Esoterica
Well-Known Member
There's been a lot of debate in the last 24 hours on missed chances/goalkeeping errors so I thought I'd pull some of the stats out and share some of the more interesting ones (interesting to me at least 
).
1. We rarely win comfortably and don't often get battered:
14 of our 18 wins have been by a single goal margin as well as 12 of 16 defeats.
This gives us the highest % of games settled by a single goal margin in the league:
2. We don't thrash teams.
This follows on from the first point but single goal margins don't necessarily mean low scoring games e.g. Sunderland 4-5. For us it does though. Only 3 times in 44 games have we scored more than >2 goals (Bradford 2-4, Walsall 3-0, Sunderland 4-5).
Wimbledon are the only team with a worse record than that having managed it once, with Shrewsbury and Blackpool matching us with 3 occasions.
This is more evident at home than away too - with 17 occasions, no other team has scored ≤1 more times than we have:
3. Home form - first half.
Breaking down the home performances, 23 goals in 22 home games is a poor return but that in itself is a symptom of our lack of first half goals at home - just 9 in 22:
Like last year I think most teams in this league are happy with the theory of a point at the Ricoh so try to keep it tighter first half and reach half time within touching distance. A combination of poor finishing and final 3rd composure has meant that on the majority of occasions, the opposition can come out after halftime with the game still to play for and put us under more pressure without having to throw caution to the wind:
We need more clinical finishing in games from everyone - Thomas, Chaplin, JCH, Hiwula and Bakayoko have all missed simple chances over the season. That said I feel we need to tweak the approach to home games. Our fast counter attacking style is not helped by the Ricoh pitch but I think we could also change up the formation so we play more than 1 central striker at home. We've scored a few more first half goals recently but it's heavily reliant on the skills of Bright to unlock defences.
I also think a keeper change will make a big difference and not just for the obvious clangers. We get so deep under pressure and it stretches our lines which makes our quick interchanges harder - players are further apart and the ball has to travel further. With a confident vocal keeper who is comfortable on the ball behind them, the defence can push higher at home, the midfield can join in with more attacks and our forwards can get on the ball in dangerous areas rather than on the half way line with an isolated Bakayoko forced to play as a target man.
).1. We rarely win comfortably and don't often get battered:
14 of our 18 wins have been by a single goal margin as well as 12 of 16 defeats.
This gives us the highest % of games settled by a single goal margin in the league:
2. We don't thrash teams.
This follows on from the first point but single goal margins don't necessarily mean low scoring games e.g. Sunderland 4-5. For us it does though. Only 3 times in 44 games have we scored more than >2 goals (Bradford 2-4, Walsall 3-0, Sunderland 4-5).
Wimbledon are the only team with a worse record than that having managed it once, with Shrewsbury and Blackpool matching us with 3 occasions.
This is more evident at home than away too - with 17 occasions, no other team has scored ≤1 more times than we have:
3. Home form - first half.
Breaking down the home performances, 23 goals in 22 home games is a poor return but that in itself is a symptom of our lack of first half goals at home - just 9 in 22:
Like last year I think most teams in this league are happy with the theory of a point at the Ricoh so try to keep it tighter first half and reach half time within touching distance. A combination of poor finishing and final 3rd composure has meant that on the majority of occasions, the opposition can come out after halftime with the game still to play for and put us under more pressure without having to throw caution to the wind:
We need more clinical finishing in games from everyone - Thomas, Chaplin, JCH, Hiwula and Bakayoko have all missed simple chances over the season. That said I feel we need to tweak the approach to home games. Our fast counter attacking style is not helped by the Ricoh pitch but I think we could also change up the formation so we play more than 1 central striker at home. We've scored a few more first half goals recently but it's heavily reliant on the skills of Bright to unlock defences.
I also think a keeper change will make a big difference and not just for the obvious clangers. We get so deep under pressure and it stretches our lines which makes our quick interchanges harder - players are further apart and the ball has to travel further. With a confident vocal keeper who is comfortable on the ball behind them, the defence can push higher at home, the midfield can join in with more attacks and our forwards can get on the ball in dangerous areas rather than on the half way line with an isolated Bakayoko forced to play as a target man.
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