With Slot’s more straightforward approach – a clear-cut competition for places between forwards in each positions – let’s take a look at the current state of the “race.” Our strikers’ goal contributions so far (after West Ham):
Salah - 7 games, 4 goals, 4 assists
Diaz - 6 games, 5 goals, 1 assist
Jota - 6 games, 3 goals, 1 assist
Gakpo - 7 games (2 starts), 2 goals, 1 assist
Nunez - 6 games (2 starts), 1 goal, 1 assist
Chiesa - 3 games (1 start), 0 goals, 1 assist
Overall, things are looking great so far. Salah has been our most productive attacker, as always – and he didn’t have any penalties yet to help him “pad” his stats. Diaz has been a revelation and Gakpo is matching him and pushing him hard while offering a very different type and style of wing-play. Jota’s 2 goals yesterday are a fitting reward for his hard work leading the line so far and it looks like a bit of rest helped him. No way he will get dropped at the weekend.
Nunez is the one who still most needs to improve – he followed a promising first start with a quiet game, although he did notch an assist late on. Overall he doesn’t look very confident or instinctive at the moment – I wonder if he’s one of those players who need to feel the coach’s trust to be at their best and as much as Slot tries to be encouraging, I don’t think he’s the type who will give unconditional love. Chiesa is also someone with a lot of room for improvement, but that has more to do with building up his physical condition. It’s great that all 6 forwards are already off the mark in terms of goal contributions 7 games into the season, even the ones with limited playing time are doing something useful with their minutes.
What’s the biggest improvement you would like to see in our attack?
Salah - 7 games, 4 goals, 4 assists
Diaz - 6 games, 5 goals, 1 assist
Jota - 6 games, 3 goals, 1 assist
Gakpo - 7 games (2 starts), 2 goals, 1 assist
Nunez - 6 games (2 starts), 1 goal, 1 assist
Chiesa - 3 games (1 start), 0 goals, 1 assist
Overall, things are looking great so far. Salah has been our most productive attacker, as always – and he didn’t have any penalties yet to help him “pad” his stats. Diaz has been a revelation and Gakpo is matching him and pushing him hard while offering a very different type and style of wing-play. Jota’s 2 goals yesterday are a fitting reward for his hard work leading the line so far and it looks like a bit of rest helped him. No way he will get dropped at the weekend.
Nunez is the one who still most needs to improve – he followed a promising first start with a quiet game, although he did notch an assist late on. Overall he doesn’t look very confident or instinctive at the moment – I wonder if he’s one of those players who need to feel the coach’s trust to be at their best and as much as Slot tries to be encouraging, I don’t think he’s the type who will give unconditional love. Chiesa is also someone with a lot of room for improvement, but that has more to do with building up his physical condition. It’s great that all 6 forwards are already off the mark in terms of goal contributions 7 games into the season, even the ones with limited playing time are doing something useful with their minutes.
What’s the biggest improvement you would like to see in our attack?
