The Championship 2020-21

I am by no means trying to claim that it is (as the Reading result showed), but I do think it provides a pretty clear picture of where our problems lie. This isn't a small issue where we are slightly below average; we are creating as many good chances as Wycome Wanderers and Barnsely who I strongly suspect will be relegated. Playing a proper number 9 will help with those problems, but I think these issues stem from a lack of creativity in a lot of the players in our starting 11.

It feels very like watching England at the moment where there is just a total disconnect between the two forwards and what is happening behind them.

For what it is worth I am not trying to be wholly negative here - the stats also give reasons to be positive. We are the second best team defensively in the division with an xGA of 0.6. That would suggest that if we can improve our creativity, teams will really struggle to score against us. Again this needs to be caveated by the fact I think that Boro, Reading and Wednesday are all fairly poor attacking sides.

 

Has anyone said we're creating enough chances?

 

You wrote a pretty long post about how many chances we had created.

 

Wet Spam after Josh King from Bournemouth.

Lovely stuff.

 

And the first 7 words of that post were...

 

Yes, but you also listed 10+ "good chances" we have created and stated "I think the signs are there this team can create enough chances to score 2+ a game"

I don't think we have created anywhere near that number, and the stats that say we have created 2 good chances across 4 games would suggest that the signs are this team cannot score 2+ a game.

 

Well my definition of a 'good chance' may not be the same as the nerds on the stats desk, but that's neither here nor there. I also listed 9 'good chances' over 4 games, not 10+. Which, as I said in the very first sentence, isn't enough, especially when we're being wasteful with our finishing.

I was simply saying that some of the openings we've been creating, whilst playing with no striker and no creative midfielder, suggest that we are capable of creating a decent amount of good chances once Gray/Perica/Hughes return.

 

Hughes has never managed more than 6 assists in a season, even in the championship when he was playing in a more advanced role with Derby. I have no doubt he will improve us as a team, but he is by no means a prolific creator.

I still think it is an area we desperately need to strengthen in.

Again - Gray coming back will improve us, but he is not the type of forward who creates his own chances. He tends to score his goals by virtue of being in the right place at the right time.

 

I wonder what Wycombe fans think of him? He does very much seem to be big into the media side of things, I wonder if their fans resent that a bit (like many of us with Deeney)? That said, even though he's by no means their most important player, he does still seem to be more useful to them than Deeney, and hasn't 'overstayed his welcome' there like Deeney too

 

Hull last year were a weird one, apart from Grosicki and Bowen, they were a team of utter cloggers, it's rare to see a team so reliant on one or two players. I'm not going to say I thought they'd go down in January, but I'm not surprised they absolutely plummeted (though I am a bit surprised they've started the League 1 season so well tbf)

 

I was under the impression that Hughes was usually deployed as a CM at Derby, not really a number 10. Could be wrong though.

If Sarr puts a ball across the box and no-one is there, it doesn't count as a good chance. If Sarr puts a ball across the box and Gray is in the right place at the right time, it'd be a good chance, right?

 

I think a bit like us they have tried him in a multitude of positions. From memory he was more the most advanced of a three than an out-and-out number 10. The reason they sold him to us is they felt he couldn't play in a 2 man midfield and they were planning to use Vydra.

Yep absolutely. To date thought we haven't really seen Sarr enough of that.

It may be a matter of tactics rather than personnel and Hughes/ Gray allow us to do different things and get Sarr into better positions. Although not sure JP has done a lot wrong on that front.

I do still worry it is not going to be enough - and irritatingly it will be too late to fix it by the time they get fit if it doesn't work out.

 

Yeah but wikipedia research just now tells me that they were an 8th-tier side at the time, and were presumably very much an amateur side! I really meant, in a broader sense, 'in some way began their professional career with us', you get me.

 

I get you.

It was some step up from their to where he reached!

 

I think assists are a bit of a misleading stat. Abdi only had two in our promotion season and yet was integral to how we attacked. What Hughes has in common with Abdi is weight of pass. It makes such a difference if the player recieving the pass can always take it in their stride. So many of our attacks over the past year have died because of a couple of passes in a row that have caused the receiving player to check their stride or stop altogether.

I'm really hopeful that Hughes can be our Abdi type player this season. He won't match his 9 goals but if he's feeding balls to other players that will greatly improve our attack. Hughes and Gray haven't played that often together but they do seem to have quite a good understanding, and Hughes passes are the perfect ones for Gray, where he doesn't have to think or take a touch, can just hit it - like his goal away at Newcastle.

