McBurnie wide striker.7 goals now all scored while playing this role.Teams just don't know how to mark him.He just ghosts in and scores.
He has and you could argue it works in that regard but would be get more from the middle? Plus he isn't a winger and that is costly at points
I think he would be better playing more centrally, however this seems to be our best system for the players at our disposal.
If you play him centrally then you probably lose Moore's advantage in that position which seems to be quite sizeable.
But you have nothing to compare that with.... I know one thing all his goals come from when he's stood in the middle. So maybe playing down the middle more goals..
There was no ghosting in yesterday. He was stood centrally and scored the rebound. If he was there all the time he'd get a few more. Can't disagree with your post enough.
McBurnie's goals: v Sheffield Wednesday. We were playing 4-4-2. Dropped deep from a central position, played a 1-2, drove straight down the middle and slotted home, no ghosting in from the left. v Birmingham. He's stood centrally for the first, front post when the ball comes in from the right and he tucks away the cross. No ghosting in from the left. Second, another cross from the right, McBurnie again is central getting on the end of a knock down from Moore. No ghosting in from the left. v Hull City. He's stood centrally again, another cross from the right and he heads it home. No ghosting in from the left.
v Cardiff. He's stood centrally again, another cross from the right, another one he tucks home. No ghosting in from the left. v Norwich. Another cross from the right, another where he's in a central position and he put it in the top corner. No ghosting in from the left. v Sheffield United. A shot from the right this time, he's stood centrally and finishes off the rebound. Every goal he's scored is when he's taken up a position in the centre. Imagine how many goals he could score if we played him in this position all the time.
Wednesday aside he’s occupying a position on the left hand side presumably marked by the opposition’s right back. When he departs from that position the opposition’s full back has a choice to either follow him or pass him on to someone else. It’s causing serious problems for the opposition as he’s often left completely unattended as evidenced by a few of his goals. It isn’t as simple as freeze framing a video and saying “he’s central”, as you’ve got to consider where he’s actually set up to operate from, how he got to the scoring position and the effect that it has on the opposition. I also don’t think it’s as straightforward as some believe by saying that he has scored 7 from left forward so he would score X from a central position as there are so many variables. He’s playing well, we’re playing well and I wouldn’t change a thing system wise going into Tuesday night’s game.
Imagine also how much better we’d retain the ball if someone was more central to get on the end of every ball Moore wins in the air and was also closer for him to lay off to on the ground. 4-4-2 for me now. Hammill one side, thiam or Isgrove the other. Gardner and Potts/Williams in the middle with moncur off the bench of we need to unlock something late on. Moncur from the right of a four might be worth another look too now we have centre forwards, Isgrove hasn’t looked great. We won with 4-3-3 yes, and we don’t have the strongest midfield pairing for a central 2; but I still think both going forward, Chance creation, ball retention and in terms of defensive organisation and shape we’d be better at 4-4-2. It would also give mcburnie licence to roam wider on both sides, defences could be stretched all over, most wouldn’t have a clue.
Absolutely bang on. Player scores 7 goals since February and we’ve got people on here wanting to change his position. Unless we drop Moore this would also involve changing formation and significantly changing the roles Morais has designated to Mcburnie, Moore, Potts, Moncur, Gardner and Isgrove. Morais has been working on and coaching this formation and subsequent player roles since mid feb and as soon as it starts to show some success with 2 solid performances we’ve got people wanting to change it. In the last 2 games we’ve had FIVE different goalscorers. Why would people want to risk sacrificing that just for the sake of Mcburnie potentially scoring more goals? Especially when he’s having huge success anyway. Morais has got Potts, Gardner and Moncur performing to levels many didn’t think were capable of at this level. The performances of Thiam were much more promising and yesterday we saw Hammill involved in a goal for the first time in months. His methods are working at the minute. In Jose we trust.
I noticed a few times that quite a few players don't take a gamble on running beyond Moore when the ball is knocked up to him, which is very short sighted given the amount he wins.
It’s about gambling at the right time. I guess both McBurnie and Isgrove are inexperienced in the roles they are playing. It would come with time. Potts made some good runs yesterday but wasn’t spotted /was too late.
Or maybe not...... If we played him down the middle he would be easier to mark. His main attribute is his ability to drift in and time his run when the ball comes in from the right running across static defenders. Funny thing is I don't think he'd have scored more than 7 goals if played centrally who knows? Either way I think we'd have taken 7 goals from 10 starts when we signed him in Jan regardless of the position we play him.
That passage of play at 3 2 when Mcburnie battled with and bamboozled two of their players on the touch line, was a perfect example. Played it in to Potts and he shot narrowly wide. And someone said Mcburnie didn't look interested lol
I really like Barnsley strikers when they score scruffy goals like McBurnie's yesterday. Pouncing on knock downs, or deflections are the stuff of proper scorers and ones we've rarely seemed to get over the years.
You could have a point there. McBurnie did fook all against Blunts - then Hammil comes on - McBurnie drifts into the middle ‘for once’ and scores through Hammil causing them havoc on the wing. I may have said this before - this squad was built by Hecky for a 442 formation. It may be better in the future to play 433 - but at the moment we haven’t got the players to play in that formation. Moore ran his blood to water against the Blunts because he was up there isolated on his own for large parts of that match. We held very little to no goal threat until Hammill came on and Morais went 442. Bradshaw and Moore up front. I would prefer to see McBurnie and Moore together up front with Hammill and Isgrove on the wings.