Idrissa Gana Gueye to sign new two-year deal

I think he’s becoming a better player and more influential the older he gets. An absolute machine.

As for DCL, well I’ve defended this lad to the hilt and still believe, with the right manager, tactics and players around him, he can regain the form that got him an England cap.

Say for instance, Richarlison comes back (on loan) and with Ndiaye and Alcaraz in supporting roles we could have one helluva attack. I think they all have goals in them.

Oh, and if we can get Grealish on loan….

He's suffered from injury and the curse of the Everton striker of having to try to do it on his own with little or no support and supply.

Like Beto, he can score when presented with the opportunity.

The best? No. But He is a decent striker who works for the team when fit. He just needs the team to work for him.

The leagues biggest underperforming striker in the last three years

Gana has done well, he is well worth more time.

I'm sure in your own playing career, you can't be judged by time spent out through injury? Stats don't paint the full picture.

I don't really do stats, I just see what I see with my own eyes in front of me. And when I've watched him, Dominic gives everything,

He was unfortunate this past season when we beat Wolves 4-0, a match I attended. He scored two goals that were chalked off as own goal, which would have added to his tally.

If Dominic stays, I will be okay with that. If we part ways, I wish him well.

That’s nothing about injuries

Exhibit A - Newcastle on Sunday

Im hoping for better

Multiple things can be true about DCL. He has always worked hard, wins headers like no other and has shown he can score goals here and there. He’s also cheaper than paying a huge transfer fee for a striker, especially when we need reinforcements elsewhere. He’s also been injured and not had time to bed in with a Moyes team. That said, as someone who’s defended him for ages, I’ve finally run out of the patience to fully defend him anymore, simply because he’s not as clinical as you need to be at this level and for us to progress. We finally started creating chance with Moyes at the helm and still blew too many of them, a sign we need better finishing in the squad. But if that clever goal DCL scored when he first came into the Moyes squad is his last for us, it will be a sign of what could’ve been.

I’m with Danny on this: I’ll be okay if he stays, wish him well if he doesn’t. More importantly, we’ve apparently taken care of the most important business so far with Charly and Gana. Next up a right back and a right wing.

Dyche had him running around like a headless chicken, you're totally paranoid, I hope he stays.

BTW, contrary to popular myth, it was Carlo who stopped using him as a striker and asked him to play the performing seal role. Trying to stop his team's free fall by getting Pickford to by-pass the rest of the team and smash the ball in his direction.... The other managers just copied him.

Read his own confession.

I recognise he remains a solid defensive midfielder, but he's appreciated mostly because our midfield usually has less possession than our opposition.

I'd like to see our future midfield dominate in the possession stakes and create more attacking chances than they do and I don't feel Gana has ever been a lynch pin in that department. I also feel he's slowing up due to his age and is more likely to be exposed by pacier opponents.

Signing him as a back-up player in the squad is okay, I suppose… but I don't feel the team will be progressing if we continue to rely on veterans like him.

We've survived, embraced even, the return of Moyes.

I'm pretty sure, if Calvert-Lewin does sign a new contract, most ToffeeWebbers will again embrace the positives.

A fit Calvert-Lewin would be worth keeping but, if for example he was playing for another team, would we be willing to recruit him even on a free transfer?

I watched him in person at Newcastle and have done over the course of his Everton career. I don't think he had much chance to impact the game coming on with 2 minutes of normal time remaining Ryan.

Charly and Gana are more important to us. If Dominic stays, it will be a welcome addition to the squad if he can stay fit in my humble opinion.

At the start of this season he started 20 of 22 games, played almost 1600 minutes and scored 3 goals... a goal every 528 minutes. There aren't words to describe how horrible that is for a professional striker.

He may be a fine all-around footballer, but the man simply cannot finish a chance at this point in his career. His value is as a target/holdup/layoff forward and defender against set pieces. If Moyes sees a use for him in that role, great... but goals aren't a part of the picture.

