ElGato
Player Valuation: £20m
We're creating a lot of chances at the moment and appear to have multiple ways of progressing the ball up the pitch, getting balls into the box and fashioning shooting opportunities. I personally think we're actually quite fun to watch as an attacking unit. The narrative therefore follows when you fail to take those chances and win games: our biggest issue is the goalscorer, or lack thereof.
What is less spoken about is our defensive record. We're 4th bottom for big chances conceded and expected goals conceded in total across the season so far. Rarely have we looked assured within games and it's very easy to get at us as a unit, and we make lots of individual mistakes. In fact you could argue that had West Ham and Brighton not massively underperformed their XG against us we'd be worse off still. A hypothetical, yes, but the numbers allude to a structural issue somewhere in that back line.
Something needs to change. Drop one of the centre halves and put JOB in instead, with Garner right back? Play a back three? Is the issue lack of a screen in midfield?
What would you do?
What is less spoken about is our defensive record. We're 4th bottom for big chances conceded and expected goals conceded in total across the season so far. Rarely have we looked assured within games and it's very easy to get at us as a unit, and we make lots of individual mistakes. In fact you could argue that had West Ham and Brighton not massively underperformed their XG against us we'd be worse off still. A hypothetical, yes, but the numbers allude to a structural issue somewhere in that back line.
Something needs to change. Drop one of the centre halves and put JOB in instead, with Garner right back? Play a back three? Is the issue lack of a screen in midfield?
What would you do?
