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How Many League Goals Do You Think Alan Smith Will Score This Season? Answer: 0

The College Dropout

by The College Dropout
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TRon

TRon

Posted
Posted

He's a decent footballer but the fact Fergie eventually saw him as a defensive midfielder says quite a lot about Smith's lack of goal-scoring instinct.

 

 

 

 

 

Always looking for the negative.  :nope:

 

Perhaps it said something about how Fergie saw his tenacity and leadership qualities, these being very good attributes for that area of the pitch.

 

That's not looking for the negative, it's just saying it as it is. You yourself have said that he isn't a midfielder despite having those qualities. He's at his best up front but forwards of his type do need to contribute some goals. Around 10 would do, but if he was scoring double figures in a season I doubt Fergie would have wanted to part with him.

 

 

 

Fair enough.

 

All I'm bothered about is the team anyway. Smith doesn't have to score 20 goals to justify his place, he just needs to be the most effective player at the club in the role he's been given in the last couple of games. If he's given a run in this role and the team improves then he's doing his bit until a better player comes along to take his place.

 

20 goals a season is what you want from out and out strikers like Owen or Cole who aren't expected to contribute as much to general play. Smith contributes far more to the team all over the pitch, especially defensively, but anyone playing in such an advanced role should be getting a few goals as well. Mark Hughes when he played as a striker would be a decent benchmark. He played a similar role for Man U and scored a canny few goals. That being Man U, if Hughes scored 14 a season, I'd be happy with 7-8 from Smith. I don't think that's asking too much, he's got all the tools needed.

 

 

 

 

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Guest smarty2006

Guest smarty2006

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2 more than Martins

 

Better hurry up then, nearly half the season has gone and he's got to score at least eight...

 

Plenty of time then.. javascript:void(0);

cheesy

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Guest Edd

Guest Edd

Posted
Posted

He's a decent footballer but the fact Fergie eventually saw him as a defensive midfielder says quite a lot about Smith's lack of goal-scoring instinct.

 

 

 

 

 

Always looking for the negative.  :nope:

 

Perhaps it said something about how Fergie saw his tenacity and leadership qualities, these being very good attributes for that area of the pitch.

 

That's not looking for the negative, it's just saying it as it is. You yourself have said that he isn't a midfielder despite having those qualities. He's at his best up front but forwards of his type do need to contribute some goals. Around 10 would do, but if he was scoring double figures in a season I doubt Fergie would have wanted to part with him.

He got 10 in his first season at ManU although he wasn't a regular starter.  After that though Fergie, as has been said, panicked into trying to turn him into Keanes successor, so he never scored regularly again.

 

 

I'm sure he could get a few for us if that was his role but that's not the way Sam plays the 433.  At Bolton under Sam, Anelka and Diouf were perceived as more of a threat than Davies whose primary job it was to hold the ball up and lay it off for them.

 

Heskey's goal scoring record for Liverpool and England was very poor but Owen scored a shit load because of his partnership with him.  If Smith could do that here he'd be well worth his place in the team.

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Karjala

Karjala

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Posted

Statistics is what football is measured on. Goals win matches. A striker who doesn't score more than 3 goals a season really isn't doing his job properly.

 

Would you give a shit if we were winning?

Well, he hasn't scored goals, and we havent been winning as well as we'd like.

 

We have a really tough 2nd half of the season, and will need both strikers (and contributions from MF) if we are to pick up enough wins to finish in the top 8.

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danswan

danswan

Posted
Posted

Statistics is what football is measured on. Goals win matches. A striker who doesn't score more than 3 goals a season really isn't doing his job properly.

 

Would you give a shit if we were winning?

Well, he hasn't scored goals, and we havent been winning as well as we'd like.

 

We have a really tough 2nd half of the season, and will need both strikers (and contributions from MF) if we are to pick up enough wins to finish in the top 8.

 

That wasn't the question - just taking him to task regarding this goals thing, it's a load of bollocks. If a team is winning, it doesn't matter that one of your strikers isn't scoring. He is obviously contributing elsewhere, and others are obviously making up for his shortfall as the team is winning.

 

Of course I appreciate that we aren't winning, or at least not consistently and as such Smith's lack of scoring becomes more of a problem.

 

I'm certain he will score a few this season - bear in mind he has played what, 3 games up front this season? Give him a run of 10 starts on the trot up front, I would expect 1-3 goals from him, but I would also expect to see us winning and keeping the ball in opposition territory a lot more, leading to more goals from others.

