Before last night's match, (and just before the thread was locked) I said:
It's yer bloody law of averages innit?
One thing that stands out for me is the very low number of shots at goal that we make compared with other teams.
Virtually none of our competitors score with every shot taken - we'd be shocked if they did - so they keep at it until some of them end up in the net.
Take today's Cup games as examples, showing shots/on target/goals per team:
Accrington 13/6/3 v Cheltenham 3/2/1
Halifax 13/2/1 v Wimbledon 17/5/3
Charlton 12/3/0 v Doncaster 12/5/2
Lincoln 15/5/3 v Carlisle 11/2/0
Maidstone 6/2/0 v Oldham 13/4/2
Peterboro' 15/6/2 v Bradford 8/4/2
Plymouth 17/2/1 v Oxford 9/3/2
Southend 8/2/2 v Barnsley 16/10/4
Walsall 9/4/1 v Sunderland 11/4/1
Almost without exception, teams with the highest number of shots won their games, even if only a relatively small number of those shots were on target.
Similarly, teams with the greater number of shots on target tended to win.
Criticisms of Wrexham's season so far have been 'wasted chances' with many shots off target, and, in some games, no shots at all.
The message is that more attempts at goal are needed - as the law of averages means that some of them will go in! Some players take shots at every opportunity and are called greedy when they don't score. One thing's for sure, if we don't shoot, we don't score, and if we don't score, we can't win.
Of course the above is blindingly obvious, as is the need to get the ball to a potential goalscorer - something else that we've been weak at doing. So let's stop pussyfooting around trying to walk the ball into the net: if we can find players who can see as far as the goal, and have the ability to hit the ball instead of scuffing it, standing on it, or tripping over let's get them shooting...