He has spent the last 4 years isolated up front. His one season under Ancelotti was his most productive season with 21 goals as he was told to stay in the opposition box and received good service. Since then, he had to win the header from the long-ball, chase the flick on, cross the ball and get on the end of his own cross.

David Moyes has done a good job of pushing his CAM up closer to Beto, getting his wide men to come inside and pushing Myko up to deliver crosses. It has probably been Dominic's first sight of an Everton striker getting good chances created for him those 4 years.

Robert has listed out the strikers in our range and they don't excite me much - Broja gave us an insight into what that quality of forward produces. Dominic is a highly-experienced premier league striker with 71 goals at the top level, so if we can persuade him to stay we should.

Also, it's not like he gets better service in the box. Strictly from memory, I can only remember him scoring on two good crosses -- the cushioned volley from Young and the inswinger from Alcaraz. He just gets in behind more often than Dom, and finishes better.

I heartily agree with you -- nobody mentioned in our price category quickens my pulse either. One I haven't seen mentioned is a Villareal kid named Thierno Barry, who I saw a couple of times against Barca this year. Super aggressive, loves to attack with the ball and run in behind. I just don't know how expensive he'd be, given that his contract runs four more years.

And I still really like Chermiti, although I can't explain why since I've seen so little of him. Just a feeling.

As for Dom, I assume that if his skill set is what Moyes wants, there will be a genuine effort to re-sign him.

Eyes interpret, assimilate, and sort just like our minds do Ryan. In other words, the eye (vision) is subjective, highly individual, partisan, and a flawed source. We have reams and reams of work on this.

Talking of sources: what is yours for this "DCL underperforms his expected goals. [sic] By 17 in three seasons" "stat"? I've seen you mention this a number of times now here and elsewhere. It would be interesting for us to see exactly where it comes from.

@ Mike 37, Beto has scored 7 goals under Moyes this season compared to 2 goals under Dyche. Last season, he scored 5 goals in total.

The manager had adapted our system to get more players forward to support Beto, provide him with service and utilised his ability to play off the last shoulder of the defender. Beto has done well and I am pleased for him.

DCL would also thrive in a more attacking set-up - he has proven that before. Only my point of view of course, but I expect David Moyes to select a fully-fit Dominic over a fully-fit Beto. If Dominic leaves, then Beto is the man to lead the line next season for me as we would be better spending the bigger money on other parts of the team.

Like you, I also rate Chermiti, and he would benefit a lot from a loan period next season where he plays regularly.

It's also BS to say that Beto is isolated up front in the same that it was often painful to see with DCL. Since January, Beto has had at various times and sometimes two of them at the same time, Alcaraz, Ndiaye, and Doucoure either tucked much more closely in behind or being encouraged to move in from the flanks.

I'd like to see DCL play for a number of games on the run under Moyes. I'm sick of the stats that certain people churn out over and over again. I wish these arithmetical parrots would take a serious class covering interpreting statistics in context or the problematic nature of gathering and analysing statistics.

We have to buy at least one striker this summer who could step in straight away as first choice. We know as much about Chermiti as he knows about the Yaifo Tribe, although I do know that he is injury prone and has scored count them zero goals in 22 appearances (the majority off the bench, to be fair), and has three more yellow cards than goals.

Beto has got some goals recently and missed a lot more. He is perfectly OK for second or third choice and tries hard but that is not enough. We have not had a top class striker since DCL under Carlo. We have to get a new striker over the summer. Attack is by some way the weakest of our three areas. A stronger, quicker, and more creative midfield will naturally help but that would not have stopped Beto's woeful misses in his six or is it five one-on-ones (one fella on here said that they were not misses; one, he said, hit the post and was not a miss).

Sorry Steve, 41, I just saw your post after I posted this. Completely agree with you on Beto getting much better service and sending out Chermiti on loan for at least one season. Jeez, we need a new striker.

