Category Archives: Goal Analysis

Wigan Athletic 1-1 Chelsea – Goal Analysis

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0-1 Sturridge

Cole has plenty of time to bring the ball forward from left back and get his head up, eventually dropping a perfectly weighted ball over the top for Sturridge to run on to. Sturridge has taken up a position between centreback and fullback, and Figueroa is slow to push up in line with the rest of his back line as the ball is played. He is also square on to the play, seemingly unaware of Sturridge who has already started his run in behind.

As Sturridge shoots from a narrow angle, Al-Habsi makes a critical error; instead of trying to block the ball with his right foot, which would have been easy as the ball passes right next to it, he instead attempts to dive down and use his right hand which means he can only dive over the top of the ball and concede.

1-1 Gomez

At 1-0 down in the 88th minute, still Wigan look to play their way up the field instead of reverting to low percentage long balls, and they are rewarded for it. Di Santo is released on the left, and he cuts inside Ivanovic and plays a perfectly weighted reverse throughball to Rodallega which cuts out Bosingwa.

Rodallega can only toe-poke it towards goal as Terry comes out to close him down, but that’s enough to cause confusion as Cole creates the latest Koscielny-Szezesny or Collins-Given confusion, putting Cech off and the ball runs to Gomez to tap in. In these situations the keeper has to second-guess whether or not the defender is going to get a touch on the ball, which makes it much more difficult to deal with than it looks.

Terry and Bosingwa can only Morris Dance in disbelief in the background of the image.

Blackburn Rovers 1-2 West Bromwich Albion – Goal Analysis

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0-1 Morrison

The ball is cleared to the edge of the box, where Morrison produces a stunning volley on the turn, managing to keep it down and beat a packed penalty and Robinson’s dive. Phenomenal technique.

1-1 Dann

You couldn’t possibly come up with a more stereotypical Blackburn goal for the post-Mark Hughes era. A freekick in their own half is lumped forward by Robinson towards a giant centreback, who nods it down for his defensive partner to score. It’s not as if West Brom would have been expecting anything different, so perhaps they could have started further up the pitch to give Foster space to come and collect the ball? It’s impossible to be 100% certain of the offside call from this oblique angle but for my money Dann looks level with the ball.

1-2 Odemwingie

As Odemwingie picks the ball up on the right wing, Blackburn have two players ready to deal with him, and as is standard in this position you show him wide, prevent the cross and make him play the ball back upfield. Right?

Not at Blackburn. It turns out you just let him run between you both without even attempting a tackle and let him get in to the penalty area.

Although to be fair, once he gets in to this position Odemwingie pulls out a fantastic shot, bending the ball around Dann and into the far corner with pace.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Stoke City – Goal Analysis

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1-0 Hunt (pen.)

Unfortunately for Stoke, Chris Foy wasn’t refereeing this game so this was one blatant penalty decision they weren’t going to get away with. It should have been a yellow card though (and Woodgate’s second inside the first 17 minutes), so their luck with decisions continues.

1-1 Huth

Huth blasts a freekick and it takes a slight deflection off Doyle in the wall, wrong-footing Hennessey. Some people are claiming this should go down as a Doyle own goal. Those people are idiots. Others are claiming that it shouldn’t have been a freekick in the first place. Those people are also idiots. A scissor tackle from behind is a freekick all day long.

1-2 Crouch

No real pressure on the cross from the wing, even though Wolves have two-on-two defensively. Crouch pulls away at the back post and when there’s no pressure on the crossing player, he has time to get his head up and see the movement, which is what Etherington does here.

He plays the ball into what I’m contractually obliged to call the corridor of uncertainty, and Crouch only has to worry about not heading the post as he scores from a yard.

Fulham 2-0 Bolton Wanderers – Goal Analysis

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1-0 Dempsey

Ruiz picks the ball up on the right and isn’t closed down particularly quickly by Alonso. This gives him space to whip the ball in towards the back post, where Dempsey is more alive than Boyata to the threat and gets ahead of him to glance a great header in at the far post.

2-0 Ruiz

As the ball is played in to Dempsey, both Bolton centrebacks charge up the pitch to close him down, leaving a huge gap through the centre of defence, which both Dempsey and Ruiz realise immediately.

