Shot conversion

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Brett Angell Delight

Player Valuation: £50m
Interesting stats on F365 today, relating to shot conversion, in particular improvement in that metric from last season to this:


The main takeaways are that we are second (behind Leicester) in shot conversion % this season and that our % has DOUBLED since last season (from 9.4% to 18.8%). Our shots per game have decreased slightly, but I suppose if we are taking more time to get into better shooting positions, that is bound to happen.

Thoughts? Is Carlo's obsession with one-touch finishing encouraging us to work into better positions and take fewer missable shots? Is the wacky, post-lockdown, defence-lite version of the PL just allowing teams to score more? Is James and his plethora of pre-assists (that has become a stat recently, look it up) the real hero?

Personally, I am encouraged. I hate that our defence is still a bit poo, but I keep harking back to the WBA game when we conceded to make it 2-2 and thinking, for the first time in a while, "we'll score again, here" as opposed to letting our heads go down and limping to an insipid draw. Of course, I want us to concede fewer but a lot of managers get credit for sorting defence first in a new role and then building on that; Carlo is obviously just more concerned with making us a free-flowing goal machine and he'll get round to making our defence a carbon copy of early 90s Milan when he can be bothered.
 
Interesting stats on F365 today, relating to shot conversion, in particular improvement in that metric from last season to this:


The main takeaways are that we are second (behind Leicester) in shot conversion % this season and that our % has DOUBLED since last season (from 9.4% to 18.8%). Our shots per game have decreased slightly, but I suppose if we are taking more time to get into better shooting positions, that is bound to happen.

Thoughts? Is Carlo's obsession with one-touch finishing encouraging us to work into better positions and take fewer missable shots? Is the wacky, post-lockdown, defence-lite version of the PL just allowing teams to score more? Is James and his plethora of pre-assists (that has become a stat recently, look it up) the real hero?

Personally, I am encouraged. I hate that our defence is still a bit poo, but I keep harking back to the WBA game when we conceded to make it 2-2 and thinking, for the first time in a while, "we'll score again, here" as opposed to letting our heads go down and limping to an insipid draw. Of course, I want us to concede fewer but a lot of managers get credit for sorting defence first in a new role and then building on that; Carlo is obviously just more concerned with making us a free-flowing goal machine and he'll get round to making our defence a carbon copy of early 90s Milan when he can be bothered.
We create better chances that are more likely to go in now.
 
We had very limited creative forces last season. Richarlison made some goals out of nothing, and Digne had a few insane passes.

Additionally, DCL wasn't reliably converting what fell to him. He missed a lot of chances, especially early in the season.

A lot of last season's shots were bad long range attempts that were unlikely to go.

Adding a real creator and a killer instinct to DCL while removing the long range hero shots is what accounts for the difference in efficiency.
 
Yep and those better chances seem to be falling to DCL who is in the form of his life!
James and Digne’s delivery have been magical at times this season, no way Doucoure was missing that third goal at Fulham for example.
Agree on both counts. Obviously we have brought in James which has helped with the creativity, and Digne has rediscovered some of his killer delivery (no doubt in part to the sweet diagonals that James hits him with, multiple times per game), but to what do we owe the vast improvement in DCL's finishing, specifically? Coaching? Hard work? Quality of the chances created?

For the long-term I hope it's a healthy combo of all three. That should also give us a bit of confidence for the remainder of the season, as you'd hope the coaching will continue to improve the players and they'll continue to gel as a group, resulting in yet more sexy attacking footy. It makes the defence a tiny bit less of a concern, if we know we can often just outscore the oppo.
 

Agree on both counts. Obviously we have brought in James which has helped with the creativity, and Digne has rediscovered some of his killer delivery (no doubt in part to the sweet diagonals that James hits him with, multiple times per game), but to what do we owe the vast improvement in DCL's finishing, specifically? Coaching? Hard work? Quality of the chances created?

