Our Finishing...

[john blue]

The fact we went for sanchez and mahrez showed that SOMEBODY at city thought we needed somebody to help us get more goals, , sterling has the shooting power of Margaret Rutherford,, can anyone remember him scoring a screamer, I know he has scored vital goals for us this season, but our forwards , Sergio & kdb apart are all "powder puff " side footing to the keeper, "Passing it into the net. we looked knackered last part of game at burnley, and could see us getting mugged after sterling blew that chance. just hope we get the injured players back and putting the chances we are making away, we need 4 or 5 chances to score a goal, its getting worse, on sat the burnley keeper had less to do than ederson. Would be well happy with TWO cups come end of season.

 

[Newquayblue]

Yup and it is not a huge issue but it is a noticeable one. If you used that xG thing i am certain it would show our attempts v goals ratio has dropped off. A relaxed player is a better player than a tense one. Recently we seem to be tensing up with the final kick or pass in a passage of play.

If Sterling had been put through earlier and scored for example, that tap in is just that, a simple finish. I suggest the build up of not being put through when he or others should be manifests it's self in us just losing our cool at the final moment more regularly than earlier in the season.

Just saying we have scored a lot is to dismiss the issue which i stress again is not huge atm. It is one area i can see sapping our chipper have a go mentality though if it continues. It will not see us lose the league from here or anything drastic but as i said earlier, we are fantastic squad so to see us stagnate in any area, even a bit, is amplified owing to our tremendous advancement in the last calendar year.

We need to validate our efforts more basically, it is good for the players confidence.

intelligent post.

 

[chris_blue]

If I were Pep I would definitely sign a "world class" striker and "plan B" striker. I would like to keep Kun, but I don`t think he fits Pep`s system. In my opinion we should try to make a swap for Atletico`s Antoine Griezmann. He seems like the perfect striker for out system. He can drop deep, like a "false 9", and can finish most of his chances.

"Plan B" striker tough, I would have someone like Dzeko (like a super sub when we play against "deep block" teams). My first toughts would be like a young striker who could grow to become a first team regular, Werner? Our maybe someone who could finish with both head and feets, Belotti or Icardi?

Anyways, I don`t know much about this lukas nmecha guy tough. Looked good against Leicester in the leauge cup, but is he really the answear to our finishing problem, or defensive sides like west bromwich or stoke?

 

[whp.blue]

The fact we went for sanchez and mahrez showed that SOMEBODY at city thought we needed somebody to help us get more goals, , sterling has the shooting power of Margaret Rutherford,, can anyone remember him scoring a screamer, I know he has scored vital goals for us this season, but our forwards , Sergio & kdb apart are all "powder puff " side footing to the keeper, "Passing it into the net. we looked knackered last part of game at burnley, and could see us getting mugged after sterling blew that chance. just hope we get the injured players back and putting the chances we are making away, we need 4 or 5 chances to score a goal, its getting worse, on sat the burnley keeper had less to do than ederson. Would be well happy with TWO cups come end of season.

For me Sterling has the weakest shot of any professional footballer I have ever seen.

 

[sk3ptical]

For me Sterling has the weakest shot of any professional footballer I have ever seen.

Gundagon has one of the weakest shot in the team too.

 

[Sergio<3]

Kane shoots a lot and therefore score quite a few but his shots to goals ratio isn't that great.

Mate Harry Kane in our team would score soooo many goals!

 

[PragueBlue]

Mate Harry Kane in our team would score soooo many goals!

I may be wrong but I suspect the team as a whole would score less.

 

[OB1]

We have the best midfield in the world and the best coach in the world.

The space and balls our midfield provide and the great coaching that is evident in the movement and play is providing our front three with so much that it is making our front three look like one of the best in the world.

But that’s just it, it’s making them look like it, individually they actually aren’t.

Now as good as I think Sané is (and I think he’s fanstatsic) he’s only 22 and still got a long way to go. Kun as good as he can be isn’t what he once was. Sterling, while improved a lot, has a hell of a lot of flaws! Not one of those three is in their prime years neither.

And we have Jesus who is a kid who has a lot to learn.