Once in, Ruiz pulls out a brilliant scoop to lift it over Jaaskelainen.

Everton 1-1 Norwich City – Goal Analysis

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0-1 Holt

Holt receives the ball in the penalty area with his back to goal, and Heitinga gets way too tight to him. A more flimsy player might have already fallen over to win a penalty by this point.

Then, as Hibbert approaches, Holt does a cheeky dragback to turn away from both.

Holt immediately shoots on the turn and the ball goes in off the far post past Baines on the line. If Messi had scored this goal, etc…

1-1 Osman

Hibbert’s overlapping run makes this goal, as it creates a huge space through the left side of Norwich’s defence. Drenthe uses the overlap to drive infield behind Johnson.

Drenthe shoots and it looks like Ruddy has it covered, but Osman very deliberately steers it past the Norwich keeper and into the near post. Lightning reflexes.

Manchester United 4-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers – Goal Analysis

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1-0 Nani

Nani picks the ball up on the left, with two Wolves players covering him. With nobody on the overlap to be concerned about, it should be relatively simple for the two Wolves defenders to contain Nani and show him down the line.

 

Of course the other option would be to let him wander infield unchallenged to shoot from the edge of the D… Two of the defenders make the same mistake of closing him down from too square a position, meaning all Nani has to do is continue running in the same direction and allow his momentum to take him past the defender who now has to stop and turn to follow him infield. The shot flies through a group of players giving Hennessey little chance to react in time to the shot drilled into the near post.

2-0 Rooney

Nani again picks the ball up in space on the left, and Edwards moves out to not leave Zubar in a one-on-one with him. In this situation Henry should recognise the space that Rooney has been left in and move out to close him down – he’s not offering anything by collapsing back on his defence here.

Nani plays the ball to Rooney, and Henry belatedly recognises that he needs to close Rooney down. Rooney allows the ball to run across him, creating space as Henry’s momentum means he can’t turn as quickly.

There’s only one player between Rooney and Hennessey so he couldn’t have been unsighted, but the ball was halfway in before Hennessey even began to react.

2-1 Fletcher

The evidence continues to mount that Smalling is a reactor rather than a reader of the game. In this case, Jarvis doesn’t need anything more clever than a drop of the shoulder to create enough space to put in a dangerous cross.

Evra is caught under the ball at the far post and Fletcher outjumps him, looping the ball back over Evans on the line.

3-1 Nani

This Manchester United team is based on width and this is a classic goal for such a setup. As Valencia brings the ball in from one wing looking to commit the fullback, Nani makes a run in from the other wing looking to get on the end of any cross, with Zubar slow to react.

This leaves Nani as the additional man as the ball is fired across the six yard box for him to tap in.

4-1 Rooney

Welbeck breaks with the ball, and Rooney makes a run through the centre. The best ball in this situation is arrowed; Berra is facing away from play and has to either turn to his left in an attempt to keep his eyes on the ball, in which case the break in his momentum will allow Rooney into a one-on-one, or he can turn to his right, maintaining his momentum in tracking back but having to take his eyes off both Rooney and the ball to do so. Rooney is calling for such a pass but Welbeck refuses.

As the ball is instead played to Valencia on the right, Rooney makes a run across to what is now the far post. Valencia again beats his man for pace to get in a cross.

The cross is a poor one, behind everybody, but Rooney is able to come back out to meet it and hit a swivelling half volley into the bottom corner.

Norwich City 4-2 Newcastle United – Goal Analysis

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1-0 Hoolahan

As the corner is played in, a man in a zone (Z) in the middle of goal, then man marking behind, indicated by the lines. Note that Ameobi is aligned with Crofts (7) and Perch (partially obscured by Gutierrez and Martin at the far post) is aligned with Holt (9). Morison (5) is unmarked.

Ameobi stands still, so as Crofts and Holt make their runs to the near post, he effectively abandons Crofts and ends up closer to Holt. Perch realises too late and has to run around Ameobi in an attempt to pick up Crofts (7) who is now free.

Crofts’ header is blocked on the line but it pinballs in off Hoolahan.

1-1 Ba

Norwich have two banks of four, but leave two men up top. This gives Cabaye a huge amount of time on the ball; either one of the front men should drop deeper to close him down, or if Norwich are intent on leaving two men up top then one of the midfielders has to be instructed to close down a man in this position.

