Parky Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 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 ...some cheeks are bigger than others. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmonkey Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 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. Cameron Jerome looked a pretty decent player against us, could be well suited to a 4-3-3 as he seems to have all the attributes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 carlton cole is another who has looked good up front for west ham playing as a mobile, battering ram type. that's the class of player smith is in, howard, jerome, cole - ie, shit but can do a job temporarily. for the people saying smith can get away with not scoring, he can't. if we have one striker who almost never scores then it heaps pressure on the rest of the side to chip in with goals and we don't have many goalscorers in our team. surely people can see a potential link between a striker that never scores and the fact that a side with him in doesn't score many? furthermore they'd be expected to be contributing something special other than being a goal threat, smith doesn't do this, he puts in solid workmanlike performances, which is what he's done in the past few games. his link up play is average, he has a decent touch but nothing special, not a great deal of vision, doesn't consistently create, make space or open up the pitch with an intelligent pass or piece of skill, and so on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howaythelads Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Fancy a prediction HTL??? No. I'm really not bothered as my main concern right now is the lack of creativity throughout the team. Ameobi scored goals in Europe but I wasn't fooled that he's a good player for the team so I wouldn't want him in it. Even if Smith was scoring a few goals, if his general team play was shite I wouldn't be impressed at all. I'm looking for an improvement in our general play, the shape and organisation of the team and our ability to control football matches and to do it consistently. All of these things have improved slightly by using Smith up front. Just slightly. I don't see the point in being critical of the bloke (and that's really what this thread is really about imo) or setting targets for him that will be used later to be critical of him when the fact is he's settling into a position he's not played on a regular basis. Scoring goals for Smith is going to be down to chances created for him by his team-mates and his own confidence in front of goal. So there needs to be a lot of improvement from more than just Smith for him to start scoring goals regularly. If the team doesn't get better he isn't going to score many. Overall I think he has the attributes to be given a chance and a run in that position so I wish him the best of luck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howaythelads Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 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. Absolute rubbish. Honestly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Parka Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 He has started to look much better upfront. 6-8 i my guess. He has improved the teams play since moving upfront. Something equally as important. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gav H Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Not very many. mackems.gif Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Seven Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Bump. A perfect zero is looking likely with only 10 games left. How many matches has he played this season? What a shit player he is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unbelievable Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Depends on how many games he gets as a forward, but I'd be delighted with 5. I had obviously smoked some crack when posting this. We might as well declare the winner now. Who predicted the grand total of 0 correctly.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 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. Absolute rubbish. Honestly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsunami Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 err zero, should have scored today with the header. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newcastle Fan Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Steve Howard in our side would've scored at least 9 by now.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LucaAltieri Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Depends on how many games he gets as a forward, but I'd be delighted with 5. I had obviously smoked some crack when posting this. We might as well declare the winner now. Who predicted the grand total of 0 correctly.. Nah man, he'll get 1 eventually; I'd get one eventually. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 He needs to actually have a shot to score a goal. Based on that, nil. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karjala Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 3 for me. He hasnt scored for 2years (in the prem) and hasn't looked like scoring for us. With Martins away in the ACN and Owen always injured, i expect he'll get a fair few starts though, so i reckon 3 goals. Tops 5. Whoops, i was a bit optimistic! Love reading some of the comments about how they arent concerned Smith wont get many cos its not his job. He just gets paid to get booked then? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newcastle Fan Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Depends on how many games he gets as a forward, but I'd be delighted with 5. I had obviously smoked some crack when posting this. We might as well declare the winner now. Who predicted the grand total of 0 correctly.. Nah man, he'll get 1 eventually; I'd get one eventually. Darius Henderson got one eventually.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Didn't Jon Stead manage one for the mackems in the last or penultimate game of the season? If we get a penalty in one of them (and we're safe), we should let the keeper take it, just so we can say that he scored more than our striker. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karjala Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Have we ever had a striker who has played almost every match and not scored? Serious question? Smith might be about to get himself a club record if he keeps up his fine play in the remaining fixtures. Even Guivarch, Andersson, Rush, Kestbaia, Robinson, Maric, Tomasson scored at least once. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 My 4 is looking very optimistic at this stage. I still reckon he'll get a few on the bounce... maybe. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karjala Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Did anyone start a thread at the start of the season about how many games Viduka would play in? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 if he scores an important goal this season and it earns us 3 points, then all is forgiven (as long as he fucks off at the end of the season, piece of shit) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 2 or maybe 1...or 3. or 0. Fantastic. Note how I ominously settled on the fat zero. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Four! This is pretty funny, but not half as funny as the defence the bloke got in this thread. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Four! This is pretty funny, but not half as funny as the defence the bloke got in this thread. i don't have a problem if people stick up for our players, even if i don't rate them, but it IS funny when they're so obviously shite. it's like the people who thought Ramage was mint when he first broke through, even tho he was struggling badly from game one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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