It's not a cop out because I can't put my finger on why we miss so many chances but I do know it's something that needs to be worked on otherwise we'll forever be the nearly men. Do Kane and Son miss too many? Perhaps they do, if there's stats showing those two's personal conversion rates then we might get an idea. Do Eriksen and Alli not create enough clear cut chances? Perhaps. Should the likes of Dembele be getting more involved with assists and goals? Probably. Does the manager do enough to change things when things aren't working? I'd say no. There's many different variables, it's not just down to one or two people, the team in general need to be more ruthless. Regardless of what you think of Juve or Leicester, both have had more success than us in recent seasons, so I'm not going to knock them for the way they play.
We suffer from the fact that we only truly have one player who is genuinely a clinical finisher. Last season we had two but this year Alli hasn't been at the races and Kane has been left to shoulder the burden. Son is growing into a top quality player but for every worldie he misses 2 or 3 usually easier chances. The likes of Eriksen, Lamela and Dembele don't contribute anywhere nearly enough goals across a season. When compared to City who have Aguero, De Bruyne, Sane, Silva, B Silva and Jesus who are all top finishers and you can see why their GD is insanely high. I think this is why Moura may grow to become a really important player - last season he scored 19 goals which really what we need most of our attacking players to be doing. Last year Kane, Son and Alli all scored 20+ in all competitions and it showed. This year Kane and maybe Son will hit that target.
I am not knocking them I am just asking if you would prefer to play in their, arguably, more efficient style. OK I ask but I know you would not like Spurs to play like that. I agree it's not just down to two players it is the team. I suppose my argument rests on the fact that we are doing better than we have for years. That we have the most valued striker in the world who was developed at Spurs. Yes even he misses chances and has off games and that should tell you that you demand way too much. If one of the worlds best strikers misses chances, and he does, then it's clear what we all know that football is about microns and misses. It's why we all cheers so much when the ball finally enters the net.
I'm a firm believer in that the game should be played the right way and I love watching this team under Poch. Poch is the best thing that's happened to this club since the Burkinshaw and Nicholson eras though that doesn't mean there aren't flaws to his game/ our style at times. In fairness to Juventus, while they're incredibly efficient, they're not a bad team to watch either, their defence always gains the plaudits as I think it's universally recognised as the best unit on the planet but their attacking threat is also phenomenal. Dybala is as good as anyone on his day, Higuain's been elite for years, Douglas Costa as we saw in both legs is incredibly talented, Pjanic is like a carbon copy of Eriksen and let's not forget they've lost Pogba and Vidal in recent seasons, too. For me, Juve are an example of how to mix pretty with efficient and thus get success from it. I'd say we can certainly learn from them.
We could do with a few more players chipping in with goals, but our overall rate is pretty decent. Kane's right up there again, Son seems to score in every home game and Eriksen's just about at his normal amount right now. Alli's well down on last season, Dembele never scores, Lamela's been out for ages, Llorente doesn't get any time in the league and Moura just joined. The first XI is fine, but our subs and squad players could do more. Here's the top scorer list and it includes shots on target and percentages, too: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/top-scorers Kane's very high and Son's right up there for someone who isn't a striker.
I agree in their (10 minutes) they did look frighteningly good and I wasn't surprised when they scored, just a little surprised we had not seen more of it, but that happily is because of the respect they showed Spurs. They knew how good we were and I think we can take some pride from our performances against such fine teams. We could so easily have won and Juventus know that.
We haven't talked about it because I suppose it is so embedded into the Italian game and they are masters at it, far more subtle than the Spanish IMO. Their spoiling tactics are very difficult to deal with and we should mention and praise Dele who came in for more than his share of niggling stuff and he didn't respond as he might have done in his first season with us. The lad is learning.
Maybe that then indicates that outside of Sonny and Harry, whoever is taking shots on goal is clearly not doing well enough? Alli like you say being down on last season could be one of the culprits while other players may be taking shots at the wrong times instead of being smarter with possession? If so, there lies the problem between our poor conversion rate.
Here are the overall stats for each club's convestion rate this season: https://www.transfermarkt.com/premier-league/chancenverwertung/wettbewerb/GB1/saison_id/2017/plus/1 We're above average, but a bit below the clubs around us. We have the third highest number of shots, the fourth highest goals scored and the fifth highest shots on target. Hard to judge the quality of the shots from that though, as a good save is the same as a virtual backpass.
I think it's pretty obvious now that in Spurs, we have one of the best teams at keeping possession, so even a side like Juve know they're probably going to have sub 50% of the ball but they're also good (and smart) enough to know that when they do have it, they can make stuff happen. The result the other night was mainly decided by the managers in my opinion, Allegri made changes both in style and personnel at key times and it got the better of Poch, who failed to react before it was too late. Though we could've well put the game to bed at various stages which falls back to the point of not being clinical enough with chances. As I said the other night, no shame whatsoever losing to Juve but it felt as though we somewhat 'allowed' them to win it and that's what hurts. We were so close to beating such a world class side - not for the first time in the competition this season - but seemingly stumbled when it crucially mattered.
That's a good point DH, I used to argue that when Bent was in our team. People would say ah but he scores goals. I thought he cost us goals because he would get chances that might otherwise have gone to a better player. I don't think we have a Bent now.
Bent was one of the laziest players that I've ever seen. Pochettino would either have to change him completely or ship him straight out the door. My abiding memory of him is still Robbie Keane shouting and pointing at him for 90 minutes! I just searched for their names and this is the first image that comes up: please log in to view this image "WTF, Darren? Move your fecking arse!"
Ah, that's interesting and probably backs up that outside of Harry and Son, the rest are failing to deliver. Admittedly, like you say it's hard to judge the quality of shot but nonetheless the conversion rate is a worry. 3rd highest shots, 5th highest on target but only 9th best at converting. If we could literally increase our ratio by 2%-2.5%, we'd be breathing down City's shoulder. Such fine margins but it's generally the fine margins that separate things at the top.
Better players would convert more chances. We can't afford better players. Our team work is good enough to create lots of chances but it's individuals that score them or not
