[Albion] Neal Maupay...SIGNED FOR EVERTON.

[DJ NOBO]

He is doing his best to turn his teammates into goal threats but they are not taking the opportunities, how can the blame then be (often) solely on him? The idea that he is "supposed" to be our biggest goal threat is just an idea based on what a striker is percieved to be doing. But there is really no rule or law or wisely thought through norm that prevents Trossard, Mac Allister, Lallana and so on to score goals if they get the opportunities. Once his teammates set him up for chances (their "supposed" job) the way he sets up them, then sure lets begin the blame game. As it stands Maupay is closer to Bergkamp than eg Trossard is to Pires, or Firmino vs Salah to take a modern example. Yet all the talk is "Maupay, Maupay, Maupay".

Yep. Goals lacking all over the place .

But If you were GP (and some suspect you are) would you play maupay next game ?
For me , we would have little to lose by replacing him with Connolly

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

He is doing his best to turn his teammates into goal threats but they are not taking the opportunities, how can the blame then be (often) solely on him? The idea that he is "supposed" to be our biggest goal threat is just an idea based on what a striker is percieved to be doing. But there is really no rule or law or wisely thought through norm that prevents Trossard, Mac Allister, Lallana and so on to score goals if they get the opportunities. Once his teammates set him up for chances (their "supposed" job) the way he sets up them, then sure lets begin the blame game. As it stands Maupay is closer to Bergkamp than eg Trossard is to Pires, or Firmino vs Salah to take a modern example. Yet all the talk is "Maupay, Maupay, Maupay".

Yet he's only got 1 assist and only created 4 'big chances' all season despite the level of possession and chances we create every match. He is our main attacker and yet in the area we need him most - creating and scoring chances - he's just not contributing enough at the moment.

Like you, I'm a big Potter fan and I feel he is being let down by Maupay's actual contribution at the moment. Not his effort, but his actual return.

 

[Swansman]

Yep. Goals lacking all over the place .

But If you were GP (and some suspect you are) would you play maupay next game ?
For me , we would have little to lose by replacing him with Connolly

I would play both of them, generally I think they look dangerous together.

 

[Swansman]

Yet he's only got 1 assist and only created 4 'big chances' all season despite the level of possession and chances we create every match. He is our main attacker and yet in the area we need him most - creating and scoring chances - he's just not contributing enough at the moment.

Like you, I'm a big Potter fan and I feel he is being let down by Maupay's actual contribution at the moment. Not his effort, but his actual return.

There's no real options as I see it, other than linking up Maupay with Connolly (I dont believe in Connolly as a lone center forward), starting Welbeck is close to playing with 10 men ( https://fbref.com/en/players/ce5143da/scout/10728/Danny-Welbeck-Scouting-Report ) not to mention that both his goal convertion and goals per 90 minutes are worse than Neals, and Zeqiri/Tau are both long shots.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Did any cross, or free kick or corner actually land directly onto his head - NO, as none of them were any good.

Er, YES. Burn crossed from the right (wtf?) and Neal headed wide again. Burn is criticised for poor heading but I'm afraid Neal is poor in the air.

 

[herecomesaregular]

You are right that some strikers can be effective even if their goal scoring is low. Back in the 80s we had Kevin Bremner - few goals, but a real handful. The difference is he had Gary Nelson along side him - full of goals.
Likewise, Firmino may have been moved on if salah and others weren’t banging them in around him.
Maupay is (supposed to be ) our single biggest goal threat.
Perhaps that’s unfair on someone who didn’t cost that much, but it’s not enough for him to have a well-balanced all round game if no-one else is scoring.

Here’s a picture of Bremner wearing only pants. And Nelson.View attachment 134168

Ah, what a pair. Tbf Nelson had one blinding season of goals (30+ wasn't it?) but that was a blip. He played out wide before that season and was later moved back out wide and scored only a few after that. But the 87/88 season, wowee. I could have done without seeing them in their pants though.....

 

[herecomesaregular]

Also, i believe Potter is playing Maupay every game due to lack of alternatives (in the role Maupay plays). In future, I believe we will see Potter being ruthless again and Maupay upgraded.

 

[DJ NOBO]

Ah, what a pair. Tbf Nelson had one blinding season of goals (30+ wasn't it?) but that was a blip. He played out wide before that season and was later moved back out wide and scored only a few after that. But the 87/88 season, wowee. I could have done without seeing them in their pants though.....

Sometimes one good season is enough to make you a legend.
Although nels had his moments the following year..
What a season that was. It’s the one that got me hooked.

 

[clockend1983]

Very little at the moment. CMS like in my view
Let’s hope for some improvement.We have seen
some good stuff from him like the winner v Arsenal
towards the end of last season.

 

[Swansman]

Er, YES. Burn crossed from the right (wtf?) and Neal headed wide again. Burn is criticised for poor heading but I'm afraid Neal is poor in the air.

Not his strong side but considering he is 171 cm - probably about 15 cm shorter than the average striker - he obviously got decent timing in the air considering he often wins headers against defenders about twice his size. Scored a couple of nice headers last season. But would be nice with a monster in those situations. Was a nice cross from BDB though.

 

[Badger Boy]

He is very poor outside of the box, that's become my thought throughout the season. He overhits simple passes and really doesn't have much vision of what's around him. He's a very strong finisher when given a good chance in the box but otherwise I think he's underwhelming. Either he needs to change his game to become more effective for the team, or the team needs to get back to basics and think about how to generate the type of chance at Leeds he's absolutely deadly with.

