Do we have the worst attack in the league?

[Daytripper]

One of them yes. I don’t understand why , when money is tight, you buy a player from a relegated side who has barely any assists or goals in a considerable time for a substantial fee in McNeil and then sign a player who can’t hold down a place at Brighton with a questionable goal scoring record but snarls at defenders so it’s ok?

We clearly lack a playmaker in the middle too, one who can play in the forwards with through balls and chip in with goals too.

I think Thelwell deserves credit for some shrewd defensive buys but the rest needs questioning in my opinion. We are slow, lack ruthlessness and creativity.

 

[Ferguson1878]

Anthony Gordon - 6 in 57
Demarai Gray - 25 in 257
Dwight McNeil - 8 in 142
Alex Iwobi - 16 in 194

There
Lies
The
Problem

Woeful that

 

[nsno-chris]

Woeful that

That’s 55 career goals from 4 attacking players

Richarlison scored 43 for Everton in 4 years, and people wonder why we are toothless up top

 

[efcfanwirral]

That’s 55 career goals from 4 attacking players

Richarlison scored 43 for Everton in 4 years, and people wonder why we are toothless up top

I still think Richarlison was wrong for us, he scored when it counted but his general play felt like it was at the expense of others, which may have contributed to those desperate situations.

We needed to replace him with playmakers which never happened. He left us short a winger when he played there and short a centre forward when he played there. We needed a balanced team with players who could create for strikers. We have a defence midfield and strikers with a gaping hole between them. So now we don't have either a team that can score or a player who can dig a goal when we desperately need one.

Gray and Gordon are not the answer and we may need to look at playing with no wide players

 

[f.t.r.s]

Something that's really been bugging me for a while now...
Regardless if the manager or personnel...

We constantly seem to be the worst team I've seen at keeping the ball,
We're so slow at countering ...
Everything just seems slower

 

[DanEFC92]

 

[WA Toffee]

Does one extra backup striker solve this?

While we may not excel in the attack dept, when someone (the person that posted it on twitter, not you) deliberately omits the two top scorers from the list, then yeah, it is going to look a lot worse.

It is still bad though

 

[Dougie]

Something that's really been bugging me for a while now...
Regardless if the manager or personnel...

We constantly seem to be the worst team I've seen at keeping the ball,
We're so slow at countering ...
Everything just seems slower

I’m my 15 years of being season ticket holder, bar the first 6 months of Roberto first season, generally always fought we are crap with the ball. That’s from passing to moving and making space and options for the person on the ball. All are players get man marked by their own shadow.

 

[TheBigIguana]

This is not just about the quality of the attackers. Teams with equally or even more trash attackers do more in attack than this.

 

[Colonel Getafe]

And does anyone still think rejecting £60m for Gordon was a good call?

I expect this was largely just papertalk, I highly doubt there was a legitimate and serious £60m offer on the table at any time. More likely is that Chelsea were initially interested for somewhere around £45m but how much of that was up front and how much was bonus-dependant is speculation (I suspect a fair chunk of it would have been bonus based). Then you factor in this Chelsea interest/offer being right at the end of the window and it makes any sale even more less likely.

 

[Raino85]

This is not just about the quality of the attackers. Teams with equally or even more trash attackers do more in attack than this.

Newcastles front 3 of Almiron, Wilson & Murphy yesterday being a perfect example

 

[Pittsburgh Footy]

Since our wide players have been woeful of late, I could see something like this

Our back four
Gana
Iwobi Onana
Garner
Maupay DCL

Gives us a truer playmaker in midfield and Maupay can play off DCL.

This will certainly make us have to play narrower. But it's not like doing anything out wide is benefitting us at the moment

 

[Colonel Getafe]

Almost definitely we have the worst attack in the league.

DCL asside, you don't see anyone in the squad getting even close to double figures, and even he has only done that twice, prior to his injuries. (IMO we've still never really replaced Lukaku: both in terms of goals but also just having a top quality No9 in the side).

I think it's a very safe bet that there wont be many, if any, teams who score fewer goals than us this season.

That said, the plan clearly has been to prioritize defensive solidity to turn as many of last season's weak defeats into at least draws. Over a season, if that plan is successful it'll be worth 8-10 points, and will be the difference between relegation coin-flip or relatively comfortable finish around about 14th 15th.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Since our wide players have been woeful of late, I could see something like this

Our back four
Gana
Iwobi Onana
Garner
Maupay Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Gives us a truer playmaker in midfield and Maupay can play off Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

This will certainly make us have to play narrower. But it's not like doing anything out wide is benefitting us at the moment

You can't do this until Patterson comes back and even then I'm not sure you're getting enough width from the fullbacks to pull it off.

Also don't think Garner is a #10 at all.

 

[Pittsburgh Footy]

You can't do this until Patterson comes back and even then I'm not sure you're getting enough width from the fullbacks to pull it off.

Also don't think Garner is a #10 at all.

He's not, but he's the closest we have

It's what is painfully obviously missing in the side