 

Gray obviously has his limitations like trapping a ball , but he does make some great runs that we so rarely pick out . His poor shots to goal ratio in EPL is about par in the championship

 

That's one of the things that used to be said about Modric at Spurs: he often assisted the assister and therefore didn't get as much credit as he deserved.

Been doing alright for himself at Madrid lately, though.

 

I thought Southampton let him go at youth team level. Didn't he start as a midfielder or defender or something? He was stacking shelves and playing for Baldock with Nigel Callaghan (who was trying to get fit again). Cally got in contact with Watford and said 'I think you might want to have a look at him'.

 

Interestingly on the subject of Kevin Phillips, I saw him play for Baldock against my local team Burnham back in the early 90’s. I even have the program tucked away somewhere (unless my old man chucked it without realising). Wish I could remember the game though, I was probably only about 9/10 at the time.

 

Seems Hull's need in selling Bowen was greater than West Ham's in buying him, because he only scored one goal and wasn't instrumental to their survival push. Did they desperately need to get rid of him to clear/reduce debt?

 

Maybe, I don't know about Hull's finances. He's one of West Ham's best players though, and was always one of the few to give a damn while others didn't

 

Hull fans believe that the Allams are purposefully trying to spite/ruin the club and its fans by any means they can as revenge for the pushback they received when they tried to do things like change its name and introduce insane new season ticket prices and rules. They've been doing things like selling Bowen for a while.

 

I think you're right about Southampton.

Didn't know about the Cally thing though! Good spot.

 

Mate, you're referencing a post of mine where I clearly said I don't think we're creating enough chances, and showing me charts that we're not creating enough chances. My opinion is this team has the potential to create more chances, especially with a centre forward and Will Hughes added, you disagree. It'll be a long season if you're right.

As SLB pointed out, actual assists can sometimes be a pretty pointless stat. I think Hughes has the vision, composure and weight of pass to be a huge creative force this season, if he's played a bit further forward. Some of the finishes here imo show he can be aiming for 10 goals this season, if he's in the right areas.

edit: Forgot how good his assist for Gray was at 3:07. Followed by another great assist for...Andre Gray at the right place at the right time. Another assist for Gray at 5:26. A snippet of things to come this season? Let's hope so!

 

Updating my earlier Swansea comments, where they might struggle, my sauce is much happier now they've made some astute signings.

If they keep Rodon away from Spurs could be set for another good season.

 

I think it is just more of a case of us misinterpreting each other, or maybe just me misinterpreting you.

I hope you are right - I'm a massive fan of Will's. We went to school together as young lads, so he was always that player I wanted us to sign when he still at Derby. That highlight reel above shows why, however we have seen in yellow that he is pretty dreadful in front of goal. It can only be a confidence thing because he clearly has the technique to score a lot more goals - but for whatever reason, he just doesn't really do it.

Sounds from AL's recent piece like he is likely to stay and sign a new contract. Fingers crossed he is the man to solve our problems, especailly as AL seems to suggest it is unlikely there are going to be any more incoming except a left back (and even that isn't certain)

 

Completely agree. He's got much better vision and technique than people give him credit for. He's also excellent at retaining possession in tight spaces.
Top top top player.

 

People still believing that AL has inside info on our transfer targets is still a thing then?

 

I'm hearing from my sauce that AL may have inside info on who our targets are. Either that, or he absolutely hasn't. Certainly one to watch.

 

Benrahma close to joining West Ham according to Sky Sports. Palace also interested, fee around £30m, apparently. This would be very good news indeed. Worry a little that if he joins West Ham, Palace may make a late move for Sarr but hopefully he's out of their price range/doesn't want to play for the ****s

 

More of a left-winger is Benrahma, and he'd be a tremendous blow to Brentford. Would have thought any Palace interest would have been as an insurance policy for if Zaha goes any time soon anyway. Besides, those two are battling it out over a player valued at about £20m, would be a huge stretch for the loser in that little saga to then go spend £50m or so. I think you're right about him not being too bothered about playing for a team like Palace, if he were to leave, it would be to an upper mid table team, but I'm not sure who would fit the bill now

 

Everton or Man Utd for Sarr. Can't see anyone else having money and ambition.

Thought Benrahma would have been gone weeks ago. Palace have already recruited attackers, no idea if they have cash left over.

 

Benrahma has enormous quality but £30m is such a West Ham bid.

Brentford making over £60m on two players shows that a statistics-based recruitment system is the way to go.

Good for us in that it is another star out of our division, but also a bit gutted they didn't get promoted... Fulham appear to be a wasted PL slot.