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Fraz

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makes interesting reading,

https://twitter.com/FrazMcLean/status/593759845473492992

one thing is for sure, there will be no hiding from this kind of form in the Premier League for Watford and Bournemouth

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Teams that get themselves up and do well against the bigger fish only to lose against minnows don''t win anything. It''s a question of mentality. Look at Chelsea last night. One down at half time against Leicester, the PL title all but won, a point would have been plenty good enough with another three games to come. Final result, game won 3:1. When we demonstrate that kind of determination it really will be time to believe.

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It''s funny though, as when we play the real rubbish of the division, we stuffed them.

I think once a team down there shows the slightest bit of stubbornness against us, we are vulnerable though. Honestly think we lack a bit of spark and a reliable chance taker (bar Hooper). What good is creating 10 half chances for Grabban to spoon wide?

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Yep, against the bottom three the only slip up was Wigan at home. But

among the other games to cost us points are seven against sides

currently in the bottom 10. Only 5 points from a possible 21, all from

draws. Four of those seven games were at Carrow Road, but I

don''t recall them as Wigan-like away-team-parks-bus encounters. More a

question of spirited determination against the so-called "best squad in

the division". Reading clearly wanted to put one over us in both their games and we didn''t have what it needed.Definitely agree about the conversion rate. I haven''t seen detailed stats but like you I think they''d show a weakness there.

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Nothing wrong with our conversion rate if you go by the league table. Only three teams have scored more than us.

Bournemouth have 95, Watford 90, Derby have 85 and we have 84.

And as for goals against goes? Middlesborough on 37, Bournemouth on 45, us on 46, Shef Weds on 48, Watford on 49, that lot down the road on 51 and Derby on 53.

So the stats again prove a little misleading. But we certainly aren''t poor or struggling in either of those regards.

It''s actually quite simply down to points and how we got them. 10 losses and 11 draws and 25 wins. In many other seasons that could have been enough. It''s just so bleedin tight this year.

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Yes, I looked at the stats last night and our conversion rate is 35.9% compared to e.g. Bournemouth''s 35.8%. They were ahead on shots per game, shots on target and goals scored, but not conversion rate. I think what has influenced my perception is the number of times we have had clear-cut chances which we failed to put away. A few games ago Alex Neil bemoaned our not being "clinical" enough. I guess he too was talking about putting away those chances that seemed easier to score than miss. If those had gone in they could have made the necessary points difference.That said, Bournemouth, Watford, Ipswich and the rest could say much the same. OTBC. Put those chances away lads and get us over the playoff line!

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Re: conversion rate, I wouldn''t put Grabban, Redmond, or even Jerome in the ''natural finisher'' category.  They all seem to need a few chances to score, whereas Hooper is more natural at taking chances.  Actually, this season one of our most clinical finishers has been Johnson.  I would have said Howson too, but the one against Boro still haunts me. Wilson at Bournemouth and Deeney at Watford (though it really pains me to say it) seem to be very cool in front of goal.

 

I know its nothing like the real thing, but when you watch the players practice their shooting in the warm up, the ones who consistently hit the target are Hooper, Dorrans and Howson.  With the others, the fans in the N&P are ducking out of the way for every other shot!

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Well the conversion rate figures tell us that, natural finishers or not,

our scorers as a group convert just as high (or higher) a percentage of

chances as their rivals. Your impression that Wilson and Deeney are

cooler in front of goal may be just that, an impression. If coolness in

front of goal means the same as clinical when presented with a clear cut

chance, we''d need to look at each goal individually to get ratings on

coolness/clinicalness.I don''t think there''s any doubt that

Hooper is our most natural finisher: his career evidence points to that.

Unfortunately, injury, the make up of our squad, and the tactics

employed, have seldom if ever been such as to get the best out of him --

and that has been true under all three managers. The in and out,

sometimes starting, sometimes off the bench, use has done him no favours.

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Somebody said something about determination, using Chelsea as an example. I think we have been pretty determined and my perception (haven''t checked the facts) is that we have a decent record in that regard.

Last Sat was a good example. After Grabban screwed things up for us we had to adjust and in the second half there was a 15 minute spell or so when we looked way better and you could see how much they were trying. We got the goal and Redmond got to the byeline a couple of times and I thought we were the favourites to get the next one.

Against M''Boro in many ways we were too determined, just looked as if we were trying to force things too much and fluffing the positions we got in by being too quick or anxious.

For some reason for me we don''t seem to be able to get past people as much as we should, we have players like Redmond and the Murphys who can but sometimes we just play a bit too deep and rely on getting through the middle too often. Getting to the touchline is incredibly dangerous, and we have the players to do it more.

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