I will maintain my view that recent Everton strikers have mostly cut a loan figure.

As has rightly been called out, Calvert-Lewin had his best season under Ancelotti. Beto improved when the tactics changed under Moyes. He benefited from playing with Alcaraz in support.

We've seen it work the other way. Jelavic was a revelation when he was in or around the 6-yard box sweeping goals in from close range. Then the tactics changed and he seemed to be being asked to play more like Marcus Bent and chase the channels, so he became less effective.

In my experience of playing and watching, most strikers, bar the odd freak of nature, will miss more than they score. It's just important that they get in the right position to have the opportunity.

DCL and Beto are by no means perfect, but they often do a job that goes unnoticed. They occupy defences freeing up others to make an impact. Watch the goal against Newcastle, there are 2 or 3 Newcastle defenders surrounding Beto as Mykolenko's cross comes in, leaving Alcaraz with a free header.

With runners like Ndiaye and Charly, our strikers will benefit a lot more than what they have done recently. Hopefully we add that additional creative spark and sort out the right side. Then things will look a lot better and our strikers, whoever they are, will benefit.

I genuinely admire those who analyse the stats, but I can only go off what I see.

Back to the title of the thread, Gana deservedly receiving Supporters' and Players' Player of the season. The highest accolades you can get as a player.

Link

Did you see this by the way?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RocX5f3lmIE

If the wages aren’t ridiculous they yes we should sign him and buy real quality in other departments. I think though his treatment by the fans over the years may persuade him to go.

I'll leave the medical side to the professionals but confidence issues can certainly be overcome. It's a great shame he was injured for the second half of the season when he might have actually got the chance.

Beto has done well but let's not forget that he banged them in with service and when he was full of confidence. In the last quarter of the season he missed a few and his record in front of goal dipped. He missed some sitters.

As for Idrissa, I hope he re-signs. Nothing has changed except for another ToffeeWeb article claiming that Fabrizio's tweets are news.

People don't talk about a player as often as Mike Gaynes talks about DCL simply because they don't rate them. if you don't rate a player you say so and move on. Mike is one of a group of obsessives on this site. Who will show up time and time again and spout the same old tired Stats. He has no interest in the facts.

When DCL turned three Tottenham defenders inside out to slot what many people believe to be out goal of the season Mike, simply doubled down on his previously astonishing claim that he has never scored a great goal - Fair comment or desperate bias against somebody he simply cant take to ?

Mike's not alone. There are a group of people on this website who will never give this player credit no matter what. I include MK in that. They have suffered the brainless, lazy tactic introduce by a cant-be-arsed Carlo Ancelotti - Lets be very very clear about that - A game plan which has been adopted by every manager since.

They have disliked the tactic, but they seem to dislike the player even more - Are they blaming the player for the lazy mindless tactics which relieved all of his team mates of their responsibilities ?

Moyes, in fairness, has put a stop to this and the lovely Beto has benefited. Just as well, really because if people only saw him play under previous managers we wouldnt have been able to give him away.

DCL is probably the best there is at receiving the big boot up the park. A skill that has been abused by a succession of managers trying to hide their own and other players deficiencies. Unfortunately his critics wont accept that. I believe they actually hate him. Every half chance is called a sitter. So is every goof effort.

I go back to the Newcaste match where DCL admittedly should have scored, but the ball came back off a startled goalkeeper who knew nothing about his effort... A few minutes earlier Beto fired well wide from an almost identical position. While the outcry against C-L's powerful shot on target has been prolonged. The one Beto put into tjhe crowd has barely warranted a mention. That the reality of life for DCL at this club.

Best all round for DCL to move on, but watch him go when he does.

One of the best posts I have read on here in ages.

It's a tough one this summer with 9 players departed, Maupay's and Holgate's contracts ending, and perhaps Calvert-Lewin and Keane to also depart. Where should we prioritise the transfer fund the club has without having to sell an asset like Branthwaite?

