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Post by PotterLog on Mar 31, 2020 13:11:55 GMT
Just something I noticed perusing Wiki. Are these figures right? Why such a huge difference between his strike rate at Stoke and Blackpool? At Stoke he scored a goal every five games, at Blackpool it wasn't even one in 20... Strange because his rate for England was about one in five too. I know goals weren't what defined him as a player or anything but the difference struck me as curious. I guess he was knocking on a bit at Blackpool but everyone knows he was still performing right through his thirties and forties. Anyone got another explanation?  |
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Post by AlliG on Mar 31, 2020 13:30:52 GMT
Just something I noticed perusing Wiki. Are these figures right? Why such a huge difference between his strike rate at Stoke and Blackpool? At Stoke he scored a goal every five games, at Blackpool it wasn't even one in 20... Strange because his rate for England was about one in five too. I know goals weren't what defined him as a player or anything but the difference struck me as curious. I guess he was knocking on a bit at Blackpool but everyone knows he was still performing right through his thirties and forties. Anyone got another explanation? Even those Stoke figures are a bit distorted because he scored 31 goals in his first 3 full league seasons. His goal scoring dropped off in the first season that Freddie Steele became first choice centre-forward. It might be a coincidence or it could be that with a 30+ goals a season centre-forward to aim at changed his role a bit. The 6 year gap for the War also distorts things a bit. He didn't join Blackpool until he was 32, which was 10 years after his last 10 goal season and he also only scored 3 of his England goals post war. |
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Post by PotterLog on Mar 31, 2020 13:36:48 GMT
Just something I noticed perusing Wiki. Are these figures right? Why such a huge difference between his strike rate at Stoke and Blackpool? At Stoke he scored a goal every five games, at Blackpool it wasn't even one in 20... Strange because his rate for England was about one in five too. I know goals weren't what defined him as a player or anything but the difference struck me as curious. I guess he was knocking on a bit at Blackpool but everyone knows he was still performing right through his thirties and forties. Anyone got another explanation? Even those Stoke figures are a bit distorted because he scored 31 goals in his first 3 full league seasons. His goal scoring dropped off in the first season that Freddie Steele became first choice centre-forward. It might be a coincidence or it could be that with a 30+ goals a season centre-forward to aim at changed his role a bit. The 6 year gap for the War also distorts things a bit. He didn't join Blackpool until he was 32, which was 10 years after his last 10 goal season and he also only scored 3 of his England goals post war. Yes, the point about Steele could be applied to Mortensen at Blackpool too. |
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Post by mrcoke on Mar 31, 2020 14:08:04 GMT
Goal scoring was far more prolific in those days, so 1 in 5 games was quite a low rate of scoring. Stan was invariably wide on the wing. In those days players tended to stick rigidly to their positions. His role was to beat the FB and centre, either in the air to a CF, or pull the ball back along the ground to an inside forward. Most of the time the aerial route was preferred because pitches were often a mud bath. If you want to know all about Stan, I recommend a book called "The Wizard" by Henderson. Unfortunately the libraries are shut! www.amazon.co.uk/Wizard-Life-Stanley-Matthews/dp/0224091859 |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2020 14:18:25 GMT
My impression was back then wingers stayed very much wide, perhaps just wasn't in or near the box all that often. Is there somewhere that details his assist record? I would imagine that he is far more prolific in that department.
Ethers was very much a traditional winger, one of my favourite ever Stoke players.
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Post by Mr_DaftBurger on Mar 31, 2020 15:14:56 GMT
Didn't he once say he got more pleasure creating than scoring?
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Post by mrcoke on Mar 31, 2020 17:03:36 GMT
page 45 of "The Wizard" Henderson writes:
"Freddie Steele appeared on the scene at Stoke with a rush of goals that threatened to elevate him above Matthews as the crowd's favourite."Yeah, anyone can score goals" Matthews said, "it's making them that's the secret". Another time, when he reflected on the goal scoring of of his England confrere Tom Finney - the forward whom Matthews has been endlessly compared - he made the startling claim that Finney's more prolific scoring record did not bother him because: "I didn't enjoy scoring goals". He said he gained more satisfaction from creating them for others. He even suggested that he changed his style with the specific aim of being a more potent goal provider than producer.
Never again would Matthews score goals more regularly than he did from late December 1933 until the end of the season. Taking his chance at inside right to start with, before switching to the right wing when the fragile Liddle again succumbed to injury, Matthews averaged close to a goal a match over a stretch of several weeks.
When you watch the old film of him playing he was always out wide on the right, and when a goal was scored he seemed almost embarrassed by the adulation and celebration.
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Post by nott1 on Apr 1, 2020 8:15:51 GMT
Didn't he once say he got more pleasure creating than scoring? Yes, he would often spurn good chances and give the ball to a team mate to score! |
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