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England’s Anthony Gordon


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22 minutes ago, Bondedcrown said:

Never mentioned a foul? But it was enought to change his position slightly! Doesn't take much when you are in ther air!

It could be argued the defender did just enough to put him off but he has to score, his heading is weak in general 

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With the exception of Barnes the entire teams finishing has been rubbish this season and even Barnes has fluffed a fair few 1v1s, it's been more the instinctive finishes he's been getting. Maybe there's something more going on.

 

Gordons work rate is off the charts though, he has at least one press every game that you'd never see another player make. You notice him adding little tricks to his game as well. He developed a stepover at some point last season to good effect and now when he receives the ball deep with his back to goal he's throwing in a little feint to help him get away from defenders.

 

I don't think he reads the field that well though, particularly on a counter attack. Feels like he makes up his mind early and doesn't let things develop. When Bruno fired the volleyed wonder pass to him yesterday was a case in point. Think he'd Willock flying past him on the outside and it should've resulted in a tap in if he gave it but it was like he'd already decided he was going to cut in and shoot.

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2 hours ago, Checko said:

He's a bit below this year but that's just natural variance.

 

think this is understating it pretty heavily to be honest. In the league this season he has 0.21 goals per 90 played from an xG of 0.37 per 90 (or 3 goals from 5.3xG) which is really quite bad.

 

I'm sure he'll be working on it but obviously need to improve massively. 

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24 minutes ago, alexf said:

with his headers, like a lot of players, he seems to close his eyes and dip his head at the last second. 

 

On the replay I noticed this too, took his eye off it at the last moment

 

Overall he's class for us and causes so much problems to the opposition, do hope he can improve his finishing, it's never going to be at an elite level but he should be able to improve it with regular practice 

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3 hours ago, Smal said:

 

think this is understating it pretty heavily to be honest. In the league this season he has 0.21 goals per 90 played from an xG of 0.37 per 90 (or 3 goals from 5.3xG) which is really quite bad.

 

I'm sure he'll be working on it but obviously need to improve massively. 

Yeah but over a short period of time. Personally I'm not worried.

 

Take Isak for instance: in 2021/22 he scored 6 goals in the season from 9.8 xG. Should have had an extra 4 goals that year. He'd scored 17 league goals the year before (16.8 xG), 9 from 7.3 xg the year before that and 13 from 11.7xG the year before that. Every other year before and after he's generally scored slightly more then his xg. Sometimes you just have a year, or run of games where things don't go as well as normal.

 

The pattern I see with Gordon over the last few years is that he's scored pretty consistently about much as many goals as expected. Goals often come in clusters, he'll probably score a few in a couple of games at some point and be back to baseline. So yeah, of course he's not been clinical so far this year, but I'm not worried about his finishing over the long-term, I think it's fine.

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AG is a clever and analytical guy. I’m sure he’ll figure out a way to improve his finishing. Maybe he needs to work on a particular move/shot and refine it the way Henry did. 
Anyway, I’m sure there are enough brains in the building to make him better.

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52 minutes ago, Lotus said:

AG is a clever and analytical guy. I’m sure he’ll figure out a way to improve his finishing. Maybe he needs to work on a particular move/shot and refine it the way Henry did. 
Anyway, I’m sure there are enough brains in the building to make him better.

This has always been my view. I was surprised at how well he did last season, but I think it's in his nature that he will practice and practice and eventually become a very respected finisher in the game.

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Thought he was excellent today, even without the goal: good defensive work, looked like he was causing a threat all game. Feel his understanding with Hall is coming along nicely as well. Man, if those two can build a really good understanding...

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Great goal to get us going and looked full of energy, his end product still needs to improve.

 

I wanted to mentioned his amazing run across the whole pitch against Brentford last week to recover the ball for us, one thing you can't criticize him for is lack of effort as he really puts it all out there.

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16 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Thought he was top today, looked confident and determined to use his unpredictability and intelligence. Great strike as well of course. 

 

The type of “fuck off” confidence i was alluding to about last season (made the post the other day). When he plays like he feels like nobody can stop him, he’s nearly unplayable with that pace and ability. 

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On 23/12/2024 at 10:02, Lotus said:

AG is a clever and analytical guy. I’m sure he’ll figure out a way to improve his finishing. Maybe he needs to work on a particular move/shot and refine it the way Henry did. 
Anyway, I’m sure there are enough brains in the building to make him better.

Agreed. A lot of it is confidence too. Last season he scored today’s goal multiple times (City and Sheff U spring to mind).  I think he’s been practicing this for a long time and today it came off.  Excellent goal. 

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Loyalty doesn’t come into it.  Ultimately they’re employees, and it is a short career.  Football clubs can hardly whine about the ‘loyalty’ of players - some clubs push literally hundreds of youngsters off their books each year; if the player isn’t good enough, or too old, they won’t get a new contract.  Players are ‘loyal’ as long they’re starting each week and achieving as much as they can achieve based on their skills.  Pretty much every Geordie who ever played in B&W left the club at some point, sometimes actively pushing for a transfer.  Beardsley, Gascoigne, Shearer, Carroll - they all either went or wanted to go at some point, though they’d often justify it with claims re ambition etc.  I’m not arguing that this is wrong, just that football is a cutthroat industry and it’s not reasonable to expect the players to act any different.  Gordon has zero links to us - if a club which is bigger, will pay more and increase his chances of winning trophies rocks up with a bid, he’ll no doubt actively consider it.  

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He talked to a Swedish reporter before last game and he talked about just how hard it is to switch positions mid-game. Each position comes with at least ten new instructions (at Newcastle) - different movements, defensive responsibilities, and attacking patterns. It’s not just about running to a new area of the pitch, it’s about completely changing the way you think and play.

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