Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Shack Attack

How many goals do we need?

Recommended Posts

After looking at another thread this morning where the goal scoring stats of various strikers was being debated I found myself wondering how many goals we would need to score to have a successful season. Now obviously a lot depends on what you class as successful but for arguments sake I''m looking at a top six finish here. I''m not for one minute saying I think we will finish in the top six or that anything other than a top six finish would be a failure before anyone has a go [;)].

Listed below is the average number of goals scored by teams that finished in the top six of the league in the past five seasons.

2007/08 - 66, 2006/07 - 70, 2005/06 - 72.5, 2004/05 - 74 & 2003/04 - 71

Now clearly this isn''t an exact science (there are obviously teams who have scored less than these figure but have still made the top six on the back of a mean defence) but it would appear that we need to score between 66 and 74 goals this season to get into the top six. Again, for arguments sake only, let''s pick a figure in the middle of those five and say that this year we will need 70 goals to get into the top six.

So if we look at our current playing squad where do we think the goals are coming from. Again this isn''t an exact science, so feel free to tell me if you think I''ve made mistakes, but this is my thinking on the approximate number of goals we may score.

Cureton - 12, Lupoli - 10, OJ - 6, Attacking Midfielders (Hoolahan, Bell, Chadwick, Croft) - 10, Defensive Mifielders (Russell, Clingan, Fotheringham) - 4 & Defenders - 3 = 43 Goals

So we''re looking for a striker who will score 27 goals this season! Now I very much doubt we could afford that striker, or indeed whether one exists who would be willing to play in The Championship, which leads us to my next point. It''s long been my view that we''ve never really replaced Damien Francis from our successful Championship winning team. Dixon Etuhu was presumably meant to be his replacement but that never really worked out and after he left we never really seem to have been on the lookout for an attacking midfielder who poses a real goal threat. We''ve brought Hoolahan in now but clearly he prefers to play out on the left rather than through the middle. If we could get a goalscoring midfielder as well as a striker who is capable of scoring 15-20 goals a season I don''t think we''d be a million miles off a play off place.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Ive been saying for a while we desperately need an attacking centre midfielder. Its why im so frustarted that we have Fozzy and Clingan, two of the most defensive midfielders you can get sat there.

Im sure I dont need to go into the reasons why we need an attacking CM, as I think its pretty obvious to anyone who watches the games. Bell doesnt appear to be that player. Russell? Last season he was far too defensive for my liking, get him forward and let his attacking instincts flow.

Also with regards to the tall striker, you would like to think that he would help set up more chances for the other strikers (Think Iwelumo and Cureton). Im also hoping Kennedy and Dejan will get us an extra goal or two.

But yes I agree with what you say, infact I personally think a quality attacking CM is more important than a striker right now. Both would be nice though [:)]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That is why I dont think Iversen fits the bill, as I believe he would only get around 10 goals this season.

We need someone like Rasiak who will get around 20 goals if playing regularly

Then Cureton to get 15, Lupoli to get 10, Koroma to get 8, Attacking midfielders to get 15 between them, Defensive midfielders to get 5 between them and same for defence

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Giovani Dos Santos"]

That is why I dont think Iversen fits the bill, as I believe he would only get around 10 goals this season.

We need someone like Rasiak who will get around 20 goals if playing regularly

Then Cureton to get 15, Lupoli to get 10, Koroma to get 8, Attacking midfielders to get 15 between them, Defensive midfielders to get 5 between them and same for defence

[/quote]I really, really don''t understand why you keep saying this. There is absolutely no objective evidence for it.I think you just ''have a feeling'' about the players - which is fair enough. I can''t help feeling there''s something going on with Shola - hips or whatever - & the only times I''ve seen Rasiak he looked about as skillful as a tractor.But I wouldn''t expect anyone else to take this as proof that they''d be useless if they cam to Norwich.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
It''s not the amount of goals a big man will score but also hoe many he will create. E.g. Cureton and Iwelumo upfront, Cureton scored 24 and Iwelumo got 18, that''s the 39 goals you nedd plus a few more besides...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

im probobly wrong by saying this,

but.....

on what occasion has any club in the championship had 2 strikers that both get 20 goals a season ?

i think we cant expect a big man to bang in 20, we need lupoli or cureton to get 15-20 and the big man to chip in with 10 !

