Will our forwards wake up from their slumbers in time to challenge for the league? | No. Hibernating now

Samid

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The league is wide open this year. We are pretty much in the mix thanks to Bruno but we need our forwards to wake the feck up and take some responsibility if we want to challenge. Most title winners these days have forwards scoring 20 goals. For any of our forwards to hit 20 goals they need to score 2 per 3 games for the remainder of the season.

There's always the argument that we don't create enough chances but that's not been the case this season. We're creating loads, Bruno is topping the charts... but our conversion rate is a disgrace. And this isn't long shots skewing up the numbers. We're missing golden opportunities 1v1, free headers from set pieces etc.

Our conversion rates in the last 10 seasons:
20/21: 9.7 %
19/20: 15 %
18/19: 16.6 %
17/18: 19.7 %
16/17: 13 %
15/16: 16.4 %
14/15: 19.2 %
13/14: 18.8 %
12/13: 20.6 %
11/12: 19.8 %

Our league goals after 11 games:
Bruno 7
Cavani 3
Rashford 3
Maguire 1
Wan-Bissaka 1
Beek 1
Pogba 1
Greenwood 1
Martial 0

Wan-Bissaka and Maguire have scored twice as many goals as Greenwood and Martial combined. To be fair to Greenwood he's still a teen so his inconsistency is excusable. For Martial there simply aren't any excuses anymore.

Rashford is an odd one. 10 goals in all comps but half of those off the bench. He looks like the best player in the world when he plays as a sub but ridiculously lethargic and disinterested when playing the full 90 mins. It's a catch-22 where he can't be benched on merit because the other forwards are worse performers, and because he can't be benched he seemingly gets complacent and doesn't have the same urgency and point to prove as "sub Rashy" has.

Cavani looks the most promising of our forwards in and around the box but he isn't getting any younger and his recent injury record isn't great. Can we really rely on him to get 15+ goals with the games coming thick and fast this season?

I'll mention Donny too since he has often been compared to Thomas Muller on here. Why is he so timid? Why is he sideway passing when in great shooting positions? Back yourself to challenge the goalie man.

In the last 15 seasons these players were top scorers for the title winners:
19/20: Salah 19
18/19: Aguero 21
17/18: Aguero 21
16/17: Costa 20
15/16: Vardy 24
14/15: Costa 20
13/14: Toure 20
12/13: van Persie 26
11/12: Aguero 23
10/11: Berbatov 20
09/10: Drogba 29
08/09: Ronaldo 18
07/08: Ronaldo 31
06/07: Ronaldo 17
05/06: Lampard 16

Mid/late noughties was mostly Mourinho setting a 'concede as few as possible' trend and Fergie to an extent following suit so those teams weren't reliant on 20 goal strikers. The trend in the past decade is quite clear, you need a forward capable of 20 goals to win it. Toure is the only exception but even in that season Aguero and Dzeko scored 33 goals combined.

If we use the 13/14 season as benchmark and assume Bruno gets 20 goals, we'd still need another forward getting 17-18 or two forwards getting 15+ goals. What's frustrating is that Rashford and Martial both got 17 each last season but they don't have the consistency or hunger to build on that.

If we are to challenge, where are the goals going to come from apart from Bruno? Do we have a forward who can go on a consistent high-class run for the next 3-4 months?
 

DOTA

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Probably not.

How the feck did Toure score 20 goals?
 

My only Eric

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A third of the season in and Tony has 0.
you can't challenge for a league with that.
Our best bet is to not go lower in the table, and sign a striker in January. There's little chance of that happening though.

Another possibility is if Ole changes tactics, and improve on his in-game management. The ability of a manager to conduct his team during a game, like tell a player to push back a little, and attack from the back with run ins, or adapt in-game to disrupt an opposition player who seems to be on top of his game for that match.

Also, I hope Traore can add a lot to our season when he arrives in january.

The league this season is there for the taking.

