[Football] Lallana's finishing

[fly high]

He's getting closer, only a foot wide last night instead of 2 yards and more he usually manages

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Another poor miss to add to the pile last night for Lallana

Maupay has had some stick, but at least he gets the occasional difficult one to offset the straight forward ones. Lallana misses both.

Take a midfield 3 of Lallana, Bissouma and Moder. Incredible how many presentable chances they miss.

To me, the answer is getting the players more likely to score in the right positions. So Moder is a good example. He's playing in quite an advanced position, but has shown no quality in the final third. Mwepu and MacAllister look far more likely to contribute a goal or an assist. The other 3 should be competing for a solely defensive midfield slot

 

[dazzer6666]

From the middle of the goal 15 yards out a player of his level should’ve buried it

Different game, same issue

 

[seagullwedgee]

I suspect what happens when players, and/or teams, are going through relative drought in front of goal, when a golden chance presents itself they don’t want to fail by blazing it straight at the keeper, so their instinct (and the calculation is warp speed fast) is to try to find the absolute gap/corner of the net. And in so doing their execution at the critical moment is partially scrambled between ‘just hit the target’ and ‘make sure you find the corner’, and in that scrambling the contact is poor. Also, if the contact is clean, the instinctive sub-conscious effort is to try too hard to find the corner and end up missing the target altogether. Pundits talk about confidence, but it’s more about cool thinking and clean execution at the critical moment. This 8s why strikers tend to have hot runs and cold patches. Just like maupay and Antonio right now. I am surprised as anyone that Lallana lacks the composure to execute cleanly, when he is clearly such a talented technical player.

 

[Stat Brother]

I suspect what happens when players, and/or teams, are going through relative drought in front of goal, when a golden chance presents itself they don’t want to fail by blazing it straight at the keeper, so their instinct (and the calculation is warp speed fast) is to try to find the absolute gap/corner of the net. And in so doing their execution at the critical moment is partially scrambled between ‘just hit the target’ and ‘make sure you find the corner’, and in that scrambling the contact is poor. Also, if the contact is clean, the instinctive sub-conscious effort is to try too hard to find the corner and end up missing the target altogether. Pundits talk about confidence, but it’s more about cool thinking and clean execution at the critical moment. This 8s why strikers tend to have hot runs and cold patches. Just like maupay and Antonio right now. I am surprised as anyone that Lallana lacks the composure to execute cleanly, when he is clearly such a talented technical player.

Its almost as if players who can routinely score goals might actually have some kind of inherent extra value.

 

[Commander]

It really is bizarre how a player as good as Lallana is so inept at the one thing he's probably practised hundreds of times a week since he was a young child. How is it possible to be so bad at something, when you're so good at other things that so closely resemble it?

I wonder if we could put pictures of Brighton players feet just inside the corners of the nets at the Amex, and ask him to pass the ball 30 yards on to their toes, as he seems to ne able to do that perfectly.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

He’s not alone as a midfielder who can’t shoot. Paul Ince was a prime example. But at any level shooting in eleven a side is not straightforward. You know the chances are infrequent, the goal suddenly looks small and the keeper massive, you’ve a split second to make a decision on how to hit the thing, you need to make sure you’re over it, the ball is moving, can you take a touch, the defenders are quick and moving in ......... of course he’s a professional and all that, but it’s still not straightforward.

 

[worthingseagull]

He’s not alone as a midfielder who can’t shoot. Paul Ince was a prime example. But at any level shooting in eleven a side is not straightforward. You know the chances are infrequent, the goal suddenly looks small and the keeper massive, you’ve a split second to make a decision on how to hit the thing, you need to make sure you’re over it, the ball is moving, can you take a touch, the defenders are quick and moving in ......... of course he’s a professional and all that, but it’s still not straightforward.

totally agree BUT ......... you'd expect to get it right at least once in 5 attempts

 

[Clive Walker]

couldn't agree more if Maupay was due some criticism last weekend then so should Adam after last night.

Maupay had 1.5 chances last night and scored with his half chance.

Lallana had 2 great chances and missed both.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

He’s not alone as a midfielder who can’t shoot. Paul Ince was a prime example. But at any level shooting in eleven a side is not straightforward. You know the chances are infrequent, the goal suddenly looks small and the keeper massive, you’ve a split second to make a decision on how to hit the thing, you need to make sure you’re over it, the ball is moving, can you take a touch, the defenders are quick and moving in ......... of course he’s a professional and all that, but it’s still not straightforward.

