Aleksandar Mitrović

[Lush Vlad]

I'm sticking to this.  He is missing sitters and some of them are horrendous.  But people make out like he's missing 2-3 a game and if we got a natural finisher, we'd somehow be doing really well. 

 

We create on average, about one decent chance for him a game.  There have been exceptions to the rule, West Ham for example.  He usually then misses said chance and it's magnified ten fold.  He's never going to be prolific, but I don't even think we'd have that many more goals with someone like Remy up there.  Our supposed gameplan, is not conducive to creating good chances on a regular basis.

 

I still like what he brings to the team.  His technique is a bit raw and he looks like a right donkey at times.  But if we are going to persist with one up top.  Then I'd stick with Mitro.  Unless Doumbia is able to train and actually shows up well.  In which case, he should get a look in.  Can't be much worse than what we currently have.

 

I haven't seen the Watford highlights, where it sounded like we did create a lot.  But I still don't think we're creating s*** loads, in general. 

 

Villa - we should have had been 2 up by the time they scored, but we weren't carving them apart.  Went to s*** after Ayew scored and this is against the worst team in the league, at home.

Everton - awful start to the game, dug in pretty well and made a scrap of it.  I remember a couple of chances, one being the Mitrovic sitter.  But not much else?

WBA - Wijnaldum early on, Mitro should have had a pen and Dummett hit the bar from a corner.  They had a lot more of the play and the better chances, if memory serves.

Arsenal - Wijnaldum header was a half chance, ball falls to him due to a scuffed clearance and then he should have buried the 1 on 1.  Mitro had that knee over the bar and then there were some other headers and bits and pieces.  Not like we're missing 3-4 great chances a game.

 

I think when you look at it from a neutral's POV.  Bar the Arsenal game, I'm sure the opposition fans, will be saying similar to us.  Other teams are creating just as much as us, if not more. 

 

Players like Mitrovic get one decent chance per game and if he misses, it's far more noticeable.  I know it's hypothetical and he's not that good.  But if he was playing for a team like Arsenal, he'd be getting on average, like 3-4 chances a game and chances to redeem himself if he missed early on.  Maybe he'd still miss a load, who knows?

 

I honestly think, we've become so used to s*** football.  That creating a few chances per game, is seen as something positive.  It's f***ing awful, like.  We just don't create decent chances on a regular basis, or have anyone in our team, that can unlock a defence.  We basically rely on Sissoko's power and pace to just steamroll through the opposition, then hope someone gets on the end of one of his cut backs.  That's our gameplan?

 

Even in the 5th placed season.  We often created f*** all.  We were just pretty solid and had spells of unbelievable form from Ba and Cisse.  Plus we had the likes of Cabaye and HBA.  Even Best chipped in with some decent goals to bag us some points.  Our goal dif was still pretty low all year.

 

Not sure where I'm going with this TBH?!   Basically, unless they're s*** hot.  I don't think signing a new striker is suddenly going to turn our form around.  It goes much deeper than that.  All that said, I wouldn't mind Remy.  I just think the midfield is just as much, if not more of a problem and I don't have a great deal of confidence in the defence.  We always seem to concede soft goals. 

 

So in summary, we're s*** all over 

[The College Dropout]

We don't create many chances aye. But that's been the case for yonks.  Ba could fight and scrap to poke one in. Cisse at times could pull any finish off.  Remy has a sweeping side foot type of goal he can score from the edge of the box. 

 

Mitrovic is meant to be good in the air and rarely hits the target. With his feet he's hopeless atm.

[Minhosa]

I really like him. He's getting in the positions and I honestly think it's just a matter of time.

 

Sooner rather than later would be nice.

 

We've got to get him and Doumbia on the pitch at the same time asap.

[The College Dropout]

New league and all that.

 

But I look at Wickham for example and I just can't see him being a regular goalscorer in the near future. Based on performances, the same is true for Mitro. Wouldn't expect that to change for a good while.

[Zero]

The fact that we played much better when he is on the pitch already enough to guarantee him a starting spot.  I hope he can understand this and have more confidence when finishing the chance.

 

 

I am serious, Mitrovic has to start under any circumstances.  The painful truth is we dont have even 1 min of decent football this season when Mitrovic is not playing this season. McClaren is absolutely clueless. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Yep, he should be starting. At the end of the day he missed one chance yesterday, other than that he was a very positive influence.

[Minhosa]

Not that it's any validation of his miss last night but apparently he's been carrying an ankle injury according to Island Heed. That buys him a bit of credit from me in terms of his all round effort.

[themanupstairs]

Yep, he should be starting. At the end of the day he missed one chance yesterday, other than that he was a very positive influence.

 

Yup. And some on here getting their knickers in a twist about how "shit" he is is futile as there's simply no one else in the squad that has this much impact on the way we play.

[Ankles Bennett]

It was telling that we only started to look anywhere like a threat once Mitro came on

[ujpest doza]

Awful miss.

 

Don't understand rushing Doumbias visa through and then not putting him on.

 

I think he would have scored that chance.

 

We don't create enough chances to be missing them like that.

 

That said, I do like Mitrovic and do like his link up play and general nuisance value, but he's got be putting chances like that away.

[themanupstairs]

Awful miss.

 

Don't understand rushing Doumbias visa through and then not putting him on.

 

I think he would have scored that chance.

 

We don't create enough chances to be missing them like that.

 

That said, I do like Mitrovic and do like his link up play and general nuisance value, but he's got be putting chances like that away.

