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Recently, Jeremy Ngakia found the net twice for Watford against Oxford to bring his total career goals to three from 116 senior club appearances,” wonders a curious fan. “Excluding players who only scored one goal, is there anyone with over 100 matches managed a greater proportion of their career goals in a single match?”

Another reader writes in with the tale of Matthieu Chalmé. “Defender Matthieu Chalmé played 362 professional matches during his playing days, primarily with Lille and Bordeaux,” he explains. “He scored four career goals, with three of them scored during a solitary match. Chalmé netted all three goals in Lille’s 3-0 win at AC Ajaccio in 2004, achieving the most unlikely of three-goal hauls.”

Those three well-taken goals in Ajaccio were the only ones Chalmé managed in 179 games for Lille, while in 167 for Bordeaux, he found the net one time. Well, twice if you count his self-scored goal in the 2010 League Cup final against Marseille. Scoring 75% of his career goals in a single match takes Chalmé past Ngakia’s percentage (two-thirds), but there’s a complication.

Chalmé hung up his boots at his club in 2014 after a temporary move at Ajaccio, who presumably recalled his brief purple patch a ten years prior. He did return to the game with fifth-tier side his local club, playing seven games in half a year – and scoring one goal. This reduces his ratio of goals in one match down to three-fifths, but it seems unfair to count against him for a post-career stint at amateur football.

A brief note, too, for a different French defender: Lilian Thuram. While the original question concerns professional club play, plenty of you wrote in to point out that Thuram made 142 international caps and netted twice in the same match – the World Cup semi-final against Croatia. Look, when you’re hot, you’re hot.

The Insubordination Files: Part II

In last week’s Knowledge we examined players who disobeyed their coaches. There are some more fantastic examples, so we’re revisiting the Insubordination Files for a another review.

Tottenham v Manchester City, FA Cup semi-final, 1955-56
Tottenham’s skipper, Danny Blanchflower, made changes to the side during the FA Cup semi-final against City while they were a goal down,” recalls a correspondent. “Switching Norman from defense to attack, Spurs still lost and the coach, Jimmy Anderson [no relation], dropped Blanchflower for the following game and removed him of the armband. Within a year Anderson left, Bill Nicholson became manager, the captain returned and the outcome is legendary.”

England vs Albania, World Cup qualifying, April 1989
Another fan points out: “Paul Gascoigne scored his first England goal in this 5-0 win at Wembley after roaming everywhere’, as per manager Bobby Robson. The post-game comments are marvellous – a great blend of frustration, irony and fatherly pride.”

Everton v Tottenham, FA Cup semi-final, 1994-95
“Everton’s last major trophy was the 1995 FA Cup, and it wouldn’t have been possible without one man,” writes a contributor. “Coach Royle? No. Goalscorer in the final, Paul Rideout? Almost. Goalkeeping colossus Southall? Nope. That man was unpredictable forward Amokachi, who came on uninvited during the semi-final against Spurs, scoring twice to secure Everton a place in the Wembley showpiece against Manchester United.”

Telling the tale to the media, the striker said: “Rideout got a knock and went down ... I just approached the assistant and told him ‘The gaffer says you need me on’.” The manager was rightly angry at the moment, but kinder at the final whistle: “He entered the locker room and embraced me, gave me his hand and said: ‘Well done, son, but never try that again.’”

Sporting v Barcelona, European match, 2008-09
During his time with Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona against Sporting Lisbon, Thierry Henry took it upon himself to switch wings. He quickly scored to give Barcelona the lead at half-time. The coach’s response? He substituted Henry for disobeying orders.”

Set-Piece Specialists

“Being a Hammers supporter, I’m increasingly having to look at past seasons for some enjoyment,” laments a fan. “Upon reviewing, I saw that Payet scored six free kicks in the precious year and a half that we enjoyed him. Just wondering if there is a more prolific free-kick taker in a comparable span?”

One comes to mind: David Beckham netted 27 direct kicks in his spell with United, including eight over several months between 2000. His best period at Old Trafford includes the identical timeframe: from May 1999 to November 2000, he netted ten set-pieces – including two raspers against the Hammers. Sorry, Liam.

For consolation, there’s a player now at West Ham who can better Payet’s statistics: Ward-Prowse. The dead-ball specialist enjoyed two purple patches with Southampton, netting seven set-pieces between November 2019 and February 2021 across two pandemic-interrupted campaigns. Ward-Prowse then hit another six superb free-kicks in a ten-month period between 2022-2023.

Knowledge archive

“A friend who follows Southend claims the team once played a league game at the national stadium? Is he having me on?” queried Stuart Jacks in 2012.

Ludicrously, he was correct. Southend were one of two teams – the Bees being the second – to face Clapton Orient in the third tier at Wembley back in the 1930s, owing to stadium renovations at their home ground. Their official website explain further:

Following a league match against Torquay (which the O’s won), officials from the Devon club complained about the perimeter fence being too close to the pitch. League officials was duly asked to check the stadium and concluded that alterations had to be made before any more games could take place; suddenly the club found themselves without a stadium. Incredible as it seems, Wembley was proposed and the O’s actually hosted two matches in that year against Brentford and Southend, winning 3-0 and 3-1 respectively. Even now the club is the sole league team to have hosted matches at Wembley Stadium!

After that of course, Spurs joined Orient in becoming residents at Wembley, albeit in the top flight. In recent weeks, discussions about the Gunners upgrading the Emirates – and moving to the Wembley while the construction occurs – has emerged.

Your Input Needed

“Aubameyang netted four times and was red-carded in Gabon’s victory over Gambia recently,” writes Seb in Berlin. “Who else have been dismissed after scoring at least three goals?”

“During Austria’s huge win of San Marino, every outfield player who began the game got a goal, an assist or both,” queries Paul Savage. “Has any other team managed this?”

“Of all of the players who have a monument at their club’s stadium of their former club, who made the least amount of appearances for that club?” wonders a fan.

“Interestingly, Tomasson is the initial coach to be sacked by {Sw