I would go all out to agree a new contract with Dominic with a reasonable buy-out clause in it. It gives us cover and the opportunity to recoup a transfer fee. It also gives him perhaps a season to find full fitness and form and gives us more time to plan a replacement if he moves on.

Chermiti should go out on loan for the season, which just leaves Beto. He has improved with support since David Moyes came in and I love his attitude, but his limitations are obvious.

On Calvert-Lewin, if the club think he's fit again and worth a contract, I'd be happy with that decision, there is a good player in there (despite the lack of goals in recent seasons). I wonder if he was waiting to see if his hometown club Sheffield Utd would be promoted before making a decision?

A fit and firing Dom can terrorise defences, he deserved his England call up at the time. He's also scored some important goals for us.

For me, yes he misses too many one-on-ones but this can be worked on as he tries to side foot the ball rather than blast it. Some are good enough to side foot but, for those who aren't, a good old-fashioned blast can work.

He's free, he's still got a good few years left in him and he is a good footballer who will be more productive with a better midfield and a decent attacking right flank.

We could do a lot worse.

Every Xmas Day, my Uncle Tony used to get bladdered, head upstairs and come down in drag. That was in the 70s. His wife and sisters (including my mum) thought it was funny. And he had 3 sons!

People need to stop focusing on nonsense like that. If Messi had wanted to play for Everton, he could have turned up for training in a miniskirt for all I would have cared.

Beto's body looks more robust to with stand the battering of the Premier league. He looks capable of playing 38 games a season. Dom sadly can't do that anymore.

It appears that Beto has more pace than Dom. Its either that or he's a lot stronger at keeping the recovery tackle away.

Calvert Lewin gets caught offside alot. He's the 2nd highest in the league, and that doesnt account that he misses a lot of games on top. That could be the quality of the balls coming into him, the timing of the run, or a lack of pace that necessitates him playing right on the shoulder.

We all know that dcl is a better footballer than beto. But that isn't enough if he's not scoring, lacks availability, gets caught offside a lot and doesn't offer an out ball/counter attack, from someone who wants to be one of our highest earners.

For £1.5m he's been a great signing. If it's come to the end, I can understand it. If the club want to retain him, as we lack numbers and finance, then we just got to get on with it.

Ian, I really respect your posts but I had to stop there mate. Both Beto and DCL have been poor 1 on 1 finishers.

I never said that either were great finishers. Theyve both missed a lot of chances between them.

Beto might be more erratic, but he can beat the keeper. Dcl seems to hit the keeper in most situations by telegraphing the finish. There's little ball shift or picking out corner of the net in my view.

Over a season Beto out scores Dcl in my opinion comfortably, has a higher work rate and probably creates more counter attack threat.

Dominic can hold up play well and is great I'm the air, Beto is better at running behind a defence. Both can give defenders a very hard time and free up space for others.

They aren’t world beaters, but as others have noted there are other positions that we are desperate to fill as a matter of urgency.

Dom might well move elsewhere, I personally think we would regret letting him go but other opinions are valid (and what we are here for, after all).

Good observations Ian @63.

Beto takes a right battering from opposition defenders, but can withstand it.

I sometimes wonder if Dominic has suffered from being overplayed from a young age in a struggling team, which might explain his injuries. I also personally think he hit the gym and bulked up too much/

Footballer fitness is different to other sports. Footballers, in my opinion are better if they are leaner rather than full of muscle. Cardio over pumping weights.

I would like to see both feature next season, with another addition.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin has a top speed of 34.6 km/h (21.5 mph). This places him among the fastest players in the Premier League.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c0kjykv4z78o

Meanwhile, odds on Jack Grealish joining us have dropped to 4/1, behind Napoli on 5/2.

The night club owners in Liverpool will have the biggest boost to trade since Shandy Andy Van Der Meyde left.

I'd give Grealish a body swerve.