Now swap them for Hazard Kane and Salah. Older (or younger than Kun), more experienced, more clinical, more reliable. And with our midfield behind them and Pep’s coaching, that front three could be the best around without question.

You look at how we’ve played this season. You’re talking as good as any team you’ve ever fucking seen! But then look at the scoring of our front players compared to Pep’s or Enrique’s Barça front threes. They are nowhere near! The front threes in those sides were scoring 100 goals between them. And that’s what our midfield and coaching and play deserves.

There’s no secret why Pep’s wanted Sanchez and Mahrez and will want Mahrez or someone else in the Summer and we will get players to play in that front three and unless they (I say “they” I think Sané will be one of the best in the world by the time he’s in his prime) improve, they’ll be replaced or at least have better players come in in rotation with them.

You keep spouting this stuff but Raz, Sergio, Jesus and Sane all have better shot conversion ratios this season Hazard, Kane and Salah.

 

[OB1]

That’s a fair point, but we unquestionably suffer from Arsenal syndrome as well, and it’s not as if yesterday was a one off. We fail to kill teams off until the last 10 - 15 minutes with monotonous regularity. The number of times we work the ball into presentable positions no more than 15 yards out, and then look to play one more pass or throw one more dummy instead of pulling the trigger, is nobody’s business. Perhaps related to that is that none of Dave, Sterling, Bernardo or Gunders has any real power when it comes to walloping the ball, and our long range finishing generally is frankly awful.

One key feature of the rags under Taggart was their utter ruthlessness from 20 yards out, centre of the goal. Their whole game was predicated on flat vicious crossing with their attackers playing the percentages game of one going near post, one going middle and one going far post, all just hoping for a touch. Defenders were under tremendous pressure when trying to head clear, particularly given that Keane and Scholes would then look to follow up just outside the box. The finishing of those two players was merciless and they must have been drilled for hours, with the most notable feature being that they always, always, always kept the ball low, even if it meant the occasional scuff. They made the keeper work. KDB aside, we lean back like rank amateurs and blaze the ball into row Z time after time. I’d argue that it’s the one feature of our game where they are still better than us. I’ve watched countless games where they’ve created next to fuck all only for Lingard, Martial or Mata to bury the first chance they get. Frustrating doesn’t begin to cover it

Only Martial has a better conversion ratio than our forwards.

 

[Marvin]

Cancel the bet, it was foolish anyway, no team ever score 4, more than they don't, so you are giving money away most weeks, just check the facts, it never happens.



Our finishing is what it is, not really good enough, the reason we still score so many is because of the extreme number of chances we create, last year we were creating 4 or 5 less per game, and consequently didn't score as many, even in 2014 when we broke records, we still regularly missed too many.

The single biggest reason for me, is that we always try to get the perfect goal, sometimes we do, but often we don't. Our best footballers simply don't shoot often enough from outside/round the edge of the box (see Danilo yesterday).

We are also pretty woeful at set pieces, corners and free kicks, especially corners considering the number we get, especially at home.


Its not just yesterday though, we won 3-0 on Wednesday, great, but we should have been 3-0 up after 20 minutes, and we were still not certain of a win with just over 20 minutes to go (19 shots, 10 on target).

Other examples recently...
Cardiff last week, 17, and 7, but only 2 goals.
Bristol C away, 28 shots, and only 6 on target, and at home 26 and 6 on target, so in two legs 54 shots, only 12 on target, 5 goals, and a win by only a 2 goal margin over 2 legs. Newcastle 21, and 9 on target (18 corners).
Watford 18, and 7 on target
Palace 15, and 4, and didn't score.

There are anomalies of course, Burnley in the cup, only 5 on target, and we scored 4 of them.

We are on target to break the record for the number of Premiership goals scored and you think our finishing is not really good enough? Tough task-master.

Viewed in the light of Burnley, I'd agree. But not in the light of the season.

As for set pieces - De Bruyne scored a brilliant one recently whilst Danilo scored from a short corner at Burnley. So I think our record is better than you suggest, but we're basically a small side we're never going to do a WBA or Stoke. Our strength is not in the physical side of the game.