Why do we have such a lack of non-striking goalscorers?

I raised this point in another thread, but I just wanted to expand on it.

Our strikers, in their current state, don't have much trouble. Ba has 14 goals, Best has 3 goals, Shola has one and HBA has scored his first one after only a couple of starts. It was a great goal too, so it's very encouraging.

Outside of that though, why do we have so few goalscorers? It's a far cry from last season, where players like Nolan got 12 goals, and Barton got 4, amongst others.

These days, apart from Raylor and Cabaye with their set pieces, in-terms of non-striking players we have:

Jonas - 1 goal
Gosling - 1 goal

This is after 18 games. It wouldn't be so bad if non-attacking players looked like scoring, but they just don't. The only ones I can think of are possibly Coloccini, Cabaye or Vuckic when he's on, but even they have yet to score from open play. Cabaye especially surprises me, as I thought he might have had 3 or 4 by now after 17 games. On the other hand, players like Obertan, Tiote, Jonas, Simpson, Williamson and so on never really look like much of a threat. I know some of them are defenders or deep players, but you would expect those to get maybe a goal or two, or an assist.

Now when you compare it to other teams, there are different players popping up every week with goals which are getting them points. Just look at Sunderland as a great example:

Larsson - 5
Richardson - 2
Bramble - 1
Brown - 1
Colback -1
Elmohamady - 1
Gardner - 1
Vaughan - 1

Now some of them are set pieces (probably all via Larsson) but far more players have managed to get themselves on the scoresheet. If we could have combined that sort of non-attacking player scoring with goals from Ba, Best and HBA, we could have a point or three more than we do now.

I don't think we just need to find another attacking partnership while Ba is out, but we also need to get the rest of our players having a pop or getting into better positions to take the pressure off strikers like HBA, Best and even Ba after he's back. Every little helps.

 

Cabaye scored from open play against Wigan.

 

Ben Arfa could score a canny few IMO

 

Well Nolan was a bit of an exception. There aren't many players like hiom who could get so many goals from midfield. I'm a little annoyed that our Centre Backs havent scored in the league yet, but that may be down to our corners being disappointing this season. Given time, I'm sure Cabaye will pick up a few more goals and who knows, maybe Obertan will get lucky and deflect one in

 

I thought just that. Both Norwich and WBA had like 6 blokes in our box at EVERY opportunity...........causing untold trouble. We should do same. Pity that it takes Shola forever to get there. LOL

 

I'd say it's tied in with the conversely surprising defensive record we have (sans the last few games). You mention you're surprised that Cabaye hasn't chipped in with more goals yet, which can probably be explained by exhaustion due to the amount of running and general work he puts in at midfield.

 

You've just COMPLETELY missed the point of this thread you utter helmet.

 

You left out Raylor who has two goals in the league.

 

Cabaye scored against Wigan, Guthrie scored against Blackburn in the Carling Cup, Sameobi scored against Scunthorpe in the Carling Cup. Ben Arfa could potentially score a lot.

 

Just realised that Cabaye scored in open play, so yes, that's another one. But still!

 

I'm not talking about cups, and Ben Arfa is an attacking player, so he doesn't count.

 

It is a concern that we don't have enough players chipping in with goals in the league but we've been fortunate that Ba has been in rich form so perhaps when he's away the others will step up in that department. They have to.

 

Raylor and Cabaye each have 1 from open play.

 

I didn't miss the point, I'm just saying Ben Arfa could score a good amount of goals if given a good run in the team.

 

I've been thinking this too. We could do with a winger that can get a few a season and Cabaye getting a few more, as well as a few more from set pieces

 

Ok. Instead of a bunch of people popping up with remarks like these, can we get back to talking about the actual point? Even if Raylor and Cabaye have scored from open play (which I've acknowledged already) it still shows a lack of non-attacking players scoring goals compared to most other teams.

Arsenal are another good comparison, as they are in a similar situation by relying on a talismanic striker for so many goals, but even then:

Arteta - 3
Vermaelen - 3
Santos - 1
Ramsey - 1
Song - 1

 

Still missing the point Tash...

 

I reckon Santon could get one or two, Obertan could get one, Sameobi could get some in the league. The potential is there it's just that Ba's nicking everyone's goals.