At 35.13 km/hr Beto wins on this Top Trumps category!

Dcl - 3 goals in 1613 minutes or 18 games. 16 chances missed.

Those figures speak for themselves, less goals and more chances missed.

Apart from one season where he scored 21 goals, the covid season which to me is an outliers, the highest he scored was 15, and that was 5 years ago before the injuries.

I would tip Beto to get around 12-15 goals, where as I don't think Dom can.

Time to stop
Being sentimental and be more ambitious. If he stays, and I actually want him to…. It’s as a squad player. But we will not turn the 11/12 draws we had this season into wins without a ruthless finisher. Something we haven’t had for ages. We should do everything we can to sign a finisher.

It’s chicken and egg with DCL he’s always injured or coming back from injury or doesn’t have the right support etc

But when he is fit and is presented with decent chances he fluffs his lines.

Let's hope they do!

I watch DCL play and I often think he could fulfil the role Fellaini used to play for us as a target man to hold the ball with a striker like Beto running behind him or playing just ahead of him?

"It appears that he has more pace than Dom" - Wrong. They have both been clocked and he is decidedly slower

"Beto looks more robust to stand the battering of the premier league" - Even though they are both roughly the same age and DCL has played about 76 more games than Beto's 200 (many as substitute, in lesser leagues).

"Calvert- Lewin gets caught offside a lot. He's the second highest in the league" - Yeah that would be his fault. We havent made it easy for defenders to step up as Pickford telegraphs the fact that he is about to hammer it 60 yards up the pitch.

"He doesnt offer an out ball/counter attack" WHAT ???? for five years he has been asked to be our ONLY out ball.

"Beto appears to be the better finisher" - That'll explain why DCL has scored more than him playing at a much higher level for most of his career.

if these are good observations. I'm glad I wont be here when somebody starts making stuff up.

I love this little Gem ; "I personally think he hit the gym and bulked up too much" - Nothing to do with a succession of desperate managers playing him when they knew he was injured then.

Like I say. The guy is better off out of it. Best for all concerned that he moves on.

I love Beto, but when people start to compare him favourably to an infinitely better player, its time for the better player to fuck off. He clearly aint wanted.

UTFTs!

Quote from this article to save you scrolling "Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin finishes the season having scored fewer goals than his xG for the sixth campaign running. Since 2018-19, no Premier League player has underperformed by more than his 17.2 goals below expectation. Ouch."

I know that xG is marmite, but it is a metric for which lengthy and repeated periods of unavailability, and service provided by the team you play for are both redundant.

All of us have a view and being critical of a player, even thinking he is rubbish, does not equate with hating them.

I don't think DCL is rubbish. His limitations in front of goal should dictate that if he stays it is as an option up front and not first choice when fit. Useful player from the bench, fine by me.

My understanding, based on nothing more than press reporting at the time, was that he didn't sign the contract offered because it wasn't enough money, nothing to do with his football philosophy. If he can get better money now then good luck to him but I can't see why Everton would offer him any more, and will probably feel emboldened by Beto's goals to be less generous.

Colin Crooks stop posting sensible messages. As the saying goes, you can take a horse to water but can't make it drink.

Best post is well Beto is 0.5 kph faster than DCL(Top Trumps) I truly hold my head in my hands.

Is the latter because he has too much time and is so busy weighing up what to do he is in two minds, is it that he lacks the confidence, don't know. But a whole summer of 4 hours a day on the training pitch with the academy goalkeepers doing 1 on 1s could be a solution.

I do think we are a better team with him.

We will probably need to rely on the lovable, but
flawed Beto as it is pie in the sky to think we can
afford a significant upgrade.

Have high hopes for Armstrong next season but not
Tim.

Phil @91, good call. Strikers are normally better positioned to score when they don't have time to think and go off instinct. A bit like at the other end of the pitch it is the same for the keepers and defenders.

