Clinical

[1team]

Should have won that today. It wasn't just the horrible defensive mistake we had good chances. Successful teams are more clinical. They were terrified of Semenyo when he came on so why not use that? Hopefully Massengo was substituted to stop any last minute offers, James and Williams are not mobile or creative and invite pressure. Scott is not a right wing back and should be in the middle. But we have the makings of something very positive and will only improve and I am sure we are doing much better than many thought. 

[grifty]

I'm hoping Massengo off at half time was a precaution and with Williams not being risked two games in 3/4 days, we'll have a midfield of Scott and Massengo v Huddersfield. Sykes back at RWB.

Weimann back in AMC with Wells and Conway up front and then Semenyo to come on again with 30/35 mins to go.

I'd be very interested to see Naismith in a central midfield role where his lack of pace and height may not be exploited and we can use his passing ability and driving runs further forward without the fear of him losing it and having no cover. The way he plays reverse passes and threads balls through is great at the moment, but currently it's to the RWB/LWB on the half way line, or into Williams and/or Massengo. I'd love to see the balls into Semenyo and Conway for them to turn and run at defences.

Klose can come in the middle and also add in some extra height which is massively needed.

[downendcity]

If we keep conceding last minute goals fans will be in a clinic- al of 'em!

[Bar BS3]

18 minutes ago, 1team said:

Should have won that today. It wasn't just the horrible defensive mistake we had good chances. Successful teams are more clinical. They were terrified of Semenyo when he came on so why not use that? Hopefully Massengo was substituted to stop any last minute offers, James and Williams are not mobile or creative and invite pressure. Scott is not a right wing back and should be in the middle. But we have the makings of something very positive and will only improve and I am sure we are doing much better than many thought. 

Why would Massengo being substituted stop any last minute offers..? 

[Engvall’s Splinter]

23 minutes ago, 1team said:

Should have won that today. It wasn't just the horrible defensive mistake we had good chances. Successful teams are more clinical. They were terrified of Semenyo when he came on so why not use that? Hopefully Massengo was substituted to stop any last minute offers, James and Williams are not mobile or creative and invite pressure. Scott is not a right wing back and should be in the middle. But we have the makings of something very positive and will only improve and I am sure we are doing much better than many thought. 

Substituted for the purpose of avoiding last minute offers ? Didn’t think he was at the races for the 45 he was on. 

[REDOXO]

9 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

Why would Massengo being substituted stop any last minute offers..? 

Who the hell knows! 
 

However he was giving away possession and ran right past their first goalscorer, which would be the obvious reasons he was off at ht. 

[1team]

Game of opinions. He is the one offering movement and creativity. James and Williams invite pressure. Our best performance was with Scott and Massengo in midfield. 

[old_eastender]

10 minutes ago, Engvall’s Splinter said:

Substituted for the purpose of avoiding last minute offers ? Didn’t think he was at the races for the 45 he was on. 

Agree, he was poor with the ball in the first half and runs past his man to allow him to be found by Madine for their 1st goal.

HNM either seems to do really good, or quite poor. I may be wrong be suspect it was a tactical sub at HT.

[Rossi the Robin]

I said to my Dad HNM would come off at half time  For some reason, didn’t seem in the game 

[189thoughts]

I thought we looked a lot better in the second half with James instead of HNM.

[MarcusX]

Massengo off at half time was tactical surely? He was poor I thought 

[ExiledAjax]

Yet again we have to say that we are actually very clinical in front of goal. Goals/shots is good. Goals/shots on target is good. Goals/xG is good. 

We're wonderfully attacking and quite fun. 11 goals in 6 league games from just 20 shots on target (xG of about 9). 

 A lack of clinical finishing is not our problem 

[red colin]

2 hours ago, grifty said:

I'm hoping Massengo off at half time was a precaution and with Williams not being risked two games in 3/4 days, we'll have a midfield of Scott and Massengo v Huddersfield. Sykes back at RWB.

Weimann back in AMC with Wells and Conway up front and then Semenyo to come on again with 30/35 mins to go.

I'd be very interested to see Naismith in a central midfield role where his lack of pace and height may not be exploited and we can use his passing ability and driving runs further forward without the fear of him losing it and having no cover. The way he plays reverse passes and threads balls through is great at the moment, but currently it's to the RWB/LWB on the half way line, or into Williams and/or Massengo. I'd love to see the balls into Semenyo and Conway for them to turn and run at defences.

