Goalscoring, do we have a problem on our hands?

[Bobby Hundreds]

Our away form has been terrible for a long time and we are no longer playing that well at home. Were poor. Theres no beating around the Bush we are capable of so much more but its not happening. If we keep plodding on we will keep getting similar results.

[dockers_strike]

Been saying it for some time, far too often we've had the look of trying to walk the ball into the net, only trying to score from 12 yards or less or by nice intricate movement in the box.

 

I remember a city game, not sure who it was against, but in the first few minutes the ball came to Mahrez at an angle in the box. He just smashed it at the goal and it flew in. I said at the time if that had been us, the ball would have either been lofted hopefully into the middle of the box or crossed and pulled back to around the penalty spot. That's what we should have been doing against West Brom, taking a few digs at goal and others instead of the pass, pass, pass, pass.

 

Retaining possession is great and important but you need to stretch teams who just want to sit deep. You've also got to move the ball quickly and accurately. Taking a few shots is also a good idea.

[3 Stacks]

We're a team that is based on creating the most quality chances we can because if we do that, the odds are at some point those chances will be converted. That's why we don't shoot from distance that much and our quintessential goal has been from a fullback cross to one of the 3 forwards in the area for a close range shot, or the gegenpress.

 

It's about creating the chances with the highest chance of a goal happening. I just don't think we're creating enough of those good chances recently. We had more on target yesterday, but recently all the games have been like 20 shots, 2 on target type games and that means we're just not creating good enough chances. What the fix is for that, I don't know.

[ManéMan]

2 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

We're a team that is based on creating the most quality chances we can because if we do that, the odds are at some point those chances will be converted. That's why we don't shoot from distance that much and our quintessential goal has been from a fullback cross to one of the 3 forwards in the area or the gegenpress.

 

It's about creating the chances with the highest chance of a goal happening. I just don't think we're creating enough of those good chances recently. We had more on target yesterday, but recently all the games have been like 20 shots, 2 on target type games and that means we're just not creating good enough chances. What the fix is for that, I don't know.

Just need a goal to go in and win a game anyhow. 

[halewood pete]

[dave u]

Code once again way ahead of the rest of us.

 

12 years on this occasion.

[dockers_strike]

1 hour ago, ManéMan said:

Just need a goal to go in and win a game anyhow. 

This.

[DJLJ]

16 hours ago, AngryofTuebrook said:

What's the main cause?

 

It's obviously not that our front 3 aren't good enough; they are, but none of them have shown it for at least a month. 

 

Similarly, Trent obviously still has the talent, but he's wasting it on mindlessly lashing balls against the first defender.

 

Injuries have meant that we haven't been able to play our best midfield (any three from Hendo, Fabinho, Thiago, Gini and Shaq) so we haven't been able to support the attackers properly or offer any alternatives. 

 

I'm genuinely baffled.  Thank fuck I'm not a manager. 

Can’t only be the injuries because we were looking poor before they became injured. Not sure about the stats here but we don’t seem to doing as much running as before, not as intense as and dep pressing etc. Perhaps they’re too leggy because they have had no time off, but then after the first lockdown they had more time off than they had had in several seasons. Perhaps we are trying to take even better percentage chances than before because we do seem to be more tiki-taka around the box, very slow and ponderous moving of the ball and not as many runners in deep. Whatever it is, it is painful to watch, when you know how good these front 3 can be. 

[Code]

Mane and Firmino is not contributing anything close to being good enough this season.

 

PL stats:

Salah: 21 (+ 2) = 17 goals

Mane: 20 (+ 1) = 7 goals

Firmino: 22 (+2) = 6 goals

[Trevorjc]

Mane was good for the first half hour today then completely disappeared. 

[Jairzinho]

Code, I reckon you could find a few more threads to gloat about Salah after a game we've just lost.

[Code]

2 minutes ago, Trevorjc said:

Mane was good for the first half hour today then completely disappeared. 

He has scored 3 goals in his last 17 PL games. 

[Bobby Hundreds]

Play a front two put Salah and Mane closer together. Play just one. Let's at least try fucking something.

[Elite]

All of our goals lately apart from penalties have been excellent goals, we don't score unless it's a moment of brilliance.

[easytoslip]

After about 6 minutes Mane somehow got away from 3 players  got to the edge of the box and should have had a go, it's happened to many times I don't get it. Shoot, got fuck all to lose. 

[Code]

I will include Jotas stats from both Wolves and Porto, since he`s a bit more of an unknown quantity. 

[No2]

Manè's reaction to Mo's goal was not good. That was a fucking huge goal at the time and his body language was awful, almost upset that Salah scored. 

[Code]

20 minutes ago, No2 said:

Manè's reaction to Mo's goal was not good. That was a fucking huge goal at the time and his body language was awful, almost upset that Salah scored. 

Nothing new there then. 

[Code]

Im getting worried now, amazing goal by Salah today, but very unusual for him to miss a one on one like his second big chance.

 

Mane, I have no idea whats going on with him, it looks like his confidence might be shit to pieces. 
 

Firmino is finished and Jota is allowed a bad day. 
 

We should hav escored at least three goals today, could have been more. 

[Jarvinja Ilnow]

On 22/01/2021 at 15:51, dave u said:

Code once again way ahead of the rest of us.

 

12 years on this occasion.

Code is, in fact, a violent and sexually deranged being from the fourth dimension - an erotic adventurer of the most deranged kind.

[Jairzinho]

I wish we'd change the system a bit. 

 

4-3-1-2. Salah and one of Mane or Jota upfront. Shaqiri or Jones playing behind them. Three from Thiago, Wijnaldum, Fabinho and Milner.

 

 

[elvis]

Why is he persisting with mane and Bobby ? They both stink at the moment , Origi would have scored today in my opinion , and Shaq couldn't possibly be worse than Firminho at the moment .

So fuckin frustrating

 

[Bobby Hundreds]

Something like a 2.7 percent conversion rate at anfield or something mad. There's players not earning their positions. 

[aws]

Been the real problem for months. We've created more than enough chances to win nearly every game this season and a conversion rate similar to previous seasons would have seen  us challenging for the title and getting ready to knock Chelsea out of the CL. The failure to finish has sapped the confidence throughout the team. 

[Code]

If we look at the numbers the four seasons Salah has been at the club, this is how it looks like.

 

After 33 games we had scored 72, 75 and 75 goals, this season we are down to 55. 

 

Goal difference after 33 games:

2020/21: 33 15 9 9 55-39 54 points

2019/20: 33 29 2 2 72-25 89 points

2018/19: 33 25 7 1 75-20 82 points

2017/18: 33 19 10 4 75-34 67 points