I put my body on the line many times and once nearly had a fractured skull as a knee hit my temple stopping a winger as the last man standing. One of the few times I stayed down, apart from breaks and ligaments, to receive treatment and be carried off.

But my favourite moment was in extra time to win a league title. I was on the goal line, almost crippled with cramp on a hot May Day. The ball came towards me in the last minute with the score at 5 - 4 in our favour.

I stretched out my leg in pain. The ball hit my shin, bounced off the post and I managed to clear it for a throw in that didn't happen as the final whistle went.

I do miss being on the pitch, but those days are gone.

His best season were behind closed door exhibition matches, at a time before his injuries - that his body can't repeat now.

The 20/21 covid season was not a typical season. Look back at some the results. Villa beat Liverpool 7-2, spurs beat united 6-1 away the same weekend. burnley, Brighton, Southampton, Fulham, Everton all beat the RS. I am sure there were others, but covid football isn't the same thing.

this isn't a 'some do, some don't scenario. these are multi million pound contracts which if allowed to run to zero cost the clubs tens of millions of pounds. Footballers don't do it for a variety of reasons, they do it cos they stand to make tens of millions of pounds as a result. We aren' peering into a crystal ball when we accuse these players of greed, it's staring everyone if the face.

You don't know why DCL has not renewed.

For my money the lad unfortunately gets injured too often.

Christy, that's an interesting point, probably not. But there's a whole lot of other things that have to happen before you get to that position. Sometimes players want to move on, and the club sells them on and everyone is happy, But we had a deal lined up with Newcastle last year, and then Dom pulled it. You may recall Barkley was in a very similar situation.

DCLs best season was simply because no-one was watching.
Best season during COVID does not a top striker make.
Mentally weak if you ask me, or as a song:

shits his pants when he gets a chance
Dominic Calvert Lewin

There is.

Its called the 'Calvert Lewin Index'

Good footballer, excellent at winning aerial duels and holding the ball up but lacks the natural instinct of a goalscorer and then imo insulted the club by refusing to renew his contract after the club looked after him for 3 years nursing him back to fitness.

When he and his agent realized he wasn't wanted elsewhere especially due to his wage demands he suddenly wants to sign a contract.

Too late for me young man. I would have you up the road in no time.

You've also swallowed whole the false narrative of another poster regarding my view of Dom's shooting ability. In my post he has tried to keep alive with CPR and hospice, I opined that Dom couldn't shoot a ball and then erred in saying he had never scored a great "goal", which I corrected in my next post to "strike" (a correction deliberately ignored by that other poster in the interest of controversy). I don't recall anyone ever posting an example to refute my view. He has never struck anything resembling the crackers we've seen from Dwight (several times), Ndiaye, Keane, Doucs, Jarrad, Tarks and even Gana when he swerved one off the underside of the crossbar. Shots like those are well beyond DCL's capability.

In case you're interested (and I don't know that you are), my opinion has always been that Carlo's coaching helped Dom enormously, but not just positioning in the box. In Dom's early seasons I often moaned that he was reactive, moving for crosses only after he saw them coming in, and frequently just couldn't reach them. The difference I saw in him under Carlo -- who had coached some of the world's best -- was that he made strong, committed early runs that left defenders in his wake and enabled him to get on the end of crosses much better than he had.

Unfortunately since Carlo's departure he has missed an average of 20 games a season, which makes it hard to maintain that confidence and sharpness.

Again, just my opinion.

PS... curious, where did you see the pace numbers you mentioned in #82?

From my opinion, for what it's worth, if he walks onto the pitch wearing an Everton shirt next season, then he's got my backing. As every single one of them who have the honour do so, as they have done all my life.

As for Dominic specifically, I've had some memorable moments watching Everton and seen us lift trophies including a European one.

But that diving header against Crystal Palace when I inadvertently ended up in the the lower bullens with the away supporters is up with them. They were actually celebrating with me!!