 

[ifightbears]

View attachment 134165

This was my biggest concern tbh, he only had 2 shots of the 25 we had which seems very low for the main striker. Is he playing too deep?

 

[GT49er]

Holds the ball up a bit. Pops up occasionally in the right place. Other than that his touch, passing, and ability to run with a football are probably about league 1 standard.

Even then he’s still probably better than our other fit options.

Can’t wait for Andone to get fit. He walks into this side at the moment.

Yeh, and the longer Andone doesn't play, the better he'll get. Give him another 12 months on the injury list and he'll be better than Messi!

Once he actually plays,of course ............................

 

[Insel affe]

You can’t seriously say he doesn’t work hard for the team, but his awareness of those around him seems to be a weak point along with snatching at chances. I think our main frustration with him is also a frustration he and the team share to be honest. Probably the best thing is to rest him for a few games, and let one of the others take that burden off his shoulders and be used as a substitute for a few games. He clearly has talent and without doubt does try and does care, which is important. I would stick Welbeck and Zeqiri together to try and form a partnership against WBA at least.
Zeqiri is very similar to Maupay and works hard for the team like Maupay, where Webeck can finish better with more game time.

 

[Swansman]

Holds the ball up a bit. Pops up occasionally in the right place. Other than that his touch, passing, and ability to run with a football are probably about league 1 standard.

Even then he’s still probably better than our other fit options.

Can’t wait for Andone to get fit. He walks into this side at the moment.

He is very poor outside of the box, that's become my thought throughout the season. He overhits simple passes and really doesn't have much vision of what's around him. He's a very strong finisher when given a good chance in the box but otherwise I think he's underwhelming. Either he needs to change his game to become more effective for the team, or the team needs to get back to basics and think about how to generate the type of chance at Leeds he's absolutely deadly with.

Possible he is a horrible League 1 standard passer etc. but only 10% of PL strikers got better passing accuracy than him with no real signs that he is making easier passes than others (only 22% of the strikers make more key passes, only 17% make more passes into the final third and so on).

 

[Seasidesage]

Bloody [MENTION=38333]Swansman[/MENTION] ruining a perfectly good slagging off of a player by introducing facts into the argument...

 

[Badger Boy]

Yes yes, the usual stats. Stats, stats, stats. Ignore your eyes, everyone! Much like what happened with Ryan, ignore your eyes! Well, eventually the obvious was obvious to everyone. Watch Maupay, when he gets the ball outside the box. He rarely knows what to do with it, and frequently overhits a pass into touch or makes it a 50/50 for the intended recipient. I don't really care too much for statistics, I prefer to rely on watching the game and forming my opinions on watching the matches.

My opinion on Maupay is pretty low at the moment, he needs to get back to doing what the team needs from him. And it isn't trying to create things outside the box - we have plenty of those types and nobody to stick the ball in the net. Maupay needs to score goals, that's what the team requires right now - can anyone disagree with that?

 

[GT49er]

You can’t seriously say he doesn’t work hard for the team, but his awareness of those around him seems to be a weak point along with snatching at chances. I think our main frustration with him is also a frustration he and the team share to be honest. Probably the best thing is to rest him for a few games, and let one of the others take that burden off his shoulders and be used as a substitute for a few games. He clearly has talent and without doubt does try and does care, which is important. I would stick Welbeck and Zeqiri together to try and form a partnership against WBA at least.
Zeqiri is very similar to Maupay and works hard for the team like Maupay, where Webeck can finish better with more game time.

I would go for Welbeck, with Connolly to do the running for him. Maupay or Tau could come on if Connolly needed replacing, while the more obvious replacement for Welbeck, should 90 minutes be beyond him, would be Zeqiri - he's a bit bigger (so hopefully slightly better in the air) than our other tiny scampering forwards.

 

[Swansman]

Yes yes, the usual stats. Stats, stats, stats. Ignore your eyes, everyone! Much like what happened with Ryan, ignore your eyes! Well, eventually the obvious was obvious to everyone. Watch Maupay, when he gets the ball outside the box. He rarely knows what to do with it, and frequently overhits a pass into touch or makes it a 50/50 for the intended recipient. I don't really care too much for statistics, I prefer to rely on watching the game and forming my opinions on watching the matches.

My opinion on Maupay is pretty low at the moment, he needs to get back to doing what the team needs from him. And it isn't trying to create things outside the box - we have plenty of those types and nobody to stick the ball in the net. Maupay needs to score goals, that's what the team requires right now - can anyone disagree with that?

Okay, so according to your gut feeling Maupay is a bad passer but according to statistics gathered in the real world he is a pretty good one. Gotcha.

As for Ryan, his statistics says "he is shite" so it looks like your gut feeling took a ride to information land on that one.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Possible he is a horrible League 1 standard passer etc. but only 10% of PL strikers got better passing accuracy than him with no real signs that he is making easier passes than others (only 22% of the strikers make more key passes, only 17% make more passes into the final third and so on).

It's entirely possible that I am just being totally reactionary about Maupay.
But in my view his problem is not with failing to complete passes, more he (seems to) frequently delay the pass, or play the ball slightly behind the attacking player.
Sure he completes the pass, but it doesn't stop it from being a poor decision, quite often.

The pass behind Wellbeck yesterday was a prime example, delayed and behind.
He does this quite often.