Klose can come in the middle and also add in some extra height which is massively needed.

Been saying for a while now that naismith should he pushed into midfield where he can use his vision and passing to greatest effect, he is not quick enough to recover as last man.klose is nailed on as centre back as he reads the position perfectly abd and does not try risky passing. 

 

[marcofisher]

7 minutes ago, red colin said:

Been saying for a while now that naismith should he pushed into midfield where he can use his vision and passing to greatest effect, he is not quick enough to recover as last man.klose is nailed on as centre back as he reads the position perfectly abd and does not try risky passing. 

 

Part of our form has coincided with Naismith having the time at the back to pick that pass. That’s what he was brought in for. He doesn’t get that time in midfield.

[red colin]

1 minute ago, marcofisher said:

Part of our form has coincided with Naismith having the time at the back to pick that pass. That’s what he was brought in for. He doesn’t get that time in midfield.

Well he has cost us I think 3 or 4 points so far and we are not far into the season he is quality but not at centre back that's only my opinion. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

16 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Yet again we have to say that we are actually very clinical in front of goal. Goals/shots is good. Goals/shots on target is good. Goals/xG is good. 

We're wonderfully attacking and quite fun. 11 goals in 6 league games from just 20 shots on target (xG of about 9). 

 A lack of clinical finishing is not our problem 

While that is excellent and thanks for the stars, I don't disagree do we worry about it regressing to the mean or perhaps averaging to the mean which would mean a regression below the average at some stage to balance it out.

[ExiledAjax]

5 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

While that is excellent and thanks for the stars, I don't disagree do we worry about it regressing to the mean or perhaps averaging to the mean which would mean a regression below the average at some stage to balance it out.

No I don't really worry about that. We're overperforming xG by a small amount, but not by an "oh my god how the hell are we scoring so many!?!?" amount. A regression from actual goals scored to goals equal to xG would mean that we go from our current 1.8 goals per game to 1.5 per game.

1.5 per game is damn good, and should still mean we draw or win most games.

Last season our total goals per game was 1.35.

Edited August 27, 2022 by ExiledAjax

[Mr Popodopolous]

1 minute ago, ExiledAjax said:

No I don't really worry about that. We're overperforming xG by a small amount, but not by an "oh my god how the hell are we scoring so many!?!?" amount. A regression from actual goals scored to goals equal to xG would mean that we go from our current 1.8 goals per game to 1.5 per game.

1.5 per game is damn good, and should still mean we draw or win most games.

Last season our total goals per game was 1.35.

Thank you.

I'm very happy with things so far, indeed we scored well last season and 1.5 per game st this level we're talking playoff contenders.

Weimann, Semenyo, emergence of Conway- plus Wells and Martin can compete. Yeah I'm not so worried about goals either.

[Sheltons Army]

18 minutes ago, marcofisher said:

Part of our form has coincided with Naismith having the time at the back to pick that pass. That’s what he was brought in for. He doesn’t get that time in midfield.

Good post

And quite right

[ExiledAjax]

3 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Thank you.

I'm very happy with things so far, indeed we scored well last season and 1.5 per game st this level we're talking playoff contenders.

Weimann, Semenyo, emergence of Conway- plus Wells and Martin can compete. Yeah I'm not so worried about goals either.

We're scoring with every 6th shot right now. That's mad levels of clinical finishing. By comparison our opponents are scoring with every 9th shot.

We're clinical. We're even, dare I say it...******* lethal.

Edited August 27, 2022 by ExiledAjax

[Davefevs]

32 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Yet again we have to say that we are actually very clinical in front of goal. Goals/shots is good. Goals/shots on target is good. Goals/xG is good. 

We're wonderfully attacking and quite fun. 11 goals in 6 league games from just 20 shots on target (xG of about 9). 

 A lack of clinical finishing is not our problem 

Encouraging XG (if not XG against)…plus we don’t get any XG for Ekpiteta, which had it been been would’ve be at least another 0.5!!!

Much as the game was too open today, if the opposition want to play open, it’s hard for a “middling” team like us to force them to change.