Edit: no, I don't think our players will wake up from their slumber
 

Lentwood

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True though, whisper it quietly but we're currently in a position to challenge and Martial and Rashford have two league goals between them.

If we can get them firing, there's a chance for someone to break the City/Liverpool dominance

Look at our next 5 games...win 4 and we'll be top I reckon
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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Our forwards aren’t clinical. People talk
About how clinical Martial & Greenwood are, but they both miss a lot of chances.

Bruno & Mata are our most clinical players on front of goal. I would trust those 2 one on one over Martial or Greenwood definitely. Cavani has looked fairly clinical so far but missed a lot for PSG. Rashford is extremely unreliable in front of goal.

If we are going to challenge for the league this season we’ll need 20+ league goals from Bruno.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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Greenwood isn't clinical? Think you might be on your own on that one! Lads a machine!
He misses way more than he scores & his decision making is very poor. He has the potential to be clinical but right now I couldn’t call him that no. He has 3 goals in 14 matches this season.
 

Beachryan

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It's funny when you think of the technical comparison of a Martial vs. a Chicharito - obviously Tony can do things with a football that Hernandez couldn't dream of - but the latter would get you more goals.

The point of attacking play is to put the ball in the net. In my opinion until Martial and Rashford get back to doing that consistently, they should receive harsh criticism. It's not like they're 'link' players that are creating loads of chances, or crucial to a functional system like a Firminho. They're both goal-scorers that aren't scoring enough goals.

While football is always this way, we really could be having a relatively excellent season if Tony could finish. You think of when and where he's had his huge misses and if he'd converted...yeah I don't think Ole would be under pressure.
 

Bulldog United

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How do our conversion rates in the previous 10 seasons compare to our main rivals? I'd also be interested in seeing how many opportunities we create per game versus our main rivals. We do miss chances, but if we're creating a lot less than City and Liverpool are, that creates added pressure to finish them. You see both City and Liverpool players missing golden chances week after week, for example Salah when he's in selfish mode (most games), but they create so many other chances per game.

I believe our forwards can wake up from their slump. Alternatively, I could be open to the idea of signing Mbappe and Haaland in the January transfer window. :D
 

Giggsy13

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Our forwards were scoring for fun last year, so I expect the tide to change eventually. Martial just needs one from open play to get going again. His confidence is low but I think he’s on the verge of going on one of his runs where he starts looking like a world beater again.
 

Gabagoo

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No. Too young and inconsistent to expect anything from them.
And we have no right wing either.
 

SuperiorXI

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Probably not.

How the feck did Toure score 20 goals?
He was an unbelievable player, one of the greatest to ever play in the PL easily. I remember him in his prime just blasting through defences like they were made out of paper.

Also that season he took the piss scoring with free kicks every chance he got.
 

DRM

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Greenwood isn't clinical? Think you might be on your own on that one! Lads a machine!
Not this season he isnt. For some reason his shots either lack power or are straight at the keeper.
 

Okey

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It's funny when you think of the technical comparison of a Martial vs. a Chicharito - obviously Tony can do things with a football that Hernandez couldn't dream of - but the latter would get you more goals.
Reason is simple though...Chicharito is a pure striker while Martial is a wide forward/winger, same as Rashford. I think it's actually great that we're in the position we're in with our strikers yet to fire. I believe they will eventually, and that can only further our cause. I also expect some of the current hot shots to have their lean spells.
 

Giggsy13

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He was an unbelievable player, one of the greatest to ever play in the PL easily. I remember him in his prime just blasting through defences like they were made out of paper.

Also that season he took the piss scoring with free kicks every chance he got.
Yaya, Silva and Aguero are 3 players we should’ve signed. Yaya is criminally underrated by many, he was class and an absolute beast of a player.
 

SuperiorXI

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Not this season he isnt. For some reason his shots either lack power or are straight at the keeper.
Normal for a player that early into development. It wouldn't surprise me if Ole took him out the limelight and eased him back in just to lower the pressures.

