Goal Difference (and how it has affected Wolves)

[whitnash wolf ex.dewsbury]

Last 3 seasons we have lost positions owing to goal difference(includes below Newcastle on goals scored)
A quick check shows an amazing 53 seasons where we have had the same points as other teams.
We have lost out on Goal Average/Goal difference 28 times including Play-Offs and losing the top division championship!
In the past it has cost us prestige but is now costing us money

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Not going to improve until we start averaging better than one goal a game.

 

[Fifty Niner]

Not going to improve until we start averaging better than one goal a game.

36 last season. 37 this season. It’s the way we play as much as having no goal scorers in the team. In my view.

 

[Wolf in Kenilworth]

Not going to improve until we start averaging better than one goal a game.

Which will mean having more than three shots on target in a game.

 

[steve vena]

It's shocking really.

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

36 last season. 37 this season. It’s the way we play as much as having no goal scorers in the team. In my view.

Yup! No prizes for seeing the problem. As the last bit of the season showed, once the defence stops overperforming, the lack of goals mean we just don't win

 

[Fifty Niner]

Yup! No prizes for seeing the problem. As the last bit of the season showed, once the defence stops overperforming, the lack of goals mean we just don't win

Bruno mentioned pre-season, during the season and near the end of the season that we lack goal scorers but despite all the training ground practice it’s not improved. Going to need a major shift in tempo and style to turn around two seasons of drought.

 

[WickedWolfie]

Last 3 seasons we have lost positions owing to goal difference(includes below Newcastle on goals scored)
A quick check shows an amazing 53 seasons where we have had the same points as other teams.
We have lost out on Goal Average/Goal difference 28 times including Play-Offs and losing the top division championship!
In the past it has cost us prestige but is now costing us money

Frankly we got what we deserved after a bloody awful final third of the season.

 

[Deleted member (smith)]

This thread is all about explaining why scoring more goals than opponents is a good thing…I am shocked

 

[SA Wolf]

It's been a consistent flaw in our game. I remember when we played Burnley at home a few seasons ago. We had more than 30 attempts on target and thumped them 1-0. Other than this season against Watford, have we scored more than three in a game since our comeback!! Our style is turning many away from watching, leading to criticism loss of points and as the OP says, costing money.
It's something that needs to be addressed and quickly.

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

Drop the back 5

Sell coady

Sell hwang

Play attacking football

 

[Chris H]

Drop the back 5

Sell coady

Sell hwang

Play attacking football

Coady and Hwang scored nearly 1/4 of all our goals in the league this season.

Which says a) that selling them means those goals need replacing and b) what does that mean for the rest of our squads goalscoring output!

Not that it necessarily says your post wouldn’t allow us to be more attacking, it just highlights our issues in front of goal even more.

 

[WickedWolfie]

This thread is all about explaining why scoring more goals than opponents is a good thing…I am shocked

It's certainly better than the alternative lol....

 

[WickedWolfie]

Drop the back 5

Sell coady

Sell hwang

Play attacking football

How very Dominic Cummins. Short, buzzy, phrases with zero substance.

 

[Flump]

Or... we overperform against our goal difference by being efficient!

 

[jrpb-3]

53 seasons is a big number but leagues been going for 134 years so there's 81 seasons where it hasn't cost us, Also need to look at how many of those we might have gained places down to goal difference to get the whole picture. also of course past seasons going back that far don't really have much bearing if any on the present. Recent seasons and this season in particular, goals scored hasn't really been high enough. Our defense has on the whole been pretty good, so we can get away without needing to score huge numbers of goals, but adding a few more goals without weakening the defense could turn quite a few loses/draws into draws/wins.

In any one game you get points if you score the same or more than opponent, winning by 3 or 4 doesn't gain you too much (unless it comes down to goal difference) We have had a number of games where we nave gone behind and then not been able to come back or been in front by a single goal and then conceded so being able to get a couple of goals ahead would help, as it also then makes it easier to manage the rest of the game.

 

[oldgoldheart]

Bruno mentioned pre-season, during the season and near the end of the season that we lack goal scorers but despite all the training ground practice it’s not improved. Going to need a major shift in tempo and style to turn around two seasons of drought.

Its really 5 seasons. Even in the championship if we went 2 up nuno tried to see the game out. Great season but we should have scores more goals. The cautious approach is deeply ingrained. Made worse now we dont have jota and doherty contributing and raul and neto not on top form

 

[WolfLing]

Drop the back 5

Sell coady

Sell hwang

Play attacking football

I think this is written on a Post-it note on Sellar's 'ideas' wall.

 

[Fifty Niner]

Its really 5 seasons. Even in the championship if we went 2 up nuno tried to see the game out. Great season but we should have scores more goals. The cautious approach is deeply ingrained. Made worse now we dont have jota and doherty contributing and raul and neto not on top form

I’d forgotten about the Championship.

 

[Zico]

Its really 5 seasons. Even in the championship if we went 2 up nuno tried to see the game out. Great season but we should have scores more goals. The cautious approach is deeply ingrained. Made worse now we dont have jota and doherty contributing and raul and neto not on top form

That happened occasionally but I'm not sure it was really a theme of the Championship. Gave Leeds and Bolton (twice) good thumpings, for starters.

 

[Zico]

Last 3 seasons we have lost positions owing to goal difference(includes below Newcastle on goals scored)
A quick check shows an amazing 53 seasons where we have had the same points as other teams.
We have lost out on Goal Average/Goal difference 28 times including Play-Offs and losing the top division championship!
In the past it has cost us prestige but is now costing us money

So if we lost out 28 times, we gained 25 times, in other words it's been pretty much as you'd expect on average??

 

[whitnash wolf ex.dewsbury]

So if we lost out 28 times, we gained 25 times, in other words it's been pretty much as you'd expect on average??

not checking every team but I thought finishing on the same points as other teams on 53 times
was amazing.That`s what I was really pointing out.If anyone has stats.for other teams I would really be interested

 

[Contrarian]

It's been a consistent flaw in our game. I remember when we played Burnley at home a few seasons ago. We had more than 30 attempts on target and thumped them 1-0. Other than this season against Watford, have we scored more than three in a game since our comeback!! Our style is turning many away from watching, leading to criticism loss of points and as the OP says, costing money.
It's something that needs to be addressed and quickly.

Yes, for a team with finished of 7th, 7th and 10th, it is a standout point how rarely we win by 3 goals. Even 2 goals. The number of times we scored 3 because the opponent scored 2 ,basically we *had* to. Even the 4-0 against Watford, 2 goals at least came from comical defending, without that, we'd have happily sat back and settled for the 2-0. Though where I disagree with many here, I think its' *always* been like this, since promotion. It's deeply ingrained in this squad.

On goal difference in general, coincidentally, I was looking at the league tables from the 40's and 50's ("working from home" provides a bit of time!) and was surprised then, that we lost the league by goal average (as it was then) and even just 1 point, on several occasions. In recent years, we missed out on playoffs by 1 goal (think Watford sneaked 6th) and there are definitely others where we were goal difference or 1 point off either 6th or 2nd in that league.

Set me thinking , is this normal or are we some kind of cursed club? Is it the same for every other club? Are we "Wolvesey" in a similar way that Spurs are "Spursey"? In contrast, don't we think that lot down the road (Villa too) seem to get any luck going , when they need it?