Ba makes a run in behind the back four and Cabaye is good enough to lob a perfect ball over for him to slide in past Ruddy. Ba’s first touch with the ball falling over his shoulder is phenomenal, killing the ball perfectly.

2-1 Holt

From a worked corner, Holt gets above a mass of players to get a header on goal.

Krul can only block it up in the air where Holt recovers to head the rebound in over the men in front of him. Quick reactions.

3-1 Morison

Gosling receives the ball but instead of turning to move upfield, he tries to play it to Gutierrez but ends up playing a perfect throughball to Crofts.

Crofts has plenty of time to pick out a cross for Morison’s run into the box and he buries it in at the near post.

3-2 Ba

Whitbread is caught in possession by Ameobi, as Norwich let their concentration slip after Gosling’s red card.

Ba senses the danger and sets off through the middle into the gap vacated by Whitbread, for Ameobi to play him in.

Ba calmly turns Martin who attempts to cover and fires home immediately, demonstrating his current confidence in front of goal.

4-2 Holt

Holt’s late run into the box means a simple header from Norwich’s freekick, with Perch jumping underneath the ball.

Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City – Goal Analysis

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0-1 Kompany

Kompany and Toure make a run to the near post on this corner, while Johnson (marking Toure) and Kuyt (marking Kompany) track them. Kompany makes a run between Toure and Johnson, cutting Kuyt off.

Kuyt runs into Johnson, knocking him over, then makes a despairing dive to block Kompany’s header with his outstretched arms. Fortunately for him, his desperate attempt at getting a red card fails as Kompany heads it over his hands and in.

1-1 Adam

Adam seems to have stopped shooting constantly from the halfway line; now he prefers to take his wildly inaccurate possession-conceding shots from 35 yards out.

Luckily this time Lescott was on hand to steer it past the wrong-footed Hart into an empty net. It’s a shame, as it will only encourage him to keep taking ridiculous shots.

Arsenal 1-1 Fulham – Goal Analysis

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0-1 Vermaelen (o.g.)

Arteta is dispossessed in his own third, but even so Arsenal don’t appear to be in much danger in the transition, even though Murphy has time on the ball to get his head up. Riise begins a charge forward from left back but Walcott is tracking him.

With Mertesacker marking Dempsey, Djourou is the free man and should be able to make a two-on-one defensive situation against Riise as Murphy lifts the ball over to the far post.

Djourou is so slow to react to either the ball or Riise’s run that he is taken completely out of the play. This allows Riise to receive the ball and shield it from Walcott, who is trying to get goalside.

Vermaelen tries to clear with his wrong foot and shanks it into his own net past Szczesny. You can see how Walcott is still goalside of Riise, as Djourou stands and watches at the far post. Djourou was in a perfect position to see both the ball and the run, yet play went over and around him as if he wasn’t there.

1-1 Vermaelen

Vermaelen wins a header on halfway and decides to follow it up, as van Persie and Walcott combine on the right and only Chamakh is in the centre.

Despite the collection of Fulham players on the left holding off van Persie and Walcott, Murphy decides to move across to the left as well, instead of tracking Vermaelen, who takes the opportunity to sprint into the box untracked.

Walcott’s cross is perfect and Vermaelen is free to head it in from six yards.

Norwich City 2-1 Queens Park Rangers – Goal Analysis

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1-0 Martin

The corner drifts over the group of players at the near post, and it seems easy for Ferdinand to clear. Instead he completely miskicks it and it sits up nicely for Martin to show Ferdinand how defenders should make contact with the ball, as he reacts quickly to volley it home.

1-1 Young

There doesn’t seem to be much danger as Mackie picks up the ball.

However, a great overlapping run from Young distracts Surman, leaving space for Mackie to drive into.

Mackie shoots from range, beating Ruddy and bouncing off the inside of the post, into the path of Young who had continued his run and can slide the ball in on the rebound.

2-1 Holt

An utterly horrible collection of replays from MotD so bear with me. Moments after abandoning Holt at the far post and having to clear his goalbound header off the line, QPR abandon Holt at the far post again. As the ball is returned to the six yard box he makes a run from Gabbidon’s blindside to get in.

Once in, he flicks the ball with the outside of his boot between the legs of Cerny.