For the long-term I hope it's a healthy combo of all three. That should also give us a bit of confidence for the remainder of the season, as you'd hope the coaching will continue to improve the players and they'll continue to gel as a group, resulting in yet more sexy attacking footy. It makes the defence a tiny bit less of a concern, if we know we can often just outscore the oppo.
I think it is a nice healthy combo of all three. I think the main point is that Dom’s only job now when we’re attacking is to be in the box getting on the end of things whereas too often before we’d see him fighting it out down the channels. His hold up play is exceptional but once we’re on an attack all he does is get himself around the penalty spot/six yard box ready to pounce.

The goal I enjoyed the most though was the equaliser against RS. Whilst a lot of his goals have come from being right place right time, that was an incredible center forward finish! The leap and the accuracy of the header was outstanding and shows he’s not just about positioning and getting on the end of easy chances.
 
I think it is a nice healthy combo of all three. I think the main point is that Dom’s only job now when we’re attacking is to be in the box getting on the end of things whereas too often before we’d see him fighting it out down the channels. His hold up play is exceptional but once we’re on an attack all he does is get himself around the penalty spot/six yard box ready to pounce.

The goal I enjoyed the most though was the equaliser against RS. Whilst a lot of his goals have come from being right place right time, that was an incredible center forward finish! The leap and the accuracy of the header was outstanding and shows he’s not just about positioning and getting on the end of easy chances.
Yes! That leap is definitely a product of his work ethic in training. Big Dunc, Cahill and now DCL. Our club does love a good header of the ball. We should probably enjoy it all the more now, before they introduce the "no-headers" rule!
 

Interesting stats on F365 today, relating to shot conversion, in particular improvement in that metric from last season to this:


The main takeaways are that we are second (behind Leicester) in shot conversion % this season and that our % has DOUBLED since last season (from 9.4% to 18.8%). Our shots per game have decreased slightly, but I suppose if we are taking more time to get into better shooting positions, that is bound to happen.

Thoughts? Is Carlo's obsession with one-touch finishing encouraging us to work into better positions and take fewer missable shots? Is the wacky, post-lockdown, defence-lite version of the PL just allowing teams to score more? Is James and his plethora of pre-assists (that has become a stat recently, look it up) the real hero?

Personally, I am encouraged. I hate that our defence is still a bit poo, but I keep harking back to the WBA game when we conceded to make it 2-2 and thinking, for the first time in a while, "we'll score again, here" as opposed to letting our heads go down and limping to an insipid draw. Of course, I want us to concede fewer but a lot of managers get credit for sorting defence first in a new role and then building on that; Carlo is obviously just more concerned with making us a free-flowing goal machine and he'll get round to making our defence a carbon copy of early 90s Milan when he can be bothered.

looks really interesting- I think it probably is a simply reflection of exactly how efficient DCL has become.

with that kind of goal tally, not only do you score more (obviousy) but it provides the confidence to be more selective and not try to force shots
 
We are now a team where the players are trying to win games rather had trying not to lose games. We used to hit so many square or back passes that when anyone got a site on goal they lashed it. Players are looking forward instead of sideways (Gylfi being the exception).
This week is interesting, do we go three at the back with Holgate back in or does Carlo think we are better off with the more traditional 4. Leeds is a very good test of our defence, but I am looking forward to it.
Looking forward to a game, seriously not Everton.
 
We are now a team where the players are trying to win games rather had trying not to lose games. We used to hit so many square or back passes that when anyone got a site on goal they lashed it. Players are looking forward instead of sideways (Gylfi being the exception).
This week is interesting, do we go three at the back with Holgate back in or does Carlo think we are better off with the more traditional 4. Leeds is a very good test of our defence, but I am looking forward to it.
Looking forward to a game, seriously not Everton.
Yeah, I think that's a fair take.

I'm a big fan of the "if it ain't broke" mentality, so I would go with what worked v Fulham and stick with the 3, albeit Holgate in for Mina, as you say. I also think it benefits us if Digne is injured as reported, as it'll take a bit of the defensive responsibility off Nkounkou and let him do what he does best.
 
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