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="The Walking Man"]It''s not the amount of goals a big man will score but also hoe many he will create. E.g. Cureton and Iwelumo upfront, Cureton scored 24 and Iwelumo got 18, that''s the 39 goals you nedd plus a few more besides...[/quote]

We dont need a big man to create any more chances, we are creating enough as it is... Just dont have anyone to finish them

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Giovani Dos Santos"]

[quote user="The Walking Man"]It''s not the amount of goals a big man will score but also hoe many he will create. E.g. Cureton and Iwelumo upfront, Cureton scored 24 and Iwelumo got 18, that''s the 39 goals you nedd plus a few more besides...[/quote]

We dont need a big man to create any more chances, we are creating enough as it is... Just dont have anyone to finish them

[/quote]

 

If that is the case then, who is to say that Cureton won''t bang in 24 again?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="Giovani Dos Santos"]

That is why I dont think Iversen fits the bill, as I believe he would only get around 10 goals this season.

We need someone like Rasiak who will get around 20 goals if playing regularly

Then Cureton to get 15, Lupoli to get 10, Koroma to get 8, Attacking midfielders to get 15 between them, Defensive midfielders to get 5 between them and same for defence

[/quote]Idiot.Anyways. I''ve said for a while that by playing two holding midfielders in the middle we were gonna struggle to get goals and create chances. It was made worse by playing Pattison/Chadwick/smith as another defensive player. I don''t think that having two defensively minded central players should mean you can''t score goals, but it does become problematic when they don''t get forward. By making runs into the box they either drag a midfielder from the edge of the box into the middle leaving space for hoolahan to stalk around the outside of the box or they drag a defender off a striker and create a chance. Either way it helps the attack without having to even touch the ball. Last year, fozzy in particular, our central midfield were too content to sit 30 yards out and recieve back passes, side passes or clearences to keep the possession flowing. That''s all well and good. I mean defensively it makes you very solid, but offensively it limits the amount of power you have upfront and the amount of players who get drawn into the play. Especially when you have players like Cureton and Lupoli, they require their markers to leave them space and time, and if they have to consider two players rather than one then it helps give them the space to sometimes make shots. That''s why if we do bring in a player like Iversen it will create more goals due to his distrobution and his type of play brings more players into the game. That said I don''t see clingan and fozzy getting inolved like we need them to, like Francis did with Crouch and Ashton and Svennson and later on with Etuhu and numerous larger guys.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Giovani Dos Santos"]Because he iws getting the chances at the moment and not putting them away... Hence everyones frustration last season and Roeder''s from Saturday[/quote]Well listening to the radio on Saturday it seemed that Jamie got very little to work with, as too Lupoli (although he did miss a sitter). Would anyone who went like to confirm?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
We keep talking about missing chances, yet everyone has games where nothing seems to go right in front of goal, perhaps this was the case on Saturday.  Give the strikers a chance before we all decide their out of the Robert Rosario book of goal scoring, one game is a tad unfair to make a judgment.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="jas the barclay king"]

lets start by getting 1 goal first shall we? take it steady!

jas :)

[/quote]We''re going to get a hat full tonight Jas - you wait and see.   [:D]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="AndyJR"][quote user="jas the barclay king"]

lets start by getting 1 goal first shall we? take it steady!

jas :)

[/quote]

We''re going to get a hat full tonight Jas - you wait and see.   [:D]
[/quote]

i''ll hold you to that mate!

jas :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Yes, but before you make this bet you need to decide how many constitutes a "hatful"... how many balls can you fit into a hat? On second thoughts, don''t answer that....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Giovani Dos Santos"]

Fellas, let me ask... Are you Iversen''s father?

''Idiot''

[/quote]Very mature. No, I''m just an admirer of his play. Players like him, Allback, Larsson, Gronkaer are part of the reason I have an interest in Scandanvian football.And tbh, I''ve qualified my comments, I don''t know how you could qualify calling me an idiot.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="Giovani Dos Santos"]Because he iws getting the chances at the moment and not putting them away... Hence everyones frustration last season and Roeder''s from Saturday[/quote]

I went on satuday,, Jamie did not miss any chances..he had very few....got a couple of good shots away, but they were blocked...............he has played a good supporting role... fought for what loked like a lost ball and supplied the pass that OJ should have scored  from, Rodent was not frustrated by JC ,,,,he was the only one who did NOT fluff a good chance out of the few we had.

My opinion................JC will come good this year, he was our top scorer last year in a bad season..he will be our top scorer again this year.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...