The slow death of the screamer

Norman_Conquest

Norman_Conquest

Well-known member
Is it all to do with the new style of football.

Edit: I think the timing of this article might be wrong after Declan Rice's goal against the Republic and Kane's screamer last night. Nothing was going to stop Kane's shot from going in.

www.bbc.co.uk

Long range goals: Is shooting from outside the box a dying art in football?

BBC Sport explores the history of long-range goals in the Premier League and how data and tactics are shaping how often they're scored.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
 
Interesting that. I've had similar discussions with friends about this. I think the point about certain players having free reign to do whatever they wanted without being criticised played a big part of that in the early 00s. The players at the top of the most goals form outside the box (Lampard, Gerrard, Henry) etc used to just shoot on sight and because they scored the odd screamer they were free from criticism. Everything seems more measured these days and a player would get hammered by Pep for wasting chances.

One thing not mentioned is that teams used never used to play with 2 deep midfielders like they do these days. There is a lot more protection in front of the defence and that is the key area for long range shooting. Less space to take a shot means it is less often a good option. Another one is that wingers used to be wingers so their job was to put the ball in the box but these days they are forwards, often playing on the opposite side cutting in on the angle and shooting so the angle makes it more difficult doing that from a long way out than players doing it from the centre. Wingers crossing the ball meant more headed clearances landing on the edge of the area for long shots which also happens less.
 
I’ve thought this for a long time, we never see goals like Van Bronckhorst v Uruguay for example anymore, people just don’t shoot from there.
 
Nano said:
Interesting that. I've had similar discussions with friends about this. I think the point about certain players having free reign to do whatever they wanted without being criticised played a big part of that in the early 00s. The players at the top of the most goals form outside the box (Lampard, Gerrard, Henry) etc used to just shoot on sight and because they scored the odd screamer they were free from criticism. Everything seems more measured these days and a player would get hammered by Pep for wasting chances.

One thing not mentioned is that teams used never used to play with 2 deep midfielders like they do these days. There is a lot more protection in front of the defence and that is the key area for long range shooting. Less space to take a shot means it is less often a good option. Another one is that wingers used to be wingers so their job was to put the ball in the box but these days they are forwards, often playing on the opposite side cutting in on the angle and shooting so the angle makes it more difficult doing that from a long way out than players doing it from the centre. Wingers crossing the ball meant more headed clearances landing on the edge of the area for long shots which also happens less.
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The Grant Leadbitter free kick against Huddersfield springs to mind. I said to my son before he hit it, he's not going to shoot from there, what a waste.

We all know the rest. ;)

 
I think the willingness to waste possession has vastly diminished. If you think football until not that long ago keepers and defenders were willling to launch the ball upfield for a 50/50, defenders were happy to boot it out for a thrown in all the time etc etc. I think shooting from a long way out is probably part of this. Everyone loves a screamer, but equally we all hate endless efforts blazed wide and over the bar and surrendering pressure.

On this note it makes me laugh sometimes when our players have the ball under their feet, 25 yards out, with a wall of opposition players in front and people are kicking off because they didn't shoot.
 
It is the use of statistics. They know the likelihood of scoring from certain positions. It is a much more calculated and tactical game, now.
When you do not have the luxury of a team full of superstars, these tactics can make for quite a boring game, on the whole.

In the 80s, teams would grief for hammering the ball from defence to a big centre forward - it was the same for them - it got results.
 
If you watch teams now, it can be a few minutes without the opposition touching the ball. This has got to drain energy from the defending team.
 
Frozen Horse said:
I think this has been a trend for years now BUT it was eye-catching at the Euros how many were scored from distance (though it was a poor tournament for free kicks)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c800n79plxxo

While I realise there are tactical reasons for the decline, international tournaments are influential, and I think we might see an uptick this year.
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trends go up and down.. as soon as teams get comfortable with possession based football we'll have a revolutionary 4-4-2 long ball manager who comes in a sweeps up with his unheard of tactics of 'kick and run' blasties all the way.
 
