Attacking

Before I start, in Michael’s interview he said the stats showed we were the better team in terms of box entries. Actual touches in the box suggest that wasn’t the case; Wyscout have us on 15 compared to 18 for Wimbledon. As I said, I don’t want to do a whitewash article, these numbers are there to be interpreted, or not.

I guess people see shots from distance, speculative efforts, as missing the point, and I know this next stat won’t impress everyone, but we had more shots at goal last night than in any of the selected games. However, we had by far the worst on target average, just 18.8%, which I think does agree with the assessment that we just didn’t have the right ideas. I’m surprised that the percentage is lower than Rochdale last season, a game I thought we had little impact in. Therefore, in this instance the numbers tell the story as many fans have; we didn’t have a route to goal. Still, our xG was better, which suggests we did have clear-cut chances. For those interested, our high-est xG ranked efforts were the Bishop chance on 16 minutes, TJ Eyoma’s blocked effort five minutes after half time, and Hakeeb Adelakun in the last minute (a chance I’d forgotten about in a blur of anger). As a side point, watching that chance back, I wonder if Adelakun might be in for a recall? He made the run that I felt nobody made all night, and although his scuffed effort was blocked, it was actually our best chance of the night.

There’s another sta here I find interesting; crosses. Maybe it’s just the games I’ve selected, but we seem to have better crossing accuracy than last season, despite me (and others) complaining we lack width. Our accuracy from crosses is better in all three of the games from this season than last year’s picks. It isn’t as if the totals are markedly different either; there’s a mix between last season and this. Maybe we’re getting better with our balls into the box, but nobody is actually seeing it.

Finally, I have to chuckle at touches in the box; we had more last night than in the Gillingham win, Rochdale defeat and Fleetwood win. We lost, I get that, but the numbers prove it wasn’t as bad as some of the supporters seem to think. Yes, we lacked inventiveness in the final third, but actually we’re not all that different to last season. The difference, in my opinion, is literally one type of player. The type of player we missed out on with minute of deadline day left. The perception is players this season are not as good as last season, but the truth is far less cut and dried. We’re not making more mistakes, we’re not passing less accurately, but we are missing the Je Ne Sais Quoi that a £10m-rated loanee