For every Manchester City, there’s a Wigan Athletic. For every Bayern Munich, an Augsburg. We’re talking about goalscoring here. As the leading lights steal the headlines while racking up the goals, further down the table an inability to find the net is proving costly. Some only have themselves to blame, though..
WhoScored analyses the team with the worst goalscoring record from each of Europe’s top five divisions to ascertain just why goals are proving so hard to come by right now:
Wigan Athletic
Bottom of the Premier League table with just 6 goals and 5 points to their name, Roberto Martinez’s side have just a single win on the board after ten rounds of matches. A look at their shots per game shows that the Latics are not particularly shot shy; they have averaged 13 shots per game, the same, for example, as third-place Newcastle and the likes of Swansea City, a side lauded for their attack-minded approach.
Whereas Alan Pardew’s side have shown their clinical nature in front of goal by finding the net on 15 occasions, Wigan, from a total of 130 shots, have found the net just 6 times- that’s an average of 1 goal for every 21.7 attempts. Of all the Latics players, though, there are two particularly guilty parties - Victor Moses and Hugo Rodallega.
Moses has started every game this season, following the departure of Charles N’Zogbia to Aston Villa and while his ability on the ball is unquestioned (3.5 successful dribbles per game), he seems incapable of finding the net right now. Averaging 3.2 shots per game, he has fired off 32 goal attempts without a single goal to show for his toils.
Rodallega is almost as equally woeful- averaging 2.8 shots, he’s played eight of the Latics’ games so far and has produced 22 shots without scoring. Between them, then, the pair have 54 unsuccessful goal attempts. One thing’s for sure, they can’t be faulted for effort and with a little bit more luck, the Latics’ season may yet turn around.
Cesena
After nine rounds of Serie A matches, only one team remains undefeated and one team remains without a win. Unfortunately for Cesena, the former applies to league leaders Juventus and with three draws and six losses on the board, they are rooted to the bottom of Italy’s top division.
In a season that has already seen goals hard to come by right across the board, Cesena are particularly culpable. They’ve managed a mere 11 shots per game- only Chievo (10) and Siena (9) have averaged less, though while Siena have found the net 11 times and sit seventh in the table, Cesena have scored just 3 goals. From a total of 99 shots, that’s a goal every 33 attempts, making even Wigan Athletic appear positively prolific.
Much of the blame can be attributed to Adrian Mutu- the Romanian has started six of the nine games and is far and away their main goal threat. Playing through the middle in a 4-3-3, Mutu has averaged 3.3 shots per game and scored just 1 goal from 20 attempts. Antonio Candreva has impressed with 2 shots per game from the right of the midfield three and has scored 1 goal from 18 shots - while that’s hardly a decent conversion rate, it’s Mutu, as the centre forward, who is the guiltier of the two. If Cesena are to pick up points with any sort of regularity, it’s down to the Romanian to start turning his opportunities into goals before the pack stretch away any further.
Granada
Only seven teams have managed more shots per game than Granada in La Liga thus far. After ten rounds of matches, they are averaging 13 goal attempts, the same tally as the likes of big-spending Malaga and 2 more than third-placed Levante.
From a total of 130 shots, they have scored just 4 goals, finding the net just once every 32.5 attempts, a ratio as similarly poor as Cesena. Compare this to Levante, who have scored 17 goals from 110 attempts, an average of 1 goal per 6.47 shots, and it’s clear just where Granada’s problems lie.
Currently, they sit in second bottom place, just one point ahead of Getafe but thanks to wins over Villarreal and Sevilla, have eight points on the board and sit only four points behind eleventh-paced Rayo Vallecano. A look at Granada’s attacking stats suggest a collective responsibility for their abysmal finishing - their top five players in terms of shots per game have all failed to find the net at all this season.
Left winger Dani Benitez is the most out of sorts - averaging 2.4 efforts per game over nine appearances, he’s had 22 attempts without scoring a single goal. He’s also produced 1.2 key passes per game and has also failed to return an assist. Right winger Franco Jara has fired 12 shots without success, while lone frontman Ikechukwu Uche appears to suffer from a lack of service - he’s managed just 1.1 shots per game, attempting 10 shots from nine appearances and finding the net just once.
Augsburg
Sitting second bottom in the Bundesliga after eleven games, Augsburg - in comparison to the rest of the division - have found goals hard to come by. Germany’s top-flight has been typically open and although just three teams have less attempts per game than Augsburg’s 12, it’s at least promising for the club that second-placed Schalke have just 2 more goal attempts per game, with 14.
With 8 goals from a total of 132 shots, they have scored 1 goal per 16.5 shots - not such a shoddy conversion rate when held against the rest of our featured teams here, but a look at Cologne’s goals per shots is telling in comparison. Lukas Podolski and co have averaged just 7 shots per game but have still managed to score 18 goals - a goal for every 4.27 shots. Augsburg clearly need to improve their conversion rate if they are to flourish.
The chief culprit here is Daniel Baier. Playing in the hole in a 4-2-3-1, the German has averaged 1.9 shots over his eleven appearances, a total of 21 attempts, and has failed to register a single goal. Right winger Akaki Gogia has hardly helped either - from 16 shots he, too, remains goalless after ten appearances. Lone front man Sascha Mölders has scored 3 times, though given that he’s averaged 2.8 shots per game, needs to be a little more clinical as his club bids to escape the relegation zone.
Nancy
Second-bottom of Ligue 1 with just a single victory after twelve games, Nancy have 8 goals on the board. With just 10 shots per game, they have the third-worst attacking threat in France’s top division - only Sochaux and Ajaccio (9 each) have less goal attempts on average. A look at Sochaux’s conversion rate shows Nancy’s lack of finishing ability is the real cause of their problems, though. Sochaux have scored 18 goals from 108 shots -1 goal per 6 attempts - whereas Nancy’s 8 goals from 120 shots is 1 goal per 15 attempts, a substantial difference. As a result, Sochaux sit eleventh in comparison.
At the back, Nancy have conceded 15 goals, the same number as second-placed Montpellier but have scored 19 goals and have 18 points less. Their Romanian centre forward Daniel Niculae is one of the main culprits - charged with scoring the goals in his side’s 4-3-3, Niculae averages more shots than any Nancy player (2.1) but has found the net only once from a total of 17 attempts over his eight appearances. Playing in the centre of the midfield three, Loosemy Karaboue has starred in every one of Nancy’s twelve games and has produced 1.7 shots per game - he’s also scored just 1 goal from 20 attempts and has managed just 1 assist from his 12 key passes so far.
