Cardiff City have struggled for strikers and goals at times this season. MacLean, Thompson and Feeney have all tried to establish themselves in the first team and failed while Robbie Fowler has barely featured after taking an age to gain match fitness, before a hip injury ruled him out.
One of the criticisms often aimed at the team is the tendancy to ‘walk the ball in’ i.e. trying to be too neat and score from close range rather than taking the shot when presented. Many of the supporters would prefer the likes of Thompson, Ledley, McPhail and Rae to shoot more often whenever the ball breaks within 20 yards rather than trying to tee up a team-mate and seeing the shot blocked.
However, the stats reveal a different story with the Bluebirds outshooting many in the division. In total, Cardiff have make 286 shots on target over the course of the season. Only Charlton Athletic (288), Ipswich Town (306) and West Brom 364) have accrued more shots on target than the Bluebirds.
Of course, these stats do not tell the whole story. I’m sure every keeper in the division would rather face a McPhail chip from 25 yards (perhaps not Rachubka of Blackpool!) than Hasselbaink from 16.
Nevertheless, the stats do point to a lack of a finisher, a natural goalscorer within the ranks to provide a clinical goalscoring difference to the team. That has been the main problem all season, remains so now and simply must be put right over the summer.
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Absolutely right! Those of us who have watched with increasing agony as our ‘midfielders’ delicately pass the ball back and fore towards the net before losing it now KNOW that ‘statistics’ don’t tell the whole truth. We simply have not replaced Earnie and Chopra and although Paul Parry has been magnificent we MUST get a goal-scoring, shoot-on-sight striker over the summer .. after all Jimmy Floyd will be EVEN OLDER next season!!
yes i agree, we need a shoot on sight striker, and hasselbaink i think has proved he doesnt not have it any more, and he is older so he loses his legs and stuff, we need him to be a coach now if anything to help promote the youth into supertars
I do think Hasselbaink has been very important for us this season, even tho he rarely scored he does link the midfield and was very helpful to Parry. That said, it’s impossible to disagree – we DO need strikers
I think I see what happened here, the stats count every goal kick by kasper and Encks as a shot on target !!
..bluebird04 – brilliant .. what a great suggestion about the role that JFH can play for the City from now on .. and John Brown’s piece in the Echo (I assume it’s from the Echo – the icwales link) about rooming with JFH at Ipswich suggests that someone at Ninian Park has also had the same bright idea ..