We need to be relying on Cavani, Martial and Rashford (in that order).
 

SuperiorXI

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Yaya, Silva and Aguero are 3 players we should’ve signed. Yaya is criminally underrated by many, he was class and an absolute beast of a player.
Yeah definitely. At the time they were sought after as well, it's not like City found hidden gems. Toure played in defence for Barca against us in the CL final!

I hate how we didn't get at least one of them... City landed some amazing talent there that formed the spine of their most successful teams.
 

RedSky

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Greenwood isn't clinical? Think you might be on your own on that one! Lads a machine!
I wouldn't listen to anything he says, he talks from his arse a lot of the time. Greenwood is a machine. Last season's conversion rate was one of the best in the league. He's just having a difficult second season syndrome is all which has been amplified by all that Iceland England horseshit.
Player​
Conversion Rate​
Jamie Vardy​
26%​
Mason Greenwood​
26%​
Danny Ings​
24%​
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang​
24%​
Sadio Mané​
23%​
Harry Kane​
22%​
Troy Deeney​
22%​
Chris Wood​
22%​
Anthony Martial​
21%​
Sergio Agüero​
21%​
Olivier Giroud​
21%​
Raheem Sterling​
20%​
Alexandre Lacazette​
19%​
Dele Alli​
19%​
Bruno Fernandes​
18%​
Marcus Rashford​
18%​
Tammy Abraham​
17%​
Ayoze Pérez​
17%​
Lys Mousset​
16%​
Jordan Ayew​
16%​
 

Superunknown

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We're so heavily reliant on Bruno, which is scary as hell. One injury and that could seemingly be it for our season, since we never look the same or even close to right without him.

About time our strikers stepped up. Too passive, not hungry enough, and too ineffective during games. The stats are disappointing, it's as simple as that. Thinking ahead to next season, we need to be ruthless with our strikers and make it clear that they will be replaced if they don't start scoring. Football is a numbers game and you need your strikers to perform and get the goals.

My kingdom for a 20+ goals a season number 9.
 

Bilbo

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Rashford and Martial have always tended to be streaky forwards if my memory serves me correctly. We could really do with them hitting a streak over this coming period
 

Green_Red

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A third of the season in and Tony has 0.
you can't challenge for a league with that.
Our best bet is to not go lower in the table, and sign a striker in January. There's little chance of that happening though.

Another possibility is if Ole changes tactics, and improve on his in-game management. The ability of a manager to conduct his team during a game, like tell a player to push back a little, and attack from the back with run ins, or adapt in-game to disrupt an opposition player who seems to be on top of his game for that match.

Also, I hope Traore can add a lot to our season when he arrives in january.

The league this season is there for the taking.

Edit: no, I don't think our players will wake up from their slumber
He has 9 on his back but he ain't a 9, not in a million years. We need a proper striker desperately.
 

elmo

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No, but they'll wake up in time to sneak us 3rd/4th and you'll have fans creaming over their potential and how good this team can be when everything clicks despite yet another disappointing season
 

jem

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Yaya, Silva and Aguero are 3 players we should’ve signed. Yaya is criminally underrated by many, he was class and an absolute beast of a player.
Who underrates Yaya Toure? I've not met anyone who didn't consider him a vital part of City's early-to-mid decade dominance.
 

jem

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Rashford and Martial have always tended to be streaky forwards if my memory serves me correctly. We could really do with them hitting a streak over this coming period
To be honest, I'm getting sick of the streakiness. Makes you realize how great Van Nistlerooy was.
 

Lay

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Cavani has played like 2 games and he’s second top scorer :lol:
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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They have been shocking.

Kane: 9 goals
Son: 10 goals

Salah: 10 goals
Mane: 4 goals
Jota: 5 goals
Firmino: 2 goals

Bruno: 7 goals
Rashford: 3 goals
Cavani: 3 goals
Martial: 0
Greenwood: 1

There is a reason why Spurs & Liverpool are in the top 2 on the table right now. Bruno with 7 league goals so far should be our 2nd top scorer not our 1st top scorer, our forwards need to step up and improve.
 

