Robin Van Persie 9 goals in 19 starts
Adebayor 8 goals in 20 starts
Bendtner 3 goals in 10 starts
Nasri 5 goals in 20 starts
Adebayor 8 goals in 20 starts
Bendtner 3 goals in 10 starts
Nasri 5 goals in 20 starts
I think the above statistics tell the story of our recent problem in scoring goals. While no one can deny that RVP has scored some absolute crackers and put in some very good performances, his goal scoring record could still do with a bit of improvement, the same goes for Ade and Bendtner.
The lack of goals from elsewhere is rather obvious. Without Nasri we've hardly had a goal from a midfielder all season. Obviously the injuries to Walcott and Fabregas have not helped, but they were hardly banging them in before they hit the treatment table were they?
It's easy to try to put it down to one thing, but I think too many things have gone wrong this year to do that. The strikers have been very wasteful in my opinion, the media loves to talk of the lack of creativity without Fabregas, but I think that is just lazy talk, it hasn't stopped our strikers missing sitter after sitter in recent weeks. Eboue's lack of end product is another cause, there's a lot of huff and puff without any end product.
Something Alan Hansen said on MOTD last night rang true, we do lack a bit of tempo and urgency at times, it's all a bit too ponderous and predictable, we need to mix it up with a bit more variety and a bit more directness at times. The centre of midfield doesn't look right, it looked right against West Ham with Diaby dominating the show, but again we were let down by some rather poor finishing again.
There are just too many ifs and buts at the moment. If only Diaby and Eduardo could get fit and stay fit, then I feel we'd have a bit more drive and a bit more razor sharpness in the box. The problem is that if you are going to challenge for the league, you need a squad with more strength in depth. The loss of our midfield drivers in the form of Flamini and Gilberto in the sumer, combined with the intermittent absence of Diaby through niggling injury has left our ship rudderless and lacking direction. The problem is that it's not just a rudder we need at the moment, we need a canon that doesn't fire blanks.
The lack of goals from elsewhere is rather obvious. Without Nasri we've hardly had a goal from a midfielder all season. Obviously the injuries to Walcott and Fabregas have not helped, but they were hardly banging them in before they hit the treatment table were they?
It's easy to try to put it down to one thing, but I think too many things have gone wrong this year to do that. The strikers have been very wasteful in my opinion, the media loves to talk of the lack of creativity without Fabregas, but I think that is just lazy talk, it hasn't stopped our strikers missing sitter after sitter in recent weeks. Eboue's lack of end product is another cause, there's a lot of huff and puff without any end product.
Something Alan Hansen said on MOTD last night rang true, we do lack a bit of tempo and urgency at times, it's all a bit too ponderous and predictable, we need to mix it up with a bit more variety and a bit more directness at times. The centre of midfield doesn't look right, it looked right against West Ham with Diaby dominating the show, but again we were let down by some rather poor finishing again.
There are just too many ifs and buts at the moment. If only Diaby and Eduardo could get fit and stay fit, then I feel we'd have a bit more drive and a bit more razor sharpness in the box. The problem is that if you are going to challenge for the league, you need a squad with more strength in depth. The loss of our midfield drivers in the form of Flamini and Gilberto in the sumer, combined with the intermittent absence of Diaby through niggling injury has left our ship rudderless and lacking direction. The problem is that it's not just a rudder we need at the moment, we need a canon that doesn't fire blanks.
