[Albion] Why Are We So Wasteful?

[The Fits]

Touché.

And still your "you expect anyone playing football at any level to score that" example of Neal Maupay is statistically more efficient than Harry Kane. Not saying the Brighton strikers are the most clinical in the world, but still maybe that gives you a hint that your expectations are more fecked up than the strikers are.

Actually, you win this morning.

 

[Baldseagull]

Yesterday was a case in point but come on you stat people, do the stats back up the title to this thread? It just seems to me that we get our selves some great opportunities to score and then fluff our lines. I thought we’d turned a corner against Leeds but now I’m not so sure, we won’t get the same number of opportunities against PL opponents as we did against Blackpool so we have to start converting these chances. My mojo after Leeds took a right bashing yesterday.

Across the season, we have scored 1 goal for every 10 shots taken, yesterday was no different. Our shooting accuracy in the Premier League is 28%

 

[Icy Gull]

Is the correct answer “because we have a manager out of his depth at this level”?

 

[el punal]

Because players are not coached very well in being clinical ? No killer instinct ?

I don't believe the players aren't capable. We've seen on several occasions that they are. I do think some of them have hit a ceiling though. If we want to move up a rung on the PL ladder we need to keep evolving the squad, obviously.

Can you coach a player to have a killer instinct in front of goal? The last Albion player to have that consistent knack of knowing where the goal was - and scoring - was Glenn Murray. Perhaps the best of the bunch at the moment is Neal Maupay and that was a glaring miss of his when he could have made it 3-1. I can only think that it’s a confidence issue amongst all the players. A sight on goal and the attempt is rushed, or a player panicking and deciding to pass when shooting would have been the better option (and of course the reverse decision).

The unsettling thing is that so many attempts are not on target and some so wayward it beggars belief. Maybe Potter needs to put his psychological techniques to the test, a bit of ballet practice for the lads? I’m sure that’ll keep them on their toes.

 

[albionalbino]

Welbeck lacks fitness
Maupay lacks consistency
MacAllister lacks confidence
Connolly lacks experience
Zeqiri lacks talent.
Jahanbaksh lacks Eredivisie defenders who give him time and space.
Trossard should play wider putting in crosses which he's very good at.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

As has been mentioned, it's confidence. if you've ever played sport you'll know that when you're on the too of your game you seem to have much more time. Time to look up, time to see where the keeper and defenders are, time to aim for the gaps. When you're off your game you just rush and concentrate on hitting the target, which is mostly where the keeper is.

We’re very bad at it on the whole but I’d imagine if you surveyed fans of all 92 clubs, the majority would say their club is wasteful. Chances get missed, all part of it. And it’s very hard at our level to land someone like Ings or Vardy.

True. I watched the Cheltenham v Man City game yesterday. Man City fans must have been tearing their hair out for 85 mins. Then, once they’d got their equaliser, they scored two more in quick succession.

 

[PeterOut]

You asked for stats (I am not a stats man, but nowadays it is easy to find these kind of things) -

https://www.transfermarkt.co.in/premier-league/chancenverwertung/pokalwettbewerb/GB1 - we are currently 15th in the league for conversion of shots to goals (roughly the same as our league position).

We are 9th in that same table, and above teams such as Spurs and Leicester, for shots taken. That, on it'sown, strikes me as a good thing (accepting that if we had an £80m striker, our conversion rate would probably increase).

So, if we could only pick up a striker that had a very high coversion rate, we would be very comfortable. Anyone know of a team that has one of those sitting on the bench unable to get a first-team place, and is very cheap?

It's quite simple to look at individual's stats nowadays, as well as teams.

For example, Bissouma has had about one shot per appearance, scored 2 goals out of 66 attempts (11 attempts were on target). I think that the man is absolute class, and simply use this to state that stats do not always tell the whole story. See https://www.premierleague.com/players/50245/Yves-Bissouma/stats for Bissouma's stats, and search for any others that you wish from there.

Just beware of 'confirmation bias' (looking for stats that back up your initial thoughts / feelings / instinct / prejudice) when trawling these kinds of figures.

 

[CaptainDaveUK]

We’re very bad at it on the whole but I’d imagine if you surveyed fans of all 92 clubs, the majority would say their club is wasteful. Chances get missed, all part of it. And it’s very hard at our level to land someone like Ings or Vardy.

Correct. In the Prem there are a few other teams who should have scored more than they have. We should have scored about 5 more than we have so far this season. We should also have conceded 5 less than we have. If we’d scored and conceded our expected goals on chances created we would be in 10th position on 28 points. Here’s all the stats in a table.... https://understat.com/league/EPL

 

[elwheelio]

Sanctimonious or not, am I wrong? Find me the club fan board with a thread full of fans describing how pleased they are with the efficency in front of goal.

Personally, I think we score too many goals as it is.

 

[beorhthelm]

for me its more than simple confidence, there is a lack of assertiveness and competitiveness. both defence and attack leading to sloppy goals and wasted chances.

 

[elwheelio]

Correct. In the Prem there are a few other teams who should have scored more than they have. We should have scored about 5 more than we have so far this season. We should also have conceded 5 less than we have. If we’d scored and conceded our expected goals on chances created we would be in 10th position on 28 points. Here’s all the stats in a table.... https://understat.com/league/EPL

That's a good point. Despite all the raging about missed chances, the stats (I know xG is not exactly scientific) suggest we should have scored 5 more goals. Some would make you believe we should be scoring 5 more goals every game.

 

[b.w.2.]

It's very strange.
Murray famously said something along the lines of 'no matter what level you play at, the goal is in the same place'.
You do wonder how many goals Murray or even Madine would've scored for us this season. They might not of contributed a massive amount beyond that, but if they'd scored 10+ goals who cares?
I can't get my head around some of Maupay's misses. Yesterday's, twice, was just bizarrely feeble. You'd expect any person who has ever kicked a football at any level to score that. No pressure, no crowd, lower league opposition. Yet he is a highly rated striker. We know he can finish but he just seems to fluff so many chances. Trossard's the same. It's often harder for them to miss than score.
Even Gross who is usually fairly composed absolutely blazed a chance late on.

You can't blame Potter for it. He'd fancy scoring a lot of these chances himself, I'm sure, but you do have to wonder what is going on.

I do blame Potter. Has he heard of shooting practice? Andy Cole built finishing into his muscle memory by practicing finishing over and over again.

If we are not going to invest in a new target man (we should) then all our strikers, and those Potter incorrectly claims are strikers, should not stop practicing their finishing.

There is ZERO evidence any of our squad do this.


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[b.w.2.]

It's too much tinkering, sometimes we play 2 strikers sometime 1, Trossard will start centrally and be moved wider et al. The players are not used to the types of runs that the striker is likely to make or the position that the delivery will arrive to. Making the odd change of personel is one thing but when personel and positioning changes then players will find it hard to make the right decisions based on what their team mates are likely to do. Familiarity will help to make them more predictable and as a striker knowing where the ball is going to be delivered means you can focus on setting yourself for the chance rather than reacting to the suprise. It's all fine margins

This too


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[b.w.2.]

I would say that whilst both are a problem, not really creating killer chances is more of a problem in the majority of games than creating and them missing them.

Obviously some exceptions - yesterday and United at home spring to mind.

Totally disagree. We very often create more chances than our opponents but our conversation rate is woeful.


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[vagabond]

One word. CONFIDENCE. I'm sure if we had a natural goal scorer it would lift every body else in the team to new heights by taken the pressure off them in front of goal. We fanny around for ages at a slow cumbersome pace then snatch at a shot or opportunity.

Bingo.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

Totally disagree. We very often create more chances than our opponents but our conversation rate is woeful.


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Out of interest, are you basing that on stats? I have a suspicion that the stats skew this a bit as we do take a lot of shots, but they're often from outside the box or poor positions in the box - lots of half chances. I can't recall loads of "got to score here" moments in many games, or opposition keepers who've had blinders against us. Obviously you or others might feel games have been different.

 

[Worried Man Blues]

I do blame Potter. Has he heard of shooting practice? Andy Cole built finishing into his muscle memory by practicing finishing over and over again.

If we are not going to invest in a new target man (we should) then all our strikers, and those Potter incorrectly claims are strikers, should not stop practicing their finishing.

There is ZERO evidence any of our squad do this.


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I was just going to post the same thing about Cole, he repeated scenarios so it became as wrote, so he didn't have to think it became instinctive. What exactly would forwards train to do otherwise? Does Potter stop them shooting in practice, I would hope not!

 

[A1X]

Why shoot when you can pass? That's the Potterball philosophy.

 

[Motogull]

We need someone behind the goal in full kit so the potential scorer has someone to pass to.

 

[Si Gull]

for me its more than simple confidence, there is a lack of assertiveness and competitiveness. both defence and attack leading to sloppy goals and wasted chances.

Agreed, we seem to lack the ability to put games to bed either by scoring more or preventing the opposition from scoring. Someone else mentioned margins and, like all top level sports, I think that's the issue. We're not as bad as some believe but we're just falling short and that's costing us. Somehow we have to find that extra couple of % and that has to be down to the coaching staff as much as the players, most of whom are quite capable of playing at EPL level.