Our strikers in the last year

[ClaretTony]

It's one year ago today that we were able to go on the Turf and see us beat Bournemouth 3-0 with goals from Vydra, Rodriguez & McNeil. That was the last time we were able to see a win live with the next two games both ending in draws.

Our strikers have hardly been prolific since so, having been asked, I've see how often they've hit the net in Premier League games since that win against Bournemouth and how much they have played.

Ashley Barnes - 3 goals in 1,301 minutes
Jay Rodriguez - 4 goals in 1,811 minutes
Matěj Vydra - 0 goals in 1,137 minutes
Chris Wood - 8 goals in 2,186 minutes

plus
Joel Mumbongo - o goals in 36 minutes

[warksclaret]

CT-its an interesting but bleak stat, particularly when you see the great upturn in goals being scored in the PL since crowds stopped viewing live games

For me there is a clear message there. None of them will be younger next season, or quicker, and if there is money to spend then this is an area for investment. Made worse when you pool the amount of goals scored by our midfielders. Lets hope injuries to strikers improve before season-end and the front four can rediscover their form

[TheFamilyCat]

Doesn't make great reading but it's not all down to just the strikers themselves just like clean sheets are not all down to the keeper.

[Stalbansclaret]

Those stats are why I remain seriously worried that we could be relegated. We go into gams with virtually no margin for error defensively.

[cricketfieldclarets]

Just shows how far head wood is of the others even when out of form. He’s crucial for us and so many can’t see it.

What a game that was though. I’d have been absolutely gutted if what happened to Bournemouth happened to us and I’m convinced that game sealed their relegation.

Vydra was great that day.

[cricketfieldclarets]

Those stats are why I remain seriously worried that we could be relegated. We go into gams with virtually no margin for error defensively.

It’s been fairly similar although not as extreme ever since Dyche arrived. Remember when he came in. His first task was to shore up the defence. As a result Austin became far less clinical. But as a team we were far better.

[bfcjg]

Those stats speak volumes and it is amazing we get as many points as we do.

[TheFamilyCat]

Yet we've scored three twice in the last seven games. Shows we are capable.

[summitclaret]

How many different people have played rs midfield in that time and how much has the ridiculous decision not to bring someone in to start there affected us?

From memory:-

JBG
RB
JB
EP
Benson.

[boyyanno]

We have been less clinical this season but I think it boils down to a few things. Injuries seems to have prevented any of the strikers picking up form, I also think some have played when not 100 percent because of how short we are. I still think we create a similar amount of chances, which admittedly is not many, but enough to have picked up a few more points than we have imo.

[MACCA]

How many different people have played rs midfield in that time and how much has the ridiculous decision not to bring someone in to start there affected us?

From memory:-

JBG
RB
JB
EP
Benson.

Lowton has also been pushed up to RW in the last 20 of at least 1 game.

But also you've to remember the 55m we had in the bank in December 2020 wasnt there in the transfer window 2020.

Also there was covid which meant no one was allowed to sign any players in the last 2 windows, it was the same for everyone I'm led to believe.

[warksclaret]

If we go a goal down the chances are we will lose. Thats the frightening bit

I have also noticed in the past half dozen games we have gone from being amongst the best teams to deliver decisive free kicks and corners to being pretty mediocre, particularly from Dwight. I saw a stat on SKY where 39% of our goals came from set pieces

[Bosscat]

A thread about Stats why not merge it with the Stats thread

[Ashingtonclaret46]

CT-its an interesting but bleak stat, particularly when you see the great upturn in goals being scored in the PL since crowds stopped viewing live games

For me there is a clear message there. None of them will be younger next season, or quicker, and if there is money to spend then this is an area for investment. Made worse when you pool the amount of goals scored by our midfielders. Lets hope injuries to strikers improve before season-end and the front four can rediscover their form

It is a misconception that more goals have been scored because this is the third lowest total scored at this stage of the season going back for 10 years.

[Rowls]

Taking the median average, Mumbongo has the best goals/game ratio

[diamondpocket]

The impact of fans being present is impossible to measure but I'd say we are a team that needs the stimulus of a crowd and the feeling it can offer. Not being as technical as some teams our will & drive being backed by buzzing fans, especially at home, can bring us goals. There are always some games where the team pushes on and with a Turf Moor roar we really can get behind them, like the Villa performance a few weeks ago.
It's a shame we haven't seen many of them type moments in a game this season. I wonder if the crowd helps the likes of Wood in scoring, i.e. more intensity, concentration, pressure?