[ExiledAjax]

5 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Encouraging XG (if not XG against)…plus we don’t get any XG for Ekpiteta, which had it been been would’ve be at least another 0.5!!!

Much as the game was too open today, if the opposition want to play open, it’s hard for a “middling” team like us to force them to change.

Yep, in a thread about our finishing I will happily ignore shots and xG against!

The infogol graphic demonstrates well our style on a deeper level, that is that our threat on goal tends to come from a few high quality shots. This has been a theme for years. It's persisted from LJ, through Holden, and now into Pearson.

We score from quality shots made from good chances and that are finished well. What we've managed to do this season is finish a few more, despite no increase in the actual number of shots or shots on target.

[mozo]

I hope we get to see Conway and Semenyo with Weimann behind. 

Wells and Martin do a decent job but they're not the future of this club and I think our young players can cause problems for any Championship defence.

[ExiledAjax]

This is from before today's games. We're second in the goals/shot on target table and 4th in goals/shot.

Interesting that Huddersfield are right with us in both tables.

[Bristol Oil Services]

2 hours ago, Rossi the Robin said:

I said to my Dad HNM would come off at half time  For some reason, didn’t seem in the game 

What did yer dad say?

[richyy66]

20 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

This is from before today's games. We're second in the goals/shot on target table and 4th in goals/shot.

Interesting that Huddersfield are right with us in both tables.

Can we buy Preston's Defence - They haven't let a single goal in this season.  They are the exact opposite to us. Scored only one goal this season.

 

[red colin]

52 minutes ago, mozo said:

I hope we get to see Conway and Semenyo with Weimann behind. 

Wells and Martin do a decent job but they're not the future of this club and I think our young players can cause problems for any Championship defence.

Absolutely agree Conway won't be here too long he will get picked off by a bigger club he has it all for the modern game. I also think those 3 will make our midfielders life far easier than they had last season which takes pressure off the back 3 so it all knocks on through the team.

 

 

 

[grifty]

2 hours ago, marcofisher said:

Part of our form has coincided with Naismith having the time at the back to pick that pass. That’s what he was brought in for. He doesn’t get that time in midfield.

He can get the time if he's clever enough to find the space. If you watch off the ball, Williams and Massengo are very static when the defenders (more so Vyner & Atkinson) have the ball and often have an attacker in between stopping the simple pass in the middle. Small movements from either of them could open up the middle allowing a through ball or a simple pass, but they sort of just stand there looking around until Vyner pumps it down the line or Atkinson has a little run and passed to Jay. Scott is very good at this movement. and allows him to pick up the ball in space.

I think Naismith is clever enough to find these spaces which will give him time to pick passes out once in possession.

Seeing our central CB who is not blessed with pace and is normally last man attempting two Cruyff turns in 5 seconds is an unnecessary risk that we can't afford to take. Not to mention the attempted dribble v Hull where he lost it and they scored and the woeful pass today that set Blackpool through where fortunately the attacker turned back in to him and then there is playing an outside of the boot cross goal pass that bounces shin high to Vyner in the last minute of a game...

IMO his delivery and ability on the ball is wasted while playing the central defender of a back 3 and at times has shown to be a liability.

[Davefevs]

3 hours ago, mozo said:

I hope we get to see Conway and Semenyo with Weimann behind. 

Wells and Martin do a decent job but they're not the future of this club and I think our young players can cause problems for any Championship defence.

I think by the end of this season we will see a “changing of the guard” or more a “changing of the old guard” in the midfield and attack.

That’s not being dismissive of their ability, more a compliment at how they’ve helped evolve / develop the youngsters so quickly.  

2 hours ago, richyy66 said:

Can we buy Preston's Defence - They haven't let a single goal in this season.  They are the exact opposite to us. Scored only one goal this season.

 

They created and conceded lots of chances.  At some point the worm will turn and there will be lots of chances taken.

[cidercity1987]

11 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

This is from before today's games. We're second in the goals/shot on target table and 4th in goals/shot.

Interesting that Huddersfield are right with us in both tables.

I'm not sure the relevance of this table tbf. As you suggested above, we aren't a team that will take pot shots from 30 yards unlike others. We build up to create a better chance and maybe therefore not get a shot in at all. 

Any stats on goals/long shots? That would be interesting to see if we should be shooting more from distance