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Howaythelads

Howaythelads

Posted
Posted

He's a decent footballer but the fact Fergie eventually saw him as a defensive midfielder says quite a lot about Smith's lack of goal-scoring instinct.

 

 

 

 

 

Always looking for the negative.  :nope:

 

Perhaps it said something about how Fergie saw his tenacity and leadership qualities, these being very good attributes for that area of the pitch.

 

That's not looking for the negative, it's just saying it as it is. You yourself have said that he isn't a midfielder despite having those qualities. He's at his best up front but forwards of his type do need to contribute some goals. Around 10 would do, but if he was scoring double figures in a season I doubt Fergie would have wanted to part with him.

He got 10 in his first season at ManU although he wasn't a regular starter.  After that though Fergie, as has been said, panicked into trying to turn him into Keanes successor, so he never scored regularly again.

 

 

I'm sure he could get a few for us if that was his role but that's not the way Sam plays the 433.  At Bolton under Sam, Anelka and Diouf were perceived as more of a threat than Davies whose primary job it was to hold the ball up and lay it off for them.

 

Heskey's goal scoring record for Liverpool and England was very poor but Owen scored a shit load because of his partnership with him.  If Smith could do that here he'd be well worth his place in the team.

 

Exactly.

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Howaythelads

Howaythelads

Posted
Posted

Statistics is what football is measured on. Goals win matches. A striker who doesn't score more than 3 goals a season really isn't doing his job properly.

 

Would you give a shit if we were winning?

Well, he hasn't scored goals, and we havent been winning as well as we'd like.

 

We have a really tough 2nd half of the season, and will need both strikers (and contributions from MF) if we are to pick up enough wins to finish in the top 8.

 

That wasn't the question - just taking him to task regarding this goals thing, it's a load of bollocks. If a team is winning, it doesn't matter that one of your strikers isn't scoring. He is obviously contributing elsewhere, and others are obviously making up for his shortfall as the team is winning.

 

Of course I appreciate that we aren't winning, or at least not consistently and as such Smith's lack of scoring becomes more of a problem.

 

I'm certain he will score a few this season - bear in mind he has played what, 3 games up front this season? Give him a run of 10 starts on the trot up front, I would expect 1-3 goals from him, but I would also expect to see us winning and keeping the ball in opposition territory a lot more, leading to more goals from others.

 

Another sensible post. Good stuff.

 

The people who are only able to judge a footballer on stats will be cringing.

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Dave

Dave

Posted
Posted

I think he does a decent job for the team up front.

 

It'd be nice if he was any goal-threat whatsoever though.

 

Aye, I'm sure everyone agrees so how about giving him a chance, eh.....

 

I am giving him a chance.

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Cajun

Cajun

Posted
Posted

Smith just doesn't have enough about him to be a real quality striker. He could get away with it if he scored a lot more goals but he doesn't seem to have that instinct. Fair enough he is good in the air and decent at holding the ball up but there are a lot of strikers who could do that, he doesn't have that occasional magic or blistering pace to take him/us to the next level.

 

Someone like Steve Howard could do the job Smith does but at a sixth of the price, he is probably more of a goal threat aswell as he attacks the 6 yard box more.

 

 

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greydos

greydos

Posted
Posted

Statistics is what football is measured on. Goals win matches. A striker who doesn't score more than 3 goals a season really isn't doing his job properly.

 

Would you give a s*** if we were winning?

Well, he hasn't scored goals, and we havent been winning as well as we'd like.

 

We have a really tough 2nd half of the season, and will need both strikers (and contributions from MF) if we are to pick up enough wins to finish in the top 8.

 

That wasn't the question - just taking him to task regarding this goals thing, it's a load of bollocks. If a team is winning, it doesn't matter that one of your strikers isn't scoring. He is obviously contributing elsewhere, and others are obviously making up for his shortfall as the team is winning.

 

Of course I appreciate that we aren't winning, or at least not consistently and as such Smith's lack of scoring becomes more of a problem.

 

I'm certain he will score a few this season - bear in mind he has played what, 3 games up front this season? Give him a run of 10 starts on the trot up front, I would expect 1-3 goals from him, but I would also expect to see us winning and keeping the ball in opposition territory a lot more, leading to more goals from others.

 

Another sensible post. Good stuff.

 

The people who are only able to judge a footballer on stats will be cringing.

 

News just in, Sam Allardyce cringed so hard the skin on his cheeks fell off...both cheeks...all his cheeks

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