Goals

[billycopper]

Chico> I couldn't actually find the stats anywhere.

If we go back over the last few games though:

City: Both inside.
Bolton: Arteta outside.
Birmingham: Both inside.
Hull: All inside.
Spurs: Inside.
United: Bily's goal outside.
Chelsea: Both inside.
Liverpool: No goals.
Wigan: Inside.
Sunderland: Donovan's goal may have been outside.

That's 3 out of 20 goals scored in 10 matches.

I've been looking around trying to find the actual stats. In passing, I came across a piece that Arsenal scored 18 goals from outside the box in 2007. If we extrapalate from our data, in 40 games we'd expect to score 12 goals from outside the area, which is still 50% down on a title-challenging side.

 

[chicoazul]

Chico> I couldn't actually find the stats anywhere.

If we go back over the last few games though:

City: Both inside.
Bolton: Arteta outside.
Birmingham: Both inside.
Hull: All inside.
Spurs: Inside.
United: Bily's goal outside.
Chelsea: Both inside.
Liverpool: No goals.
Wigan: Inside.
Sunderland: Donovan's goal may have been outside.

That's 3 out of 20 goals scored in 10 matches.

I've been looking around trying to find the actual stats. In passing, I came across a piece that Arsenal scored 18 goals from outside the box in 2007. If we extrapalate from our data, in 40 games we'd expect to score 12 goals from outside the area, which is still 50% down on a title-challenging side.

I think it is as much dependent on your personnel as your tactics.

For instance lets have a look at our usual starting offensive players.

Saha - defo got a good shot outside the box and has scored a few this season *hang on, wasnt that Chelsea goal outside the box lid?

Yakubu - better inside the box than outside of it

Cahill - ditto, his last nine goals have been from headers

Osman - can crack one outside the box (Im struggling but only Stoke this year I think he has achieved that). Been injured a bit.

Arteta - good long shot/free kick on him. been injured a lot.

Pienaar - only found his shooting boots this year, has scored a couple (City & AEK Athens?) Been injured a bit.

Bily - got a shot on him (v United) but has hardly played.

Fellaini - not really.

Heitinga - its more humane to goalkeepers for him not to shoot.

So looking at that, we're a bit average in our human resources for what you're talking about.

What about set pieces as well, did you check that out? We've done alright in that department lid, apart from penalties like.

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

did you say that mikel is now chipping in with more goals ?

i have the answer to that conundrum mate, he's actually feckin playing as opposed to being out injured, he cant score from an execbox on crutches ffs.


get jo on !!

 

[Number_25]

I think the idea is to score more goals than the other team, so it doesnt matter how many goals you score, you have to stop them scoring more than you, fairly sure thats how football works. Stop me if im wrong tho.

I can see the next David Moyes here

 

[Hayee]

I can see the next David Moyes here

Actually, that was Kev Keegan's main tactic

 

[Whitebootman]

I think the idea is to score more goals than the other team, so it doesnt matter how many goals you score, you have to stop them scoring more than you, fairly sure thats how football works. Stop me if im wrong tho.

" it doesn't matter how many goals our opponents score; we just score more than them". Carlos Alberto, Captain Brazil 1970.

I'm with legends Goat and Carlos Alberto here. I'm also happy to compare the squad David Moyes is building to the greatest World Cup football team I ever saw. I'm feeling that good about us today.

 

[billycopper]

did you say that mikel is now chipping in with more goals ?

i have the answer to that conundrum mate, he's actually feckin playing as opposed to being out injured, he cant score from an execbox on crutches ffs.


get jo on !!

So far this season Arteta has scored 4 goals in 9 appearances. Almost a 1 in 2 ratio. Last season he scored 6 in 31 games (1 in 5). The season before that he scored 4 in 35 (1 in 9). In 2006 he bagged 9 goals in 38 matches (1 in 4). In 2005 it was 3 strikes in 35 games (1 in 12). On average his ratio is more than 1 in 6. I rest my case.

 

[billycopper]

I think the idea is to score more goals than the other team, so it doesnt matter how many goals you score, you have to stop them scoring more than you, fairly sure thats how football works. Stop me if im wrong tho.

Stats centre | Football | guardian.co.uk

As you can see, we're not amongst the top 5 most prolific strikeforces or the meanest defences. Funnily enough, United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs are up there. We can't keep a clean sheet every week and there will be occasions where we will need to outscore the opposition. My argument is that there are areas where we can improve our game that will get us more goals.

 

[billycopper]

I think it is as much dependent on your personnel as your tactics.

For instance lets have a look at our usual starting offensive players.

Saha - defo got a good shot outside the box and has scored a few this season *hang on, wasnt that Chelsea goal outside the box lid? His goal was just inside. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3fdc7GYCzY[/media]

Yakubu - better inside the box than outside of it

Cahill - ditto, his last nine goals have been from headers

Osman - can crack one outside the box (Im struggling but only Stoke this year I think he has achieved that). Been injured a bit.

Arteta - good long shot/free kick on him. been injured a lot.

Pienaar - only found his shooting boots this year, has scored a couple (City & AEK Athens?) Been injured a bit.

Bily - got a shot on him (v United) but has hardly played.

Fellaini - not really.

Heitinga - its more humane to goalkeepers for him not to shoot.

So looking at that, we're a bit average in our human resources for what you're talking about.

What about set pieces as well, did you check that out? We've done alright in that department lid, apart from penalties like.

We have got players such as Arteta, Pienaar, Bily, Rodwell, Baines and Osman who can score from distance. The point I've been getting at is that the number of shots that we have tends to be much lower than the top teams and that, if you don't shoot, you don't score.

Our last 5 games:

City. Shots on Target 3. Shots off Target 3.
Bolton. Shots on Target 6. Shots off Target 7.
Birmingham. Shots on Target 6. Shots off Target 4.
Hull. Skysports don't have the stats for that, for some reason.
Spurs. Shots on Target 5. Shots off Target 4.

Compare that with United.

Liverpool. Shots on Target 5. Shots off Target 5.
Fulham. Shots on Target 9. Shots off Target 14.
Milan. Shots on Target 5. Shots off Target 7.
Wolves. Shots on Target 4. Shots off Target 10.
Villa. Shots on Target 4. Shots off Target 9.

If we exclude their highest scoring game (against Milan) to compensate for us not having the stats for our match with Hull, the results are that we have had 20 shots on target and 18 shots off target. United have had 22 shots on target and 38 shots off target.

The amount of shots on target is very similar. The fact that they've had more than twice as many shots off target as us tells us that they're willing to shoot whenever they get the opportunity. Carrick, Scholes and Gibson will find row z more often than the back of the net, but they might just connect sweetly with one of those shots and end up winning the game with a bolt from the blue.

Think of the amount of own goals that are scored by shots that were otherwise going off target being deflected into the back of the net. 'Own goals' are actually United's second top scorer this season with 10! [media]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1250199/Manchester-United-goals-Owen-goals-thank-Premier-League-push-Reds-jackpot-hits-staggering-season.html[/media] We have three in comparison.