All this is true of a pub player on a sunday morning though.

Sorry, Lallana should be doing loads better than he is

 

[Bry Nylon]

Its almost as if players who can routinely score goals might actually have some kind of inherent extra value.

If only I could do it 15 times in 38 games, I could sell my services for £50m, get paid £5m a year on top, work one day a week AND have every summer off. I should have paid more attention in PE.

 

[Stat Brother]

If only I could do it 15 times in 38 games, I could sell my services for £50m, get paid £5m a year on top, work one day a week AND have every summer off. I should have paid more attention in PE.

Sounds like too much effort to me.

 

[Commander]

He’s not alone as a midfielder who can’t shoot. Paul Ince was a prime example. But at any level shooting in eleven a side is not straightforward. You know the chances are infrequent, the goal suddenly looks small and the keeper massive, you’ve a split second to make a decision on how to hit the thing, you need to make sure you’re over it, the ball is moving, can you take a touch, the defenders are quick and moving in ......... of course he’s a professional and all that, but it’s still not straightforward.

Agree to a certain extent, but this is a guy with 30+ caps for England and a couple of hundred Premier League appearances. He absolutely should be able to hit the target from those positions more often than not, there is no excuse for a player of his calibre not being able to do it.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Agree to a certain extent, but this is a guy with 30+ caps for England and a couple of hundred Premier League appearances. He absolutely should be able to hit the target from those positions more often than not, there is no excuse for a player of his calibre not being able to do it.

I know. It makes little sense. Perhaps because he has such talent he has time and sees lots of options - when really he may be better getting over and leathering it every time (rather than stroke it into a corner).

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

All this is true of a pub player on a sunday morning though.

Rumbled.

 

[Commander]

I know. It makes little sense. Perhaps because he has such talent he has time and sees lots of options - when really he may be better getting over and leathering it every time (rather than stroke it into a corner).

You would genuinely back most county league attacking midfielders to at least work the goalkeeper from there. Everyone has off days but he's had so many chances like that now, all with similar results. It's very odd.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

I know. It makes little sense. Perhaps because he has such talent he has time and sees lots of options - when really he may be better getting over and leathering it every time (rather than stroke it into a corner).

But when he does that he puts it in the stands.

At his age, he's beyond help. The best we can do is hide our deficiencies. Put Lallana in the team to sit and guard the counter. Put someone alongside him to break into the box like Bissouma ... ah no that won't work Moder, errr. Possibly Mwepu or MacAllister are the ones who look like they have a goal in them

 

[BBassic]

It's interesting looking at his goal stats on Wikipedia.

He got 60 goals in 265 appearances for Southampton but over half of those (31) came when they were in League 1. In the Championship he netted 11 (+ 2 in the cups) and 12 in the Premier League (+ 1 in the cups)
Then for Liverpool it was 22 goals across 178 appearances (cups and league)
And for us it's 1 in 44.

Seems to suggest he's just not a goal-scorer at this level.

EDIT: Added in clarity around the cups / leagues.

 

[seagullwedgee]

If only I could do it 15 times in 38 games, I could sell my services for £50m, get paid £5m a year on top, work one day a week AND have every summer off. I should have paid more attention in PE.

I never made decent level myself, but I had really detailed conversations with my Dad, who was full professional in Div 3 South back in the 50s, and my brother, who was semi pro for the LA Aztecs feeder team back in 1982. They both played centre forward, they would talk for hours about positional instinct, using body posture and positioning to shield and/or get in front, and about execution at moments of truth etc

What Maupay did last night was an example of ALL of that, intelligence, instinct, positioning, shielding, physical strength, decision making, execution, all absolutely perfect, and true top pro standard. That’s probably our goal of the season. Technically it was more difficult than Alireza’s overhead against Chelsea.

 

[Pevenseagull]

It's interesting looking at his goal stats on Wikipedia.

He got 60 goals in 265 appearances for Southampton but over half of those (31) came when they were in League 1. In the Championship he netted 11 (+ 2 in the cups) and 12 in the Premier League (+ 1 in the cups)
Then for Liverpool it was 22 goals across 178 appearances (cups and league)
And for us it's 1 in 44.

Seems to suggest he's just not a goal-scorer at this level.

EDIT: Added in clarity around the cups / leagues.

2 goals in his last 101 appearances

He's taken Propper's place perfectly.