Pogue Mahone

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To be honest, I'm getting sick of the streakiness. Makes you realize how great Van Nistlerooy was.
Ruud was several years older than Rashford (same age as Martial) when he joined us though. Our big problem for me is that we’re relying on strikers as young as Rashford and Greenwood to be as consistent as players in their late 20s like Kane or Mane.

Plus Martial just can’t be relied on, full stop.
 

Longshanks

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Probably not.

How the feck did Toure score 20 goals?
City's penalty taker that season if I remember correctly also smashed a few free kicks in.


In answer to OP we desperately need Marital to hit his straps and re-discover his scoring touch, if he can get a goal or two in the next few games hopefully he can find his best form again, if not it's hard to see him keeping his place once cavani returns to fitness.

Greenwood will find his touch again no doubt, hopefully hes over his early season troubles and can find his form again but he does look like hes believing his own hype a little too much.

Rashford has been the best of the three M's so far but much like the team overall has been very patchy and struggling for consistency from world beater to no hoper game to game.

It's a positive that we are in the position we are in without any of our forwards finding there best form yet, I believe they will come out of there rut, hopefully sooner rather than later otherwise we may struggle to keep up the pace.
 

tenpoless

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I have a feeling they (Greenwood, Rashford & Martial) will come online and start firing at the same time.

...which is not what we need to challenge, we need consistency. But now we have Cavani as well, he could fill in the gap.
 

El Zoido

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It bodes well that we’re still in the mix despite Martial and Rashford being relatively poor. Both of them tend to have a purple patche at some point in the season, if that happens and we go on another lengthy winning streak, we’re going to be up there. No guarantees it will happen, though. Also we frequently shit the bed when things are going well, so who knows. I don’t think this team has the mentality to win the league, even though this season we should be among the teams seriously competing for it.
 

Web of Bissaka

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They were sleeping?

Ok kid aside, so far this is their "normal performances" - hot and cold, hit and miss, frustrating isn't it. We're seeing Rashford continuing his form post-lockdown last season but Martial fooled many of us into thinking he's "improving". Now back to square one. Are they even improving at all?

Their purple patches of form will only last for 2-3 months at best, we've seen that plenty of times in all the past seasons. Not enough, but since that hasn't happen yet, there are good chances they'll hit it for one month each and that's enough. Thankfully the league is so shit this season, so the chances are there. I just hope Bruno is still fit enough and maintain good form when they did hit it.

Purple patch prediction
January = Martial (after talks of us getting new winger/striker emerging..)
February = Greenwood (finally full focus to impress trying to get into the England NT)
March = Rashford (after he's back from injury)
 
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He was an unbelievable player, one of the greatest to ever play in the PL easily. I remember him in his prime just blasting through defences like they were made out of paper.

Also that season he took the piss scoring with free kicks every chance he got.
Agreed. Hated it as he was a city player but he was ridiculous. Free kicks, penalties, long range shots off both feet, cute one one ones, defence splitting passes - he had it all.
 

gerdm07

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I have confidence that Cavani and Greenwood will start scoring more. I don't have much confidence that Martial and Rashford will.
 

Smores

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He misses way more than he scores & his decision making is very poor. He has the potential to be clinical but right now I couldn’t call him that no. He has 3 goals in 14 matches this season.
Does any striker score more than they miss? :confused:

It's odd for all your strikers to suddenly have poor conversion. Whether it's the case or not we don't know but it certainly points to things not being quite right in training.

The one thing I'd agree with in your post is decision making. Our players have a habit of taking on a difficult shot when they should get their head up and pass for an easier goal.

Then again if the matchday thread is to be believed every save by opponent keepers has been a worldie so maybe its that :wenger: