FC Edmonton had spent six league games going on a run no Canadian Premier League side wants to go on: a scoreless streak. Shots weren’t abundant, and those that came to fruition were fired off from areas where the odds were against the Eddies.

Jeff Paulus knew something needed to change.

The head coach addressed the problem after last week’s midweek game against York9 FC, with team captain Toni Ameobi also chiming in regarding the club’s struggles in front of goal.

Yesterday, FC Edmonton stormed to a 3-1 victory over Pacific FC that will have left Eddies fans buzzing. Ameobi, Diouck, and Bruno Zebie all found the scoresheet to secure the Edmonton-based side’s biggest win in CPL yet.

What changed? For one, Paulus stated that his team was looking to take shots from better locations on the pitch. Three weeks ago, Paulus brought in a secret, un-named analyst to evaluate what the Eddies could be doing better. The results of these conversations led the the coaching staff to create four points of play that would put players in better positions to score.

Here’s what Paulus had to say about the changes, as per CPL contributor Steven Sandor:

“We wanted to change the way we play, change our shot selection. The four goals helped guide us to where we should be shooting from. We looked at world football, where goals are scored from, and we saw that we weren’t making good shot selections.” Jeff Paulus

While Paulus wouldn’t name the analyst, the fact that he was in Edmonton three weeks ago does coincide with when Alphonso Davies took in a game during a multi-day stay in the area. If anyone could provide a good analysis on how to find the back of the net, a local teenage phenom who happens to be one of Bayern Munich’s most exciting youngsters would be a top choice.

Of course, it’s not all gravy for the Eddies: having conceded a goal, Paulus is well-aware that there is still room for improvement. The young Pacific FC backline has conceded a league-high 14 goals in 9 games, so it’ll be interesting to see if FC Edmonton can build a newfound scoring streak when it plays the likes of Forge FC this Wednesday after a rigorous travelling schedule.

At the end of the day, it was a good performance from FC Edmonton, and analyst or no analyst, fans will be relieved to see their side scoring again after the longest goal drought in CPL history.

Source: Canadian Premier League