but the image in my mind’s eye is of him pressing and winning the ball, running at full pelt and shooting in the areas described in the OP.

I think it might be explained tactically.

Often when he’s pressed so far forward and won the ball in a dangerous area, we have a lot of players ahead of the ball and if we misplace a pass, we could (and indeed have) be done on the break with all our quickest players ahead of the ball.

Shooting is the lowest risk outcome in that specific scenario which I’ve seen a few times with Baleba.

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