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Lack of goalscorers.
- Thread starter argobenz
- Start date
Balham_Green":ahi7v27h said:
Actually, I thought Spencer did well considering the lack of support a lot of the time. I thought the obvious concerns, which is why we play so narrow, is the vulnerability to pace attacking us and the lack of pace and width going forwards. Clearly one affects the other, if you have no pace out wide you will become more compact and play through the middle.
I think it is no surprise we have such a physical team/squad this year.
IJN":3fxlipd2 said:
I agree Ian - he held the ball up very well and against their number 6 who was a very good player!
argobenz":vf80ez4l said:
Small guy who can turn teams inside out? Maybe we should ask Craig Tanner if he knows anyone like that? :doh:
What I don't really understand from Saturday's game, why was Spencer a target man? Pretty much every goal kick was aimed at him, 90% of goal kicks fell on the head of the Portsmouth defender and back towards the Plymouth half. Surely it would have made sense to change tactics at some point. It was clear to see he didn't really challenge the goal kicks apart from 1 or 2 occasions.
I would be more concerned if we weren't scoring many goals as a team. To date 10 different players have scored for us.
We've been somewhat reliant on Reuben Reids goals in the recent past and I certainly prefer how the team as a whole is contributing. Spencer appears to be a decent fulcrum for the attack despite his lack of goals at present.
We've been somewhat reliant on Reuben Reids goals in the recent past and I certainly prefer how the team as a whole is contributing. Spencer appears to be a decent fulcrum for the attack despite his lack of goals at present.
MarkLP":1quhu6nt said:
It doesn't matter if Spencer touches the ball or not, its to do with getting possession of the knock down, the second ball, the rebound.
And one of the let-outs for the backs, as an alternative to chucking it up to Spencer, was the ball wide to Slew, which was evident throughout the match.
I don't know about lack of goal scorers, its the lack of shots that worries me, smithies goal, and carey's great effort that hit the bar is the only shots I can remember us having
Lack of goal scorers isn't the issue. It's goal difference that's the key. And we are joint top in that league, that's why we're top of the table.
argobenz":xvxwd848 said:
Proven right? Where's the proof we lost out on promotion because we 'didn't score enough goals' as opposed to didn't keep enough clean sheets?
We had Ryan Brunt in the goal scoring form of his career, Jamille Matt in the goalscoring form of his career, and before that Reuben had six goals, we had our top scorer on the right wing and Graham Carey in behind in the goalscoring form of his career.
I don't think last season will be remembered as the season we struggled for goals.
Compared to a lot of clubs, I don't think Portsmouth were guilty of time wasting. They actually seemed to want to win the game for longer patches in the second half.
argobenz":30u4wc53 said:
Reuben had three twenty goal seasons with Argyle recently, and we had zero promotions.
We won the league with 102 points with Trigger up front who scored a total of 7 goals.
You need to revise this theory of yours that twenty goal forwards and silverware go hand in hand.
We are better than last season because we replaced two CBs who rarely scored with a couple of bruisers that dominate at set pieces and have won us three leagues matches with their goals alone (Bulvitis v Blackpool, Bradley v Cheltenham and Bradley x2 v Stevenage). We have Songo'o grabbing goals now from set pieces, Purrington creating a goal every other game from left back, two playmakers/set piece specialists and much more going on throughout the team.
Our midfield options - Tanner, Slew, Donaldson, Jervis, Carey, Smith and Songo'o have all scored goals this season. It is only Fox that hasn't, so one midfielder from 8 regulars that hasn't scored so far - a far cry from the days under Sheridan when our goal threat from midfield really was lamentable.
So in summary, if an opposing team wants to contain Argyle they have a lot more to do than keeping Reuben Reid well marked, as seemed to be the sole challenge for our opponents for a few years. The CBs have got to battle Spencer, defensive mids need to keep a lid on Carey, someone needs to stop Fox from play making, we're packing all sorts of danger at set pieces (Bulvitis, Bradley, Songo'o), two dead ball experts (Carey, Fox), a genuine long range specialist in Carey, pace and trickery in Slew and Jervis. That's a lot for a team to have to deal with with a few days preparation on the training pitch.
The league table suggests that diversity of creativity and goalscoring threat is working better for us than paying the considerable wages of a 20 goal centre forward and settling for poorer quality in other areas of the team. Carey perhaps stands out, but we have a genuine balance of talent across the team and even the bench now.
Knibbsworth":28r97q93 said:
This seasons table shows us as a great defensive outfit (so far) with the 3 chasers scoring more currently. I don't think we are bad going forward. but I also don't see a goal threat who is always likely no nick a goal ala Tynan.