Are we wasting a shirt playing a "9" every week?

[Bluerover]

....and where are Everton in the list of European and Premier clubs chasing Troy Parrott?

In-form Parrott provides goal and two assists for AZ

Troy Parrott was in fine form again this afternoon for AZ Alkmaar, scoring once and providing two assists in the 4-0 victory over Heracles Almelo.

www.rte.ie

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

I started making a spreadsheet a while back with some data from our strikers signed over the last 10 years, and just some basic statistical analysis makes some grim reading. Numbers in euros.

View attachment 346559

We’ve spent a total of €203.7, with a net of €72.5m. That 72.5m has bought us a total of 142 league goals which doesn’t sound too bad until you bring strike rate into it…142 goals in 704 games gives an average of approx 0.2 goals per game for those strikers which is appalling. Considering that typically 2 strikers play a part during each game that means our strikers are contributing 0.4 goals per league game….Given strikers supposedly score around 40% of goals league-wide, proportionally our team could expect to score 38 goals per season from all positions….barely above the average goals scored to secure 17th place or higher which is 36.7. Basically any season that hasn’t been a relegation scrap over the past 10 years can statistically be attributed to performances from elsewhere on the pitch. If it wasn’t already obvious, our striker portfolio has been championship standard.

Seeming as we didn’t actually get relegated during that time, and actually had a couple of ok seasons mixed in, it’s clear that bigger contributions to the success of the team are coming from other areas of the pitch than upfront. It could be argued therefore that ‘bang for buck’ just doesn’t support investment in strikers and that more meaningful value can be had with strengthening other positions. Forgive the perverse comparison, but peak city played without a recognised number 9 for years didn’t they.

 

[Chegsy]

Back to the drawing board in the summer I think. it must be difficult to choose between them. Sometimes Beto looks the more handy player then other times Barry. I think Barry is probabaly better technically but even then I remember keeping a close aye on Thiago when we played Brentford and thinking he was levels above both and made the pair look like a couple of donkeys.

 

[bebo86]

Could we try George or Ndiaye up there?

 

[Rooney_Tunes]

False nine would serve us better.

Imagine Sgt Major Moyes trying to get his head round sorting that formation out.

Surely it's not that difficult Dave - pick the team, leave out the nine, and then decide who you are playing up top.

These would be my choices in order of preference -

George
Ndiaye
Beto/Keane

Barry should be sold at the end of this season and not see another minute of football in the shirt to the end of the season.

 

[nick_waters]

The scouting on Barry, given our style of play, is perplexing. He lacks physical strength, he lacks determination and commitment, and he lacks nous. OK, he's young but what improvement have we seen since pre-season?

 

[Drico]

Just watched The Match featuring EFC v Coventry. Should show this footage to Beto and Barry to show them what proper centre forwards are. Bob Latchford different class on poor pitches .

The poor pitches, in my view, very often showcased characteristics of players we never get to test today. Technical skills - it took a good player to play well on those pitches. The Big Match Revisited shows just how excellent the likes of Alan Ball, Glenn Hoddle, and Trevor Brooking were in a technical sense, slaloming all over bobbly mudpatches and still excelling. Secondly, such pitches exposed the character of the players. You had to have something about you to perform on those pitches in all seasons. I'm fairly certain that a significant portion of today's players wouldn't make it in a league as demanding as the First Division was.

Obviously, it's great to have carpet-like pitches today, but that helps only those who wouldn't fancy a wet Tuesday on a bog at Derby. The technical players with cojones always excel, regardless of the surface as the players mentioned and others demonstrate in this series.

 

[Bluerover]

The poor pitches, in my view, very often showcased characteristics of players we never get to test today. Technical skills - it took a good player to play well on those pitches. The Big Match Revisited shows just how excellent the likes of Alan Ball, Glenn Hoddle, and Trevor Brooking were in a technical sense, slaloming all over bobbly mudpatches and still excelling. Secondly, such pitches exposed the character of the players. You had to have something about you to perform on those pitches in all seasons. I'm fairly certain that a significant portion of today's players wouldn't make it in a league as demanding as the First Division was.

Obviously, it's great to have carpet-like pitches today, but that helps only those who wouldn't fancy a wet Tuesday on a bog at Derby. The technical players with cojones always excel, regardless of the surface as the players mentioned and others demonstrate in this series.

Look at the anfield pitch in the Photos thread (played March 1970)...a cabbage patch yet that Everton team played lovely football and beat the rs 2-0. No excuses back then.

 

[GoldenToffee]

Just think, somebody was actually paid decent money to come up with Barry as an alternative striker to Beto last summer, then seemingly NOBODY at Everton was able to see that he's just a younger, more raw and less experienced version of Beto—genuinely in exactly the same mould—who himself is crap anyway.

 

[Dad watched Dixie]

The scouting on Barry, given our style of play, is perplexing. He lacks physical strength, he lacks determination and commitment, and he lacks nous. OK, he's young but what improvement have we seen since pre-season?

His (or his PR teams) use of Instagram seems to be the only improvement that I can see.

 

[PSB1]

Two utter creatures who should be shuffling off to other clubs.

 

[davek]

Surely it's not that difficult Dave - pick the team, leave out the nine, and then decide who you are playing up top.

These would be my choices in order of preference -

George
Ndiaye
Beto/Keane

Barry should be sold at the end of this season and not see another minute of football in the shirt to the end of the season.

Remember when Robeto played Naismith as a false nine a couple of times...once against Arsenal IIRC. Imagine Ndiaye in that role.

Only difference being is that we had pace in that attack too with Lukaku out wide and Mirallas...and we also had Pienaar in behind Naismith playing him forward passes (which Garner could probably do now).

 

[Furey1878]

I've wanted to see Ndiaye as a false 9 for a while. Just not sure we have the other players to make it work. Ideally you want a false 9 to be flanked by 2 wingers / forwards with pace who make great runs.

 

[anton66]

False nine would serve us better.

Imagine Sgt Major Moyes trying to get his head round sorting that formation out.

He plays every other player out of position except these two players who are not centre forwards.

 

[Rooney_Tunes]

He plays every other player out of position except these two players who are not centre forwards.

This would be funny if it wasn't so true.