Which of our players glanced the ball back to Henry, I think it was Ness but I'don't know what he looks like, his shirt number looked like 24 to me but we didn't have 24 but Ness was 34.
I think it's sometime unfair that the last player to touch the ball is the only one to get an "assist" - you could get a player dribble 60 yards, beating 5 players, pass it to someone who lays it off 5 yards sideways to the player who then scores the goal and the dribbler gets no credit.
But yeah, no way you can give Ness an assist for that.
Back in the day no one knew what an assist was anyway, or at least no one tracked how many a plyer got.
I think it's sometime unfair that the last player to touch the ball is the only one to get an "assist" - you could get a player dribble 60 yards, beating 5 players, pass it to someone who lays it off 5 yards sideways to the player who then scores the goal and the dribbler gets no credit.
But yeah, no way you can give Ness an assist for that.
Back in the day no one knew what an assist was anyway, or at least no one tracked how many a plyer got.
The “pre-assist” is often overlooked.
However it is becoming more common to see them tracked and recorded like an assist, more so in Europe than here.
I find La Liga podcasts and articles often mention them more than many others so it’s more common in Spain.
Modric is an example of a player who often has low assist numbers (or lower than you’d expect for a player with his passing ability) but in many seasons his pre-assist numbers are double his actual assists.
It was a strike from a clearance, rather than from a clear assist for me.
I don’t think their defender knew much about it to call it a clearance because it came at him quite quickly from Ness’ header, fell conveniently to Henry whose technique in getting the shot off was excellent.
In Fantasy Football I think the ruling is that if the defender significantly changes the direction of the ball - which was the case here - it's not an assist.
In Fantasy Football I think the ruling is that if the defender significantly changes the direction of the ball - which was the case here - it's not an assist.
Ness saw the angle and it was a perfectly placed header into the defenders back to allow the ball to drop perfectly to Henry who only had to knock it in to a wide gaping goal. All about Ness for me.
Expect to see a new category of stat in the not-too-distant future: goal involvement.
'Goal assist' will be for whoever lays on the final ball for the goalscorer whereas 'goal involvement' will be for those who had a contribution in the move that lead to the goal, thus recognising those who may have done the donkey work but then someone else grabs the stats glory.
You could then have situations where there's an assist but not an involvement (e.g. long ball out from 'keeper, received by striker, goes on to score on his own) or there's an involvement but not an assist (last night's goal with Ness's header being diverted by a defender).
Of course, that would then lead to arguments as to how far back in a move you go to award an 'involvement' stat and would you get a stat credit for making a lovely run that pulled a defender out of position to create the space for the goalscorer, something that you could say was the most important part of the whole move?
Comments
The BBC report doesn't credit anyone with the assist
But yeah, no way you can give Ness an assist for that.
Back in the day no one knew what an assist was anyway, or at least no one tracked how many a plyer got.
FWIW I think Ness gets the assist.
'Goal assist' will be for whoever lays on the final ball for the goalscorer whereas 'goal involvement' will be for those who had a contribution in the move that lead to the goal, thus recognising those who may have done the donkey work but then someone else grabs the stats glory.
You could then have situations where there's an assist but not an involvement (e.g. long ball out from 'keeper, received by striker, goes on to score on his own) or there's an involvement but not an assist (last night's goal with Ness's header being diverted by a defender).
Of course, that would then lead to arguments as to how far back in a move you go to award an 'involvement' stat and would you get a stat credit for making a lovely run that pulled a defender out of position to create the space for the goalscorer, something that you could say was the most important part of the whole move?