[The Enclosure]

One of the main problems is that our strikers are missing far too many good goalscoring chances.We are creating good chances, usually, but we just can't convert into goals at present.
When you think back this season how many chances all of our strikers havent converted. its quite a lot.

[bfcmik]

Ashley Barnes - 3 goals in 1,301 minutes
Jay Rodriguez - 4 goals in 1,811 minutes
Matěj Vydra - 0 goals in 1,137 minutes
Chris Wood - 8 goals in 2,186 minutes

Chris Wood = 1 goal every 273'15" so around 1 in 3 (which I would have thought was pretty close to his career average.
Ashley Barnes = 1 goal every 433'40" so 1 in 4.5 games which is probably somewhat below his career average for us.
Jay Rodriguez = 1 goal every 452'45" or 1 in 5ish which is way below his career average
Matej Vydra = infinity. Below his career average but not far worse than his career average for us.
Joel Mumbongo = insufficient time played to tell.

[BabylonClaret]

What it does show is what most on here know:

- Wood is ourbest striker and we miss him when he isn't here
- Vydra HAS had the chance to score but sadly hasn't so is unlikely to be any sort of answer int he goals depth
- Ash isn't far off his form but Jay is way off where he has been in the past

[NewClaret]

When you look at that, it does completely dispel the theory that Dyche never plays Vydra or that he hasn’t had his chances.

I don’t think you can completely blame the the strikers because they’re not getting the service (albeit may argue JRod may have bagged 3 in the last two games had he scored the two tap-ins & header).

I think our set plays have been much poorer this season. Wish we’d just have a couple of different FK and corner routines to bring about the element of surprise - we seem too predictable to me.

[Spijed]

If we go a goal down the chances are we will lose. Thats the frightening bit

Commentator just said the same thing about Brighton this season

[BOYSIE31]

Two new strikers needed this summer

[tim_noone]

Mischievous Post. Aimed at one player.

[ClaretTony]

If we go a goal down the chances are we will lose. Thats the frightening bit

Gone 1-0 down in four of our last five Premier League home games but lost only one of the five.

[superdimitri]

Pretty sure Vydra has been drawn the short draw when it comes to fixtures which is probably why he's the worst. You can clearly see he'd get goals with more chances in the team.

Football is also about partnerships, and unlike Barnes and Wood both Rodriguez and Vydra get thrown in as the plus 1 when either Barnes and Wood aren't available.

Dyche clearly thinks Barnes/Wood is our best partnership because of past results, but its a bit unfair to blame Rodriguez or Vydra if they haven't had the time to develop a partnership like those two have.

...not to mention the way we play, which suits two battering ram's up front rather than players who have a bit more guile and technique.

[warksclaret]

Pretty sure Vydra has been drawn the short draw when it comes to fixtures which is probably why he's the worst. You can clearly see he'd get goals with more chances in the team.

Football is also about partnerships, and unlike Barnes and Wood both Rodriguez and Vydra get thrown in as the plus 1 when either Barnes and Wood aren't available.

Dyche clearly thinks Barnes/Wood is our best partnership because of past results, but its a bit unfair to blame Rodriguez or Vydra if they haven't had the time to develop a partnership like those two have.

...not to mention the way we play, which suits two battering ram's up front rather than players who have a bit more guile and technique.

Vydra has had many chances to be fair, addittedly through some great running into positions. However strikers are judged by their goals, just as goal keepers by their saves

[warksclaret]

Gone 1-0 down in four of our last five Premier League home games but lost only one of the five.

I acccept that, however two of those were Fulham & Brighton. We tread a tightrope as we are virtually the lowest goal scores in the PL (only Sheff Utd are less), and in terms of overall chances, and shots on target we are I believe 20th in both cases

[cricketfieldclarets]

If we go a goal down the chances are we will lose. Thats the frightening bit

I have also noticed in the past half dozen games we have gone from being amongst the best teams to deliver decisive free kicks and corners to being pretty mediocre, particularly from Dwight. I saw a stat on SKY where 39% of our goals came from set pieces

We e started to turn that around though. Fulham and Villa for example.

[Dark Cloud]

As mentioned above, one of the characteristics of our last 5 years has been not actually creating very many chances, but putting away a healthy proportion of those we do create. I've seen us miss far, far more presentable and even easy chances this season and it isn't like us and considering how few we make, it's costing us dear.

[Herts Clarets]

The reason Dyche will always play Wood or Barnes was evident on Saturday. We create chances from their knock downs and hold up play. Without them and the focal point to hit up front, we knock aimless balls into the opposition half that are hoovered up and returned or we play countless square and back passes between midfield and defenders until pressed and then lose possession. We could have Haaland and Mbappe up front, without service they will be as ineffective as Jay and Vydra were on Saturday.

