Next to get the Scout Notes treatment are two matches at the opposite end of the goalscoring spectrum.
Eight goals flew in at the Brentford Community Stadium but not one was scored at Goodison Park.
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WOLVES STRUGGLE AERIALLY
If Erling Haaland (£15.4m) owners are still brooding over Saturday’s blank, at least it’s Wolverhampton Wanderers up next.
The decision’s leakiest defence for goals conceded (21), Wolves served up what Gary O’Neil described as “the worst game I’ve been involved in as a coach”.
Crossed balls and set pieces were a particular area of vulnerability. Two of Brentford’s goals, and 11 of their shots, came from headers.
Above: All of the headed chances that Brentford had on Saturday
Centre-halves Nathan Collins (£4.5m) and Ethan Pinnock (£4.5m) found the net, with those two, Sepp van den Berg (£4.0m), Kevin Schade (£5.3m) and Keane Lewis-Potter (£5.0m) all having other excellent headed opportunities that weren’t converted.
Every time the Bees lofted the ball into the box, they looked like scoring.
It wasn’t much better from open play, either, with the low-on-confidence Schade wasting two one-on-one chances. Christian Norgaard (£4.8m) and substitute Fabio Carvalho (£4.8m) did convert, having been left with too much space in the visitors’ box.
Freedom in the area and an aerially weak opponent – just what Haaland needs in Gameweek 8. You’d imagine that Pep Guardiola would instruct Savinho (£6.5m) and Jeremy Doku (£6.3m) to bombard the box with crosses in a fortnight’s time.
“It’s the furthest I’ve seen the group from what we wanted to look like. We were wide open. Crazy, crazy goals we gave away. [We made] crazy decisions with and without the ball. It was so loose.” – Gary O’Neil
There was, at least, some joy at the other end. Matheus Cunha (£6.5m) and Jorgen Strand Larsen (£5.5m) both finished well, while Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.4m) delivered a goal and an assist. No defender has more attacking returns than Ait-Nouri this season (four) – a total he coincidentally shares with Brentford’s Collins.
According to the StatsBomb data, Ait-Nouri also can’t be bettered for xG among his positional peers.
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