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******* hell, nobody is disputing that his goals return is bad, what were saying is if he takes his easy chances the games will be different, I guarantee if you spoke to SB he would more than likely agree he should be on more goals with the chances he's had. The defence is an issue but for a completely different thread, just because they have been awful it should not excuse the chances SB has missed and I'm unsure why you would try and use the defence as a justification for this? Let me be clear here, I like SB, he's hard working and seems a decent level headed bloke, I just think he should be putting away more of the chances he's had.

If he doesn't improve his finishing I think we can all agree BCFC will never get a decent offer to take him off our hands. Any scout who saw yesterday's first half will never recommend him as a signing, that's for sure. It's not just the repetetive failure with the one on one's - does anyone even get out of their seat any more when he's bearing down on goal? - it's numerous easy chances where you would expect a goalscorer at any level to take the majority. Then there have been several 6 yard box air shots where he has failed to even connect with the ball at all. Presumably these don't go down in the statistics as shots at all, let alone on or off target, but gilt edged, missed, chances they remain. I don't go along with the theory that he is such a master of movement that he has created all these chances himself where another striker wouldn't have been in position. His movement will have been a factor in some but many, many others have been set up on a plate in a way no City striker has benefited from for many years. Yet he continues to miss them with such regularity it's hard to believe there are some who seek to completely excuse such unprecedented profligacy. He could very easily have doubled his tally this season while still failing to take many very good chances, and by the look of him he is as incredulous as most fans that such outrageous misses continue - note the furious booting of the EE hoardings yesterday. Cotterill is being very supportive and patient publicly but he must be as aware as anyone that it can't go on. If we continue to create this many chances, and squander a similar percentage as the vital games to avoid relegation come thick and fast, then these misses will become an ever more significant factor in determining the outcome of our season. Yet again we hope his second half goals will have lifted his confidence enough to produce a magical transformation in his golden chance taking percentage in the games to come, because frankly, nothing but massive improvement will do.

Wasn't at the game yesterday so can't comment on the misses. However I have seen the goals on YouTube and can comment on how poor both goals we let in were. This is unfortunately the real problem. We can't defend. I don't think you can really blame a striker who is well on his way to a 20 goal season (of which we have two!) for missing when we are guaranteed to let in at least one a game.

Oh bugger don't go all factual on peoples asses. That will result in name calling. Now this 22 one on ones missed. Still waiting for proof from those saying it is so.

Oh, and for what it's worth, according to the stats Baldock has scored 20.6% of his shots this season. In comparison to the top premier league scorers, Aguero is a wee bit more clinical at 28%, whereas Suarez is 25.9%. Not exactly ground breaking is it. Looks like they both have plenty of efforts that don't result in goals too, the difference is their teams are challenging for the premier league whilst we are languishing at the bottom of division 3. No one would be talking about this if we had conceded fewer and got more points on the board. Not interested in the Premier League? How about our own league then. Let's look at those who have scored more than Baldock: Ryan Lowe - 42% Britt Assombalonga - 23.2% Sam Baldock - 20.6% Leon Clarke - 20% Nakhi Wells - 19.2% Callum Wilson - 18.9% Patrick Bamford - 16.9% Clayton Donaldson - 16.8% What does this tell us? Lowe (bit of a freak stat, that one) is well ahead of the trend in terms of clinical finishing, but of the others, only Assombalonga has been more clinical than Baldock this season. Funnily enough, Patrick Bamford and Nakhi Wells - both mentioned in this thread as prolific strikers and both transferred to a higher league - have been less prolific than Baldock this season. Don't know about Lowe, does he take penalties, have Tranmere had a lot of them? He's had an incredibly low number of shots compared to others.

I suggest that Sam spends several hours next week practising one-on-ones with Frank Fielding. Let's face it, it will improve the confidence of one of them.

no there is a 6 page thread because idiots like you bowie and taylor10 are making him a scapegoat like you always do first it was Johnson then Elliot, fontaine now its baldock its as if city fans want to destroy players simply because they are jealous of them and their ability

I thank you for this. Someone finally brought relevant stats to the table and should be enough to close this topic. Yes Baldock misses chances but so do other strikers that are apparently rated on here

At the end of the day, if Baldock stayed away from injury last season he would have got 20+ goals. This season he's getting a lot more chances but for some reason isn't being as clinical goals to chances ratio wise as he was last season, but is still on course for more than 20 goals which I'm sure he'll get. Jet is a completely different matter, he can turn it on whenever he wants to, but Baldock has to work hard to score his goals, some of the runs he makes are very clever and on occasions defenders can't get near him. He doesn't have the natural ability of Jet but he works his socks off for the team, which is why him and Jet compliment each other as a strike partnership. So for those saying drop Jet or Baldock, be careful what you wish for. We have a strike partnership that is in the top three in this league, and without either of those two starting regularly I think we'll begin to struggle. One thing I would say however is take the armband off Baldock and see what happens. He doesn't strike me as a leader if I'm honest, and maybe it is that extra bit of pressure that is preventing him from scoring the majority of these missed chances. Also, stop bloody insulting each other and keep this discussion about football.

Edit - been a decent thread so far so not rising to you.

Are you 5 years old? I mean really? My "bum chum"? Get a life mate. Let's hope we can get some more average players on board to get ~20 league goals

I think you should check the record books on the money spent on Flint and what Sean thought of the amount; moreover, he was not the money man. Idle chatter can place anyone in a bad light on a particular subject when it is unwarranted.

Does it need to be "team Sam" or "team Jet"? Both have strengths and weaknesses but ultimately both play for the ONE TEAM! (see what I did there!). Both are a good bet to finish the season with 25 goals each. Someone asked the question last week when was the last time two of our strikers did that in the same season? Given how rare it is it's a shame we can't enjoy both of them.

I'm not failing to recognise them. But 22 one on ones? Give me a break, it's not that many. Suarez probably hasn't had 22 one on ones this season. Is he as clinical as we would like? No. But he is our joint top scorer and the only striker we have who could finish a season on 20 goals. As someone else said he shouldn't have to score a hat trick for us to win a game. Goals conceded have been our problem for years and that still hasn't been fixed yet.

He wouldn't have had them!!

Amazing that there's a thread slagging off Baldock, and nothing about how utterly useless JET was. We may as well have played with 10 men until Burns and Barnett came on. Perhaps if every other game SB didn't have to do the work of two people he'd get more. He worked his socks off in the second half, and Barnett did more in 30 seconds than JET did today. Baldock clearly lacks a bit of confidence in the one on one situation, but he still got two goals which salvaged us a point today. I couldn't believe the two chumps behind me who booed him off at half time. Embarassing. Funny how Baldock is lamented for his lack of putting chances away, and what's he on now? 15 or something? Well on course for 20+. If we didn't concede so many, we'd be top half. The goals we conceded today were so soft, and that's why we dropped 2 points today.

Had much more confidence in Thorpe. Far more natural finisher. Having said that, I've always been of the opinion that if a striker scores he's pretty much done his job. Baldock is frustrating but goal tally so far is as much as anyone could have asked of him. A testament to the team I think, as a natural finisher he is not. (IMO).

you are a ****

City (3-5-2) v MK Dons: Parish; Osborne, Flint, El Abd; Wagstaff, Gillett, Pack, Reid, Cunningham; Emmanuel-Thomas, Baldock. City subs: Barnett, Burns, Bryan, Elliott, Williams, Moloney, Fielding (gk).