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[Albion] Neal Maupay's post-match red card
- Thread starter Bozza
- Start date
- Aug 8, 2005
- 27,217
He's not though is he? Based on this alone, he is 3 or 4 below the par for the top goalscorer at a club.
Based on this - not enough of our other players contribute to goals
Based on that, Maupay is roughly level with what midfield and second/third strikers are scoring. Problem is, he's our lead striker.
Yes, it's accurate to say that our 2nd/3rd strike options and midfield are also below par, but Maupay's return of 8 goals so far this season is well below what we need from him. Especially given the number of opportunities he's had and missed when it would have been easier to score.
We have 1 player, Southampton & Palace who are only just above us in the table have 3 & 2 players - total of 25 and 17 goals.
We just have Neal in there on 8. Get another player in the team that can score 8 or 2 players that can score 6 each and we'd be flying up the table.
Absolutely true. But it doesn't excuse the fact that Maupay's return is a lot lower this season than it should be. He should be towards the top of the table. Our struggles in front of goal are:
1. Maupay, as first striker, is not getting the returns he should be. 8 is not enough, he should be 12 minimum right now, and probably given the opportunities created hovering around 15. We've created enough opportunities for him to be up there, and he's fluffed his lines far too many times.
2. Our 2nd / 3rd strike options and midfield are *also* not contributing enough goals.
To make this abundantly clear: the two are not mutually exclusive. I'm sick of people trying to argue that there's no problem with Maupay because #2 above is true. Number 2 above being true does not stop #1 *also* being true.
I don't think anyone is saying there is no problem with Maupay, but he is certainly not the only one to blame nor should he be the one carrying the can.
Even if we spent £50M on Johnny SuperStriker, if he got injured in the first game of the season we'd be back to square one. That is why I think the rest of the squad are as much to blame because you cannot rely on 1 player to score all your goals
I'm with you, *Springal. WHU have 4 players in that list. Many chances/ half chances have fallen to other players who have also messed up: Lallana, Welbeck, Bissouma, Ally Mac, Moder, and from corners too, Dunk, Webster. Maupay is an easy target, but plenty of others have screwed up too. If Welbz stays, maybe he and maupay will improve together.
Yup, also true. Still doesn't excuse Maupay for being bad this season. Heading into hypotheticals for a moment, it's possible that the poor returns from the rest of the team are a consequence of Maupay's poor returns. Maupay's clearly stuck in a no-confidence spiral at the moment. The rest of the team will be aware of that, and that puts more pressure on them to score the goals that Maupay isn't. More pressure to score can then lead to trying to take shots they otherwise wouldn't, or snatching at the shots when they do take them When they also start missing as a result, they also start to suffer from confidence issues in front of goal.
It's possible (hypothetically) that if Maupay gets his confidence back, or we get our hands on an instinctive striker to take the role of first striker (and allow Maupay into a 2nd striker role, which I suspect he'd thrive in), then our midfield could start converting again (feeding off the confidence that having a goal scorer will instill and/or feeding off the better opportunities they get because opposing defences are putting more effort into watching / covering the productive striker).
Spin it another way - Potter knows his leading striker confidence is shot and I said after he was dropped for the Spurs game something wasn't quite right leading up to and after that game. And he hasn't recovered. But who is pushing him for his place? Or can Potter drop him for? Connolly has never taken his chance, Tau doesn't seem fancied.... Certainly in the games Maupay has not started I don't see any of the other players stepping up to score some goals
Maupay isn't up to scratch, there is no doubt about that.
the fact no one is scoring much is down to always spending too much time fannying around trying to walk it in, NO ONE reacts instinctively, everything has to be meticulously played out. The PL is too fast for that and we're not good enough
yes we need a striker upgrade, but we also need to be taking more chances to score ANY goal as opposed to only occaisional ones
Traore showed yeatserday to devastating effect, one-two WHACK goal.
one of our players would have taken a touch or gone for another pass, or both.
the fact no one is scoring much is down to always spending too much time fannying around trying to walk it in, NO ONE reacts instinctively, everything has to be meticulously played out. The PL is too fast for that and we're not good enough
yes we need a striker upgrade, but we also need to be taking more chances to score ANY goal as opposed to only occaisional ones
Traore showed yeatserday to devastating effect, one-two WHACK goal.
one of our players would have taken a touch or gone for another pass, or both.
Eric Youngs Contact Lens
Well-known member
I agree with you.. although I wouldn't use the term "bad" - he has been guilty of missing chances that he himself would have expected to score and I think on that front specifically, he has lost a lot of confidence. The issue is that this sentiment gets taken too easily and often to "he's terrible, get rid" as though he has no value to the team at his current level or can't improve. That's not what you're saying, rather that it is ok to acknowledge his struggles and by doing so does not negate that he has value/potential that we could benefit from in the future.
The Maharajah of Sydney
Well-known member
Using this metric he's clearly ABOVE Par not below it.
In golfing terminology if you're worse than Par then you're above Par NOT below it.
- Jun 27, 2012
- 14,612
That was his 2nd goal of the season. Until his goal against Fulham last month he'd gone 28 games without a goal.
(also probably no different to MacAlister's goal / first touch strike to earn the point v Palace (A) - in sense it was a one off. He's not scored since. )
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I thought you were comparing Maupay with Welbeck (apologies).
But it depends if you think marginally avoiding relegation is success, so in terms of goals a failure IMO.
We got Murray in the championship, so not a PL recruitment.
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- Jun 27, 2012
- 14,612
This season especially you'd have expected more so perhaps its frustrating but for Brighton given our history, our wage bill then 5 consecutive years in the Premier League - even bumping around 15th -17th - is a massive success.
US Seagull
Well-known member
I've had this feeling a lot of this season. Too much time spent looking to craft some kind of perfect opportunity that ends up getting fluffed anyway if it ever materializes. Sometimes it's worth just sticking the ball into the box and seeing what happens. Not necessarily all the time, but sometimes.
There was one game this season, I forget which one, but it was raining hard and their goalkeeper was shaky. In that situation it's worth just bombarding the keeper and force him to make a mistake.
Sometimes it's worth putting down the scalpel and bring out the ****ing sledge hammer.
Both are indeed true. The difference is that we pretty much have a daily Maupay thread while you'll have to look long and hard to find a thread where 50+ people are raising their pitchforks against eg the "attacking midfielders" Trossard / Ali Mac or to some extent Lallana / Gross. Every week three or four players either miss "sitters" or otherwise not being skilled/intelligent enough to even get into the right positions to score. Yet all pitch forks are always pointing towards one single human being. Its a pathetic blame game and lazy scapegoating.
albionalex
Well-known member
Exactly, not many non-elite strikers score 8+ goals.