FanPost

Open Play vs Penalties




I know I haven't been super active on the site lately but, well, you know I got busy with life but still kept up with the Gunners throughout the season. I was thinking lately about H*rry K*ne and his goal-scoring which is not the most pleasant thought for Gooners, but was wondering if it was inflated due to how many penalties he takes. I searched the Google and did not find any easy answers (90 seconds, right?). Obviously, goals scored by a team count the same whether by open play or penalty because the goal is accounted to the team but what about Golden Boot? Should there be weighting on open play vs penalty rather than pure number of goals scored? What about free kick goals? Especially when the penalty/free kick taker is not the player who was fouled to win the penalty/free kick? I'm personally torn because it seems that open play goals are more physical than mental and penalty kicks vice versa (and free kicks somewhere in between). Perhaps the debate itself is the reason why the goals are still weighted equally.