[superdimitri]

Vydra has had many chances to be fair, addittedly through some great running into positions. However strikers are judged by their goals, just as goal keepers by their saves

Isn't this just stating the obvious and disregarding my points? What I said still stands. He gets the short straw and plays in games against better opposition and hasn't been able to develop a good partnership since he's always shoehorned in as the extra man. Compared this to Wood and Barnes who've had many games partnering one another.

Give him the same time to develop a partnership and he'll do better. He's a much better natural compliment to all 3 of our strikers, just doesn't ever get the time to develop a good partnership since it's anyone's guess who he's playing with next.

Same goes for our style of play. Messi wouldn't be scoring for us the way we lump it up top so often.

[jojomk1]

Stats are for idiots according to Wile E - time for a short ban from the site ?
But, valid stats they are
People come up with other reasoned excuses for the performance of our strikers such as no service, but our lack of goals (from the whole team in general) is what has got us into the current situation
We have always prided ourselves on defending and it certainly sees us through some tough games but the lack of goals is worrying
Our strikers are bang average at best (could only see Wood as anywhere near a regular at any other Prem side) and their age is now taking its toll. Barnes and Jay already 30+ and Wood 30 in Dec. They just haven't got the pace of the likes of Vardy, and ball retention /control is sadly lacking in a fast flowing game environment
But that same age scenario is true throughout the team. Centre mid again shows a group of four of which three are over 30. They just haven't got the legs to keep up with the modern game. Supporting our defense is their main aim (goals against is a "stat" to confirm this) but they are then unable to get up the park to assist the strikers. In addition, our cm two are usually up against three players from the opposing teams and just struggle to get a foothold in the game
If as seems likely, Brady goes at the end of the season we will be left with just two wide players and again, you've guessed it, one will be over 30
We need new, younger blood in the starting eleven
Another year on and our squad just gets older. In turn that means we will be less likely to be able to move them on for a fee. Some are still contracted for another two seasons after this, so may be happy just to see out their current deals
The new owners seem to want a new analytical approach to player recruitment.
If this is on similar lines to the so called Brentford model then those players being looked at will certainly be much younger in age.
Can our manager adapt to this approach rather than his own clear preference for age and "experience"
The average age of our squad is another "stat" that cannot be ignored

[claretonthecoast1882]

Hopefully Wood is fit very soon

[tarkys_ears]

Jay Rodriguez - 4 goals in 1,811 minutes

He's missed more open goals than that in the last 3-4 games.

[milkcrate_mosh]

Isn't this just stating the obvious and disregarding my points? What I said still stands. He gets the short straw and plays in games against better opposition

Since he last scored in the premier league he's started in matches against

Watford
Palace
Sheffield united
West ham
Southampton
West brom
Brighton
As well 2 games against city and one against chelsea.

His opportunities have been more limited than I'd like but it's been a year without a goal in the prem now and he has had opportunities.

[Mala591]

Gudmundsson 2 goals in 180 minutes

[nonayclaret]

Taking the median average, Mumbongo has the best goals/game ratio

LOL

[Elizabeth]

Yes , on paper it doesn’t look good but everyone should know by now that while we would all love our strikers scoring more goals, there is a lot more to our success than that.
Dyche has the players playing in such a way as to maximise points before goals. For example I don’t think for one moment we would have conceded that goal 5 mins into injury time to lose a valuable point for Brighton and allow another rival three points. Dyche would have made sure of that.
There may not seem a connection in some people’s minds but Dyche knows when to shut up shop and not go hung ho in search of goals as Brighton look like they did with unfortunate consequences for them ( and much glee for others )

[jojomk1]

Yes , on paper it doesn’t look good but everyone should know by now that while we would all love our strikers scoring more goals, there is a lot more to our success than that.
Dyche has the players playing in such a way as to maximise points before goals. For example I don’t think for one moment we would have conceded that goal 5 mins into injury time to lose a valuable point for Brighton and allow another rival three points. Dyche would have made sure of that.
There may not seem a connection in some people’s minds but Dyche knows when to shut up shop and not go hung ho in search of goals as Brighton look like they did with unfortunate consequences for them ( and much glee for others )

Problem is Dyche seems to want to shut up shop before the game even starts

19 games out of 25 this season we have failed to score in the 1st half

It could seem that SD's pre match talk is all about not conceding rather than scoring - almost "let's stay in the game till half time and see where it takes us"

When teams start cautious and slow it's always more difficult to pick up the pace

