Nathan_NCFC
Vital Champions League
Hi all. I was listening to a football podcast last night and it got me thinking about the current role of a striker in this era. Every club up and down the country want the typical 30 goal a season striker and the bench mark of a good striker is always set at being proven to score 20+ in the division they play. I thought the last striker I can remember us having that got anywhere near that was probably Jamie Cureton which must be at least 10 years ago now. (Unless I've forgotten someone else?)
We all know our striker situation has been left to get worse for far too long, possibly by the fact we scored so many in Alex Neils last year smoke screened the weak strike force we actually had. However, the podcast was talking about the old idea of a striker who consistently scores you 20-30 goals every year is mostly a thing of the past now, and how the modern game has progressed. I investigated further and found there is only two players in the Championship that managed to get over 20 goals this year - Lewis Grabban (for the first time in his career) and Matej Vydra (the second time, he reached 20 goals in 2012 season but then went 3 years scoring just 22 goals in total)
Interestingly, of the top 5 top scorers in the championship, almost half are midfield players. The same is found in League 1 , with Jack Marriot being the only real exception after plundering 27 goals this term (but again, first time in his career, before this year he has managed just 25 goals over a 3 year period).
The same is also found in the Premier league, with 2 of the top 5 highest scorers being midfielders, and Kane and Salah aside (exceptions) only 2 players managed 20 goals (Vardy and Aguero) - All of this research into the top 3 leagues, certainly over the last half a decade is pointing to me that strikers are not really the main source of goals anymore for any club. (Which does seem bizarre). If you work out that at best, a striker you have may score you 20 or so goals, over a course of a season this will likely only make up 30% or so of your goals, meaning every club has to rely on outfield players to score the vast majority of their goals.
Considering that only 1 or 2 clubs in each division actually possess one of the couple of strikers that do get 20 goals, 90% of each division has to probably rely on something more closer to 80% of their goals coming from outside of the striking positions. It's just made me realise more than anything that actually, if we can manage a striker that can get around 10-15 goals a year, that is about as good as anyone has it. Jerome was achieving between those figures every year with us. Nelson just about achieved it last year with 11 goals, and hasn't this season with 8 goals.
I found this information surprising so thought I'd share here. What it shows for me is we are not alone in terms of lack of a proven striker in the striking department, it seems 90% of every league is - and if you look at the above, it isn't a case of the odd 2 clubs who do have them have done well and done their homework to get them in and we just haven't, as none of the current strikers who have done it have ever done it before. So it is purely down to luck when deciding who you buy. Who'd have thought Jack Marriot would net more this season than he's managed in 3 whole years? Same goes for the others. By these stats, he likely won't do it again! (although I'd like us to take a punt on him).
So.... the question is, are strikers really the be all and end all in these times for getting the majority of your goals? Based on the above I don't think they are crazily, and that makes the task for us a little easier at least. Surely it's cheaper to find a 10-15 goal a year striker.
We all know our striker situation has been left to get worse for far too long, possibly by the fact we scored so many in Alex Neils last year smoke screened the weak strike force we actually had. However, the podcast was talking about the old idea of a striker who consistently scores you 20-30 goals every year is mostly a thing of the past now, and how the modern game has progressed. I investigated further and found there is only two players in the Championship that managed to get over 20 goals this year - Lewis Grabban (for the first time in his career) and Matej Vydra (the second time, he reached 20 goals in 2012 season but then went 3 years scoring just 22 goals in total)
Interestingly, of the top 5 top scorers in the championship, almost half are midfield players. The same is found in League 1 , with Jack Marriot being the only real exception after plundering 27 goals this term (but again, first time in his career, before this year he has managed just 25 goals over a 3 year period).
The same is also found in the Premier league, with 2 of the top 5 highest scorers being midfielders, and Kane and Salah aside (exceptions) only 2 players managed 20 goals (Vardy and Aguero) - All of this research into the top 3 leagues, certainly over the last half a decade is pointing to me that strikers are not really the main source of goals anymore for any club. (Which does seem bizarre). If you work out that at best, a striker you have may score you 20 or so goals, over a course of a season this will likely only make up 30% or so of your goals, meaning every club has to rely on outfield players to score the vast majority of their goals.
Considering that only 1 or 2 clubs in each division actually possess one of the couple of strikers that do get 20 goals, 90% of each division has to probably rely on something more closer to 80% of their goals coming from outside of the striking positions. It's just made me realise more than anything that actually, if we can manage a striker that can get around 10-15 goals a year, that is about as good as anyone has it. Jerome was achieving between those figures every year with us. Nelson just about achieved it last year with 11 goals, and hasn't this season with 8 goals.
I found this information surprising so thought I'd share here. What it shows for me is we are not alone in terms of lack of a proven striker in the striking department, it seems 90% of every league is - and if you look at the above, it isn't a case of the odd 2 clubs who do have them have done well and done their homework to get them in and we just haven't, as none of the current strikers who have done it have ever done it before. So it is purely down to luck when deciding who you buy. Who'd have thought Jack Marriot would net more this season than he's managed in 3 whole years? Same goes for the others. By these stats, he likely won't do it again! (although I'd like us to take a punt on him).
So.... the question is, are strikers really the be all and end all in these times for getting the majority of your goals? Based on the above I don't think they are crazily, and that makes the task for us a little easier at least. Surely it's cheaper to find a 10-15 goal a year striker.