Should we not be looking past the assist column for Traore?
Unfortunately the stats are often a bit grey. This season he's played 17 games (but not sure how much of each of those games)
He's had 30 odd crosses but no assists. Is if his fault he has no assists? Would a better front 3 make more of them? Apparently he's only made 3 "big chances" but what is a big chance?
If there is one negative I think most people are overlooking, way more concerning than any of those stats, is his ability to work the whole length of the pitch for 90 minutes. Muscles burn more calories, so he's probably only ever going to last 45-60 mins.
I am not sure about "big chances". All I know is what I have seen from him in the play.
He does beat the opposition player 1 vs 1. And he can surely outrun them as well, I guess we can all agree on that. But what follows causes quite a lot of disagreements.
It is absolutely and fully clear that his finishing ability/shooting are beyond pathetic. Guy has scored 7 goals within his career in Premier league. And he has played 7145 minutes of EPL football for Wolves (in fact he has played overall 8868 minutes in EPL but I left everything else out). So he has to stay on from whistle to whistle for 11,3 full games. Or alternatively you could expect 3,3 goals from him if he starts and finishes all the games. That is just utterly poor, I think we can all agree on that.
Just for comparison reasons - Moura, whose end-product has been fluctuating at times has scored 1 goal for every 378 minutes on field (translates to 1 goal for every 4,2 full games).
Lamela would have been expected to score once every 6,1 full games in EPL. Literally two players who have been critisized for their end product.
What does that mean? Well to me it means that Traore does not possess any kind of goal scoring threat at all. And obviously teams know that. It is not needed to dispossess him. Just stay close to him and don't let him pass with full freedom. Heck, I bet defenders in the briefing even get instructions to keep closed his passing routes more than the routes leading for him to shoot himself. I think we all saw that in start of the season against us. He was not able to put away 1 vs 1 chance running behind the line.
Now 2nd and still quite measurable metric are assists - he has 13 of those to his name. Spread across the same number of minutes it means he is able to deliver ball to his teammate for scoring once after 6,1 full EPL games he has played. To compare to same peer group - Moura - 1 in same 6,1 full games and Lamela - 1 in 4 full games. It is already bit better than goalscoring on his own. But still for some reason it feels very low to me - if he is fast and strong and good in a dribble - how come he finds his teammates so infrequently? Guess it is down to combination of 2 things - poor decision making and poor execution.
What does that mean? His delivery is poor so again it seems that more important to take ball from him is to keep him wide from the goal. If ability to deliver pass/cross is questionable then longer the distance, lower the likelyhood of him being successful.
Now everything else that is left from quite straightforward goals and assist is much more murky.
Okay - he is fast and can outsprint lot of defenders.
okay - he can shoulder many players off the ball
okay - he can have good close control and can carry the ball upfield
But what is the use of these attributes when he so obviously does not have the finishing ability in his locker? Which means defending against him already is easier. He is not really clinical with finding teammates either. At least to how we play if he gets fouled, it is very little benefit. Our free kicks generally are tame and inefficient. He can carry the ball upfield, but if he runs out with it, puts in over or underhit cross or just misplaces pass, then yea, for a moment he has made opposition defenders sprint back to their goal quickly. But guess what more? Our lines have also got higher to support him. But if most passes and crosses are intercepted, then it allows opposition teams to hit us in the counter as well.
What we lack right now is someone with precision in the crossing and passing. Someone to push the ball through pile of opposite defenders. Someone to dribble through and score/pass to scorer. I don't see him providing any of these things. In Watford and Southampton game we never struggled with getting ball to last 3rd. Quite opposite - we got there easily. But that final ball was lacking. Just like Conte said - "Final ball is what will be the difference of getting a goal or not getting a goal". I just don't see how getting another player in with poor last ball will improve us really.
I mean question was "Would a better front 3 make more of them (crosses)?" well - I don't know. Our current front 3 done exactly nothing with poor crosses in Watford game. So I doubt to be honest.