TheBigIguana
Player Valuation: £100m
I think all of these players are capable of being judged beyond goals and assists. It's a very simplistic view. The answer to the question is very much that it just depends.
Doucoure for example is yes positionally different but also theoretically getting into the box and making an impact in the final third should only be part of his game. So even if he had an absurd year where he scored 7 or 8 goals I think he'd still need to actually be an impactful player in the middle third to some extent. Last season he was one of the worst midfielders when you're talking just the center. He's fine when we're up the field, he's passable in defense, but that middle part he's not a useful ball mover and he gets bypassed a lot too. So what does it matter if he scores here or there is what I'm asking.
I look at someone like Pereira and the honest answer is I have no clue how good he is. The goal scoring number feels like it'll be hard for him to hit again, especially if you're including the penalties so you have to look beyond that and it gets hard because you're playing in an Allardyce team. So for him are we getting anything if he's not having that final third impact? I truly don't know.
And my thing with Iwobi is I'd like to see him put in a position where there can be more to his game than goals and assists. I think people feel I'm saying Iwobi is good or might be good value and I'm really not. What I am saying is since he's part of the team it might be a good idea to get the most from him that we can. On top of that I just think it is time to stop playing Sigurdsson because he's the ultimate in goals and assists that don't mean anything because he has zero impact in a lot of other important areas for midfielder/#10.
I'll still do this bet but part of the reason I rate Buendia, and funnily enough this was the point of the post you originally responded to, is that he's a player who does positive things for a team beyond just his goals and assists. He works hard, presses well, and does a lot of positive work moving the ball up the field. Very much what James did for us in a few games last season where he was the best player on the field despite not having a goal or assist. Which is why I push back on the he flopped in the PL thing, for one 7 assists is nothing to sniff at, we barely have anyone get to that year to year, but also because his play in the middle third was genuinely high level and that matter when you're a midfielder.
So the tl:dr on this is the number of goals and assists acceptable depends on a lot of things and may not really matter so much at all depending on what you're actually asking someone to do. It isn't just position but also their role and beyond that what else they bring.