Not exactly inspirational

[Elizabeth]

I don’t want to argue with any of that jojo , only to add that Dyche is the reason we are still still in the PL. Many things are said about Dyche but if there have been any comments describing his brand of football as inspirational, I must have missed. He gets the job done and it’s not pretty to watch as a rule, with some exceptions.
I’m unsure we would have attracted our American owners without that PL status and they are our future . For the good I hope

[Spijed]

Problem is Dyche seems to want to shut up shop before the game even starts

19 games out of 25 this season we have failed to score in the 1st half

It could seem that SD's pre match talk is all about not conceding rather than scoring - almost "let's stay in the game till half time and see where it takes us"

When teams start cautious and slow it's always more difficult to pick up the pace

Not exactly inspirational

It might not be inspirational, but it generally works. If we score first we can keep a clean sheet against many of the teams and that has stood us in good stead. We might not score many but a 1-0 win gets you as many points as winning 4-3 for example. That was a problem for a team like Norwich.

Even in our recent game against Fulham, there is no way on earth we would have been as open in defence as they were had we scored first.

It might not be pretty at times, but I bet Brighton wish they played a bit more like us on occasions.

[the_fat_shearer]

In some ways these stats just go to show how good our defence is. It's natural for us to question the strikers, and yes, we could have done much better, but it really shows what a solid unit we are overall.

I think that this year our players have really had a bad time with injuries and it seems like when one player gets into the team he doesn't get a run before he's injured again.

For Vydra, I would estimate (but with no great certainty) that he perhaps has a relatively high percentage of his minutes through sub appearances. If you compare up against Barnes, they have played almost the same amount of minutes but I would guess that Barnes has a much higher percentage of starts which I would argue is easier to settle into a game, rather than coming on for the last 15 minutes etc. (Not that that is a slight against Barnes, just a difference between the two which might not be reflected in those stats).

[KRBFC]

Interesting the count starts after a Vydra brace, ultimately i'd replace the lot of them if possible.

[CrosspoolClarets]

Not sure if the stat at the top excludes penalties? That would make it worse I assume?

On the plus side though, we have had some great chances recently. That has tallied with an upturn in results.

[KefkaClaret]

Wood has had a really poor season but I'm confident he will be back to his best by next season.

[superdimitri]

His opportunities have been more limited than I'd like but it's been a year without a goal in the prem now and he has had opportunities.

The last time he got more than 60mins play time in the premier league before the recent Man City game was Southampton start of the season.
How is he expected to develop form when he's no regular partner and no regular game time?
Even when he's a sub he's only had 2-3 games where he's had more than 20mins.

Its all well comparing total minutes, but its minutes in a small amount of time, together with developing partnerships that count. Wood has deserved to get games when he's been playing poorly after his previous form for us, but give Vydra an equal opportunity and we may be surprised. Give him a good run in the team with Rodriguez and I reckon they have the ability to outperform Wood and Barnes...if we change the way the rest of the team plays that is.

[chipbutty]

It's one year ago today that we were able to go on the Turf and see us beat Bournemouth 3-0 with goals from Vydra, Rodriguez & McNeil. That was the last time we were able to see a win live with the next two games both ending in draws.

Our strikers have hardly been prolific since so, having been asked, I've see how often they've hit the net in Premier League games since that win against Bournemouth and how much they have played.

Ashley Barnes - 3 goals in 1,301 minutes
Jay Rodriguez - 4 goals in 1,811 minutes
Matěj Vydra - 0 goals in 1,137 minutes
Chris Wood - 8 goals in 2,186 minutes

plus
Joel Mumbongo - o goals in 36 minutes

Villa scored as many goals in 90 minutes against the reigning champions, Liverpool, than Barnes and Jay have scored in over 3000 minutes combined!!!

[tiger76]

Two new strikers needed this summer

I wouldn't disagree so who would you move on? personally I'd try and ship Barnes and Vydra out, but that might be easier said than done, both only have a year remaining on their current contracts, so we wouldn't get a fortune for the pair.

For all his flaws we need to keep Wood he's our only striker that has shown he belongs at this level over a prolonged period, and if he gets fit he'll give us a greater goal threat, and I'd also keep Jay, he's shown in flashes the ability he possesses, and he'll always give his all for the cause.

Barnes looks past his best now, and Vydra for all his skill just can't hit a barn door, so both need to go in my view, and whoever comes in needs to be younger and pacier to allow us to play though the lines more, of course we'll also need an upgrade in midfield, and someone in the Stephen Defour mould who'll generate chances for the strikers, and his fellow midfielders.