Summer Transfers 2025 Missed Opportunities and Regrets

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Originally Posted by Letters

Oh hang on. By last season do you mean 23/24? Cos the season is finished so I thought you were taking about the one just gone.

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Yes. I mean 23/24 season. This season has only just ended, so it feels not quite right to call it last season yet

The season just gone sounds more apposite

This season just gone, unlike the previous two there is far less of a divide in terms of one good half, one bad half. It was all pretty unspectacular

38 goals in 19 first half - 11 wins 6 draws 2 defeats

31 goals in 19 second half - 9 wins, 8 draws, 2 defeats


The reason why there were fewer goals in the second half of the season should be obvious

I agree that creating chances is a problem. We have too many players who are inclined to recycle the ball until an obvious pass appears and in most instances the obvious pass simply doesn’t appear because we are so indecisive playing a final ball. You need razor sharp decision making to beat low blocks and it’s just something we’ve struggled immensely with. Even during moments of transition we overplay and it just ends up going out wide for a hopeful cross into the box.

The final third is all about decision making and talent. Tactics aren’t going to put the ball in the back of the net.

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

I agree that creating chances is a problem. We have too many players who are inclined to recycle the ball until an obvious pass appears and in most instances the obvious pass simply doesn’t appear because we are so indecisive playing a final ball. You need razor sharp decision making to beat low blocks and it’s just something we’ve struggled immensely with. Even during moments of transition we overplay and it just ends up going out wide for a hopeful cross into the box.

The final third is all about decision making and talent. Tactics aren’t going to put the ball in the back of the net.

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Exactly that

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Originally Posted by Letters

If you really want to get your doom juices ( :sick: ) going, I saw something this morning about 20 players leaving.
I suspect that includes a load of academy players who didn't make the grade.

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Yes I saw that too, but when I looked at the list there were only 4 that we would consider 1st team players.

Interesting that Nathan Butler-Oyedeji is on the list. He was on the subs bench for few games at the end of the season I thought?

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

But that tells you nothing about the type of chances created

Our average XG this season was 1.97

Compare that to Liverpool who were at 2.45

There’s no doubt we need a goalscorer to put away chances, but our XG is not massively in excess of the goals scored. I would imagine last season, that we outperformed our XG

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Again, I'm not disagreeing with you that we could do with improving our creative outlet, I just don't believe it's quite as high on the priority list than goalscorer, game plan, tactics, which have all negatively influenced us this season rather than being all positive.

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

I agree that creating chances is a problem. We have too many players who are inclined to recycle the ball until an obvious pass appears and in most instances the obvious pass simply doesn’t appear because we are so indecisive playing a final ball. You need razor sharp decision making to beat low blocks and it’s just something we’ve struggled immensely with. Even during moments of transition we overplay and it just ends up going out wide for a hopeful cross into the box.

The final third is all about decision making and talent. Tactics aren’t going to put the ball in the back of the net.

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Of course tactics will influence the ball going in the back of the net.

If your tactic is to play quick, counter attacking football your chances of scoring a goal will increase. If it's to pass the ball around endlessly, moving up the pitch in 1 foot increments, giving the opposing team 5 mins to get all 11 men back behind the ball - that will cut your chances of putting the ball in the back of the net.

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

This season just gone, unlike the previous two there is far less of a divide in terms of one good half, one bad half. It was all pretty unspectacular

38 goals in 19 first half - 11 wins 6 draws 2 defeats

31 goals in 19 second half - 9 wins, 8 draws, 2 defeats


The reason why there were fewer goals in the second half of the season should be obvious

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Martinelli put 76 crosses into the box by 35 odd games (could be more now) this season.

36 were converted into shots.

That's 40 'chances' created that no one got on the end of.

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Originally Posted by KSE Comedy Club

Again, I'm not disagreeing with you that we could do with improving our creative outlet, I just don't believe it's quite as high on the priority list than goalscorer, game plan, tactics, which have all negatively influenced us this season rather than being all positive.

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As MO said I don’t think there’s a magic tactic that makes us more creative. The pendulum like passing comes down to not having players who are quick enough in their decision making or confident enough to make the quick offensive pass. This comes down to this insistence on playing players in the number 8 role who aren’t naturally creative.

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Originally Posted by KSE Comedy Club

Martinelli put 76 crosses into the box by 35 odd games (could be more now) this season.

36 were converted into shots.

That's 40 'chances' created that no one got on the end of.

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You’re arguing that every cross that comes into the box represents a chance. That’s pretty thin stuff

To be honest that we create chances with almost half of the crosses that come in is actually not bad, that’s a testament to the height of the team I imagine. But lumping a cross into the box isn’t a chance, it’s an opportunity to create a chance