I don't know if he will stay, but if he does, it won't be the end of the world. Stay fit and give us more moments.

Thank you for coming back to me, Mike. I was hoping you would.

I may have gotten this wrong, but I'm pretty sure I read a post from you saying you would like to get a bet on FOtM Delap scoring more goals than Calvert-Lewin next season. Trouble is; I cant find it. So by addressing you personally in this thread I was hoping to provoke you into coming back so I could accommodate you. If indeed you did say that.

But first I must address your latest post.

I get frustrated when I see people use the fuck-witted xG argument to try to denigrate one of our players. In fact I get frustrated by the whole concept of XG.

I wonder if those who spout this drivel think Players like Salah or Haaland would come even close to their current stats if they had expended all their energies fighting off 2 often 3 center halves for an aimless long ball...Every single match?... I wonder if their "stats" would have suffered if they had ploughed a lone furrow without another striker in the same post code to offer support or decoy runs ?...I wonder if they would have been superstars had they forced to make virtually all the chances the got through closing down themselves ?...I'm not putting DCL in their bracket, but I seriously wonder if there is a forward alive. who could have thrived playing up for Everton throughout the past five years.

For me. People who put forward stats compiled by other people, are simply demonstrating ignorance. They are basing their entire argument on figures that don't even begin to reveal the facts. They are demonstrating they don't understand their own stats..Their own argument - Case in point; You argue that every stat available will prove Beto is the better finisher.

Unfortunately for the statto's The one fact that matters is the one which proves he has scored nowhere near as many goals as DCL - Despite being roughly the same age and playing at a lower level for most of his playing career. I love Beto, but when these two players hang up their boots, his stats will not be worth a blow on a rag mans bugle. Only the facts will matter. We don't know the xG of people like Wright, Shearer or Aguero, but we will always know how many they scored

As for your claim that Carlo Ancelotti improved DCL I would seriously contest that point as well.

The simple fact is; Carlo found a tactic to ill-use the player which was subsequently copied by other managers. One which very nearly destroyed the most promising of careers.

Anyway Mike. To this wager. I assume we are not looking to empty each others pockets and I know we are both ardent supporters of Cancer Research. I believe DCL will score more than Delap wherever they play their football next season. I am happy to donate 25 quid extra to CR if I am wrong. Will you do the same ?

My colleague, who is an associate professor in the Stats Department, says that the simplest introduction to all of this for anyone who might be interested in understanding the nature of the statistics they offer is Heumann, Schomaker, and Shalabh, Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis. My friend's last book was on "statistics and casual inference". "Casual inference" from bald statistics, who'd have thought! He did smile when I I told him that "figures speak for themselves".

"Figures {do not} speak for themselves" and I think lesson 4 on context is rather important here when statistics are rattled off without any sort of context.

As a good number have posted already on here to correct the nutty idea that Beto has been "isolated" up front, the systems under Dyche (DCL) and Moyes (Beto) are very different for the reasons that have already been explained. For these folk there is general agreement that the service and support the striker has enjoyed under Moyes is much improved. Beto was also shite under Dyche.

But your statistics do now allow for any differentiation along these lines Ian.

And Colin, how is xG fuck-witted? It is data from observed outcomes.

Ipswich - played 13 minutes, 1 off target shot, lost ball 4 times.

Fulham - played 10 minutes, 1 big chance missed.

Southampton - played 15 minutes, no shots, lost the ball 4 times.

Newcastle - played 9 minutes, 2 shots, 2 big chances missed, lost the ball twice.

This is a player playing for a new contract, against tired defenders, 2 of which were relegation teams, and thats his contribution?

£5m+ a season mate for 3 goals, and a player that should be third choice next season, do me a favour.

Honestly, I love the loyalty of fans of supporting lads in blue. He is a better technical player than Beto - but come on, if we want to move forward then this sort of nonsense from fans of wanting trophies/league progression & keeping Thewell, Keane, Calvert Lewin has got to stop.