The Fulham striker endured a nightmare reunion with former side Leeds.
Matt Smith faced up against former team Leeds United for the first time since leaving the Yorkshire side for Fulham on Wednesday night.
The reunion did not go well.
Fulham’s Ross McCormack was also facing his former club at Craven Cottage – and the above photo summed up the pair’s night aptly as Leeds ran out 3-0 winners in west London.
The most apt summary of Smith’s night, though, is the set of statistics below…
| Shots | On Target | Off Target | Blocked | Minutes Played | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Smith | 13 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 90 |
| Giuseppe Bellusci | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 90 |
| Mirco Antenucci | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Sam Byram | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
| Charlie Taylor | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 90 |
| Alex Mowatt | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 83 |
| Billy Sharp | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 67 |
| Sol Bamba | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
Indeed, there are two things striking about Smith’s Opta stats against Leeds.
Firstly, the 25-year-old took more shots than the whole of the Yorkshire side. Secondly, he only hit the target with two of those attempts.
Since Smith returned from his loan spell at Bristol City, he has been Fulham’s only goalscorer (netting twice). But, against Leeds, the target man quite simply let the Cottagers down.
There will be times when the angle goes against you, times when the service isn’t good enough and times when the goalkeeper is too good. Hitting nine shots off target, however, is a sign that a striker has had a bad night at the office – and has very little else to blame but himself.
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