There will surely be an element of cycliness to it though, if teams don't expect long range shots then maybe that can be taken advantage of.
 
newyddion said:
trends go up and down.. as soon as teams get comfortable with possession based football we'll have a revolutionary 4-4-2 long ball manager who comes in a sweeps up with his unheard of tactics of 'kick and run' blasties all the way.
Click to expand...

Some truth in that.

Looking more at the BBC article I linked, the % of goals from outside the box increased, but the number of shots outside the box didn't. More goals were scored with similar numbers of long range shots.

Either:
players have suddenly gotten a lot better at shooting from range (seems unlikely) or
they're being given more room to shoot from outside the box because defenders really don't expect them to do it anymore.
 
Frozen Horse said:
Some truth in that.

Looking more at the BBC article I linked, the % of goals from outside the box increased, but the number of shots outside the box didn't. More goals were scored with similar numbers of long range shots.

Either:
players have suddenly gotten a lot better at shooting from range (seems unlikely) or
they're being given more room to shoot from outside the box because defenders really don't expect them to do it anymore.
Click to expand...
more likely that they take their chance rather than having a go. players have gotten a lot better at lots of things.. shooting from range will be in the mix I would have thought.
 
wilkos_perm said:
I think the willingness to waste possession has vastly diminished. If you think football until not that long ago keepers and defenders were willling to launch the ball upfield for a 50/50, defenders were happy to boot it out for a thrown in all the time etc etc. I think shooting from a long way out is probably part of this. Everyone loves a screamer, but equally we all hate endless efforts blazed wide and over the bar and surrendering pressure.

On this note it makes me laugh sometimes when our players have the ball under their feet, 25 yards out, with a wall of opposition players in front and people are kicking off because they didn't shoot.
Click to expand...
I like it when people bellow "shoooot!!", then when the ball goes slightly high/wide they grumble and moan in despair as the would-be promising attack has come to an end.
 
Sort of connected, I rewatched the 1966 World Cup Final when it was shown on the day of the Euro Final. What struck me, apart from what an awful game it was, was the HUGE number of times a player took a pot shot from miles out. Drawn from the article I've attached, each team had 31 shots (!) - so you'd expect it to be an exciting spectacle, but as the writer said, perhaps the prevailing attitude was to shoot from anywhere, and hope that somehow chaos ensues from a rebound or whatever. The expected goals from these shots were just 0.31 for England, and a pathetic 0.05 for West Germany.

I suspect that "shoot on sight" was the prevailing attitude for a long time, but gradually players concentrated more on creating real chances.

Anyway, I'd recommend this fairly short article if you're interested.

blogofthenet.wordpress.com

A forensic analysis of the 1966 World Cup Final

Expected goals, player ratings, tactics and key moments – a full run-down of England’s greatest triumph
blogofthenet.wordpress.com blogofthenet.wordpress.com
 
Frozen Horse said:
Some truth in that.

Looking more at the BBC article I linked, the % of goals from outside the box increased, but the number of shots outside the box didn't. More goals were scored with similar numbers of long range shots.

Either:
players have suddenly gotten a lot better at shooting from range (seems unlikely) or
they're being given more room to shoot from outside the box because defenders really don't expect them to do it anymore.
Click to expand...
Are keepers potentially slightly worse at shot stopping these days?

You need to be able to play a bit now to be a keeper at the top level. Is that coming at the expense of other skills a bit?

There won't be much difference, but if say, the best shot stopper in the world, can't control and pass a football very well, he isn't getting a game in a top league regardless of how good his reflexes are.
 
Well my thinking was, if attackers are less inclined to shoot from distance, defenders will be less inclined to go diving in for blocks etc.

That in turn can lead to better shooting opportunities.
 
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festa5 said:
Are keepers potentially slightly worse at shot stopping these days?

You need to be able to play a bit now to be a keeper at the top level. Is that coming at the expense of other skills a bit?

There won't be much difference, but if say, the best shot stopper in the world, can't control and pass a football very well, he isn't getting a game in a top league regardless of how good his reflexes are.
Click to expand...
It probably applies all over the field, players made a career in the past largely out of one specific skill e.g. big defenders/strikers with heading, a midfielder with tackling. If you don't have the other fundamentals you just can't do that anymore
 
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