 

Pretty sure the injuries to Dummett and Mbemba put paid to Doumbia's debut. Without even having seen Doumbia play for us, it feels like he and Mitrovic as a front pair (at least for parts of games) is our only hope of scoring enough goals to stay up.

[Hughesy]

Was a pretty bad miss - he looked genuinely confused as to whether to try and head it or volley it and ended up getting his body in the wrong position (which seems to be a failing of his).  As other people have said though - it's hardly as if he is missing 5 or 6 chances each game.  But with out struggles the chances he does miss are that much more important.  I'd be interested to know what the PL average is for chances/goals.

[Aiston]

Yep, he should be starting. At the end of the day he missed one chance yesterday, other than that he was a very positive influence.

 

Building up fairly quickly this season mind.

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

It would have been cheaper and more effective in the short term if NUFC had just bought Peter Crouch instead.

 

There's being low on confidence and then there's the misses he keeps doing. By the laws of average you'd think he'd have put at least one of his misses away. Some have been harder to miss than score. We don't create many chances but he has spurned quite a number of them.

 

Maybe he'll come good in the Championship as that's where we're heading and I can't see any other club wanting to buy a hold up man.

[TRon]

Awful miss.

 

Don't understand rushing Doumbias visa through and then not putting him on.

 

I think he would have scored that chance.

 

We don't create enough chances to be missing them like that.

 

That said, I do like Mitrovic and do like his link up play and general nuisance value, but he's got be putting chances like that away.

 

Pretty sure the injuries to Dummett and Mbemba put paid to Doumbia's debut. Without even having seen Doumbia play for us, it feels like he and Mitrovic as a front pair (at least for parts of games) is our only hope of scoring enough goals to stay up.

 

Both those players were injury doubts before the game. McClaren risked everything by starting them yesterday to save his skin and it backfired badly.

[Guest reefatoon]

Yep, he should be starting. At the end of the day he missed one chance yesterday, other than that he was a very positive influence.

 

Yes he missed one chance, but it was an absolute sitter, which would have got us back into a game we didn't deserve to be in. You can't be missing chances like that if they are few and far between. No excuses for that, it was just absolute s*** finishing.

[triggs]

We'd create more chances if Mitrovic had more pace and better off the ball movement. Shows how shite our options are that he played 8 games in a row without scoring from open play and only then got dropped

 

[Guest reefatoon]

We'd create more chances if Mitrovic had more pace and better off the ball movement. Shows how s**** our options are that he played 8 games in a row without scoring from open play and only then got dropped

 

 

Got to agree. Janmaat put a fantastic cross in late in the second half and no fucker even attempted to attack it.

[Wullie]

Was a pretty bad miss - he looked genuinely confused as to whether to try and head it or volley it and ended up getting his body in the wrong position (which seems to be a failing of his).  As other people have said though - it's hardly as if he is missing 5 or 6 chances each game.  But with out struggles the chances he does miss are that much more important.  I'd be interested to know what the PL average is for chances/goals.

 

Average shot/goal ratio in the PL is about 15%.

[The College Dropout]

Was a pretty bad miss - he looked genuinely confused as to whether to try and head it or volley it and ended up getting his body in the wrong position (which seems to be a failing of his).  As other people have said though - it's hardly as if he is missing 5 or 6 chances each game.  But with out struggles the chances he does miss are that much more important.  I'd be interested to know what the PL average is for chances/goals.

 

Against West Ham he had good opportunities and semi-opportunities. Couldn't join the party.

[The College Dropout]

Was a pretty bad miss - he looked genuinely confused as to whether to try and head it or volley it and ended up getting his body in the wrong position (which seems to be a failing of his).  As other people have said though - it's hardly as if he is missing 5 or 6 chances each game.  But with out struggles the chances he does miss are that much more important.  I'd be interested to know what the PL average is for chances/goals.

 

Average shot/goal ratio in the PL is about 15%.

 

How much is it for a striker? And then a good one?

[Minhosa]

We'd create more chances if Mitrovic had more pace and better off the ball movement. Shows how shite our options are that he played 8 games in a row without scoring from open play and only then got dropped

 

 

If he more pace and better movement he'd be playing at the top top level tbqh.

[Hughesy]

Was a pretty bad miss - he looked genuinely confused as to whether to try and head it or volley it and ended up getting his body in the wrong position (which seems to be a failing of his).  As other people have said though - it's hardly as if he is missing 5 or 6 chances each game.  But with out struggles the chances he does miss are that much more important.  I'd be interested to know what the PL average is for chances/goals.

 

Against West Ham he had good opportunities and semi-opportunities. Couldn't join the party.

Agreed - but that is one of the few games where he had multiple chances.

[olliemort]

He's a funny one..he has no composure in front of goal and when he gets a chance I don't expect him to score. But we play better when he's in the side as his hold up play is quite good. I feel for the lad a 20yr old in a new country pretty much dependent on him and Perez to get the goals. The book stops at the Muppets who make the signings.

[Hughesy]

Was a pretty bad miss - he looked genuinely confused as to whether to try and head it or volley it and ended up getting his body in the wrong position (which seems to be a failing of his).  As other people have said though - it's hardly as if he is missing 5 or 6 chances each game.  But with out struggles the chances he does miss are that much more important.  I'd be interested to know what the PL average is for chances/goals.

 

Average shot/goal ratio in the PL is about 15%.

 

Thanks - do you know if individual player stats can be found?  Tried looking for this before but couldn't find it.