GoalWatch - how we score goals

[Bergen Blade]

I had a look at how our goals come about this season, dividing them into:

1. Set pieces
2. Against unsettled defences - Against teams lacking players behind the ball - breaks, or when we win back possession high up the pitch and punish them
3. Against settled defences - Against teams who do have a lot of players behind the ball - usually when we carve through them with good passing moves

Sorry, those probably aren't the right terms/expressions, but hopefully you'll get what I mean.



Note: These are my numbers and my definitions. Opinions may disagree with what I've put.

Some thoughts on the above:

• We are very good at passing through teams. Even though they have men behind the ball, all ready, waiting, anticipating what we're going to do - they've been unable to stop us on 12 occasions. This is 44% of our total number of goals.
• I was quite surprised to see that 8 of these 12 goals have come in away games.
• For all our dominance at home I may have expected more than 4 following us passing through them
• 10 set piece goals seems decent
• Why do we score fewer goals from set pieces in away games (2) than home games (8)?
• It's been my impression that we're not great at counter attacking and we often choose to make sure we keep possession rather than hitting teams on the break. 5 successful "breaks" could be something to improve on, let alone just 1 away
• Away against the better teams (M'Boro, Bristol C, Derby, Forest) we seem to struggle to score at all.
• Maybe we need to put a bit more emphasis on set pieces and breaking effectively against these better teams

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Interesting, and it makes some sense. Comparisons with other sides would be even more revealing, but would take a hell of a lot of work. My initial responses are: good job we signed Norwood (for set pieces in this case); confirms the lack of pace (not a problem if 1and 3 are productive); and the 12 goals against settled defences suggests we should forgive some of the over-elaboration/poor final balls - the pattern of play does often work.

 

[blade.i.am]

My main concern is our inability to convert more corners into goals. With the exception of the Boro game, where the opposition showed us how to make corners count, I think we have had more corners than the opposition, sometimes 2 to 3x as many.
Not sure if it's the personnel, the tactics or both, as I have only been able to get to 2 games this season.

 

[wizadry]

Good OP Bergs.

I think the only way to improve on the goal tally for break aways is to have players like Johnson, Woodburn and Washington on the pitch at the same time, now therein lies the problem. Wilder doesn’t seem to rate Johnson and Woodburn enough to give them more game time and the only one he does like to give some minutes to has not shown much to date so we’ll be stuck with the similar stats all the way through the season unless Wilder can do something about it in January.

Something I have noticed though is that we appear to be tiring very easily in the second half of games both physically and mentally which makes our decision making when we do get chance to break very poor indeed, for me, this is why players like Johnson should be getting more game time.

 

[mattbianco1]

Interesting to see the number of set pieces. In our promotion season, we were deadly from set pieces, it seemed to have dropped off.

 

[Westran]

I'd suggest we try and retain possession on the break rather than go for a goal on the break because of our tactics, and because we are so good at scoring in the other two categories. Retaining possession allows us to regroup and get our shape back after a period of being under pressure, we then try and build on that and start over loading by working the ball around and pushing CB's/WB's up.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Interesting stats.
Personally, I wouldn't count penalties as a "set piece" as it skews the figures a bit.
Either have them as a separate category or use the method by which they were created.
E.g. scuffle in the box from a corner = set piece, handball after an intricate passing move = ASD

 

[SwissBlade]

Cheers for this Bergen Blade

Blades Analytics might be able to help on the unsettled defences point or counter attack goals.

We’ve certainly seemed to have had more possession this season, but I could be wrong. Just a feeling that I have because we dominate sides better so we’re not catching them on the break so much, but having to break them down when they’re organised.

Something we struggled with against forest was breaking down a well set up and organised side. I think the game was there to be stretched before they scored, give them something different to worry about

This is where I think we should have the likes of Washington, Johnson and Woodburn being used for

 

[SwissBlade]

Interesting to see the number of set pieces. In our promotion season, we were deadly from set pieces, it seemed to have dropped off.

37% of our goals from set pieces is not what I would call a drop off

How many goals did we get from set pieces on that promotion season?

 

[William Large]

• It's been my impression that we're not great at counter attacking and we often choose to make sure we keep possession rather than hitting teams on the break. 5 successful "breaks" could be something to improve on, let alone just 1 away]

I think that we aren't great at counter attacking as we don't have real lightening pace up front. Wilder has said on more than one occasion that the way we play (overloading with numbers and creating space and angles using movement and passing) doesn't need pace, but it can always get you out of trouble and as most defenders willl tell you, it terrifies them and makes them drop off a few yards.

The exception was against Villa in the second half when although we dropped back too far, we looked very quick and dangerous on the break. Most recently when oppportunties have arisen to break quickly, we see Mcgoldrick / Sharp having to check back because they lack the pace to push the ball past a defender and go past him.

 

[Bergen Blade]

• It's been my impression that we're not great at counter attacking and we often choose to make sure we keep possession rather than hitting teams on the break. 5 successful "breaks" could be something to improve on, let alone just 1 away]

I think that we aren't great at counter attacking as we don't have real lightening pace up front. Wilder has said on more than one occasion that the way we play (overloading with numbers and creating space and angles using movement and passing) doesn't need pace, but it can always get you out of trouble and as most defenders willl tell you, it terrifies them and makes them drop off a few yards.

The exception was against Villa in the second half when although we dropped back too far, we looked very quick and dangerous on the break. Most recently when oppportunties have arisen to break quickly, we see Mcgoldrick / Sharp having to check back because they lack the pace to push the ball past a defender and go past him.

Even if we don't manage to get more pace in the side it could be possible to score more goals against unsettled defences. It's not just about a ball in behind for a quick lad to run onto, it can also be occasions when we win the ball and try to punish the opposition immediately, like Duffy's goal at Bolton:




This starts with an attack against a settled Bolton defence. They have plenty of men behind the ball, as Fleck tries the crossfield ball towards Freeman.

Freeman loses the header, the ball seems to fall to a Bolton midfielder, but Basham is there, robbing him. As Freeman gets to the ball we have actually got past their midfield, their defenders are struggling to mark our forwards and we have players moving into the box. Freeman finds Basham who gives it back to Duffy who fires home.

As Bolton think they have won the ball, they are sloppy (and vulnerable) for a second. Basham's aggression takes them by surprise and two quick, but good passes is enough to set Duffy up. Even without pace we could possibly be able to score more goals like this one, rather than going for controlled possession all the time.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Interesting to see the number of set pieces. In our promotion season, we were deadly from set pieces, it seemed to have dropped off.

Maybe we're up against better defenders, better markers in this league? I remember Wheater and Beevers being a huge goal threat in League One, but they haven't kept that up in the Championship. Maybe you have to be more clever for set pieces at this level, not just big?

 

[davidblade]

Interesting to see the number of set pieces. In our promotion season, we were deadly from set pieces, it seemed to have dropped off.

Teams are just more organised in this league.