The widening gap between the number of shots per game compared to goals scored is also evident in the below graphic that clearly demonstrates quite how City have lost their clinical edge in front of goal:
On face value, whilst the reduction in shots per game to 9.5 (a drop of 1.83 per game) appears to tell us a great deal (and correlates to the lower final third entry and final third passing completion numbers) but upon closer inspection two of the eight games were the trips to Liverpool and Chelsea, where City were restricted to just four and three shots (seven in total) inside the box respectively. Importantly, these were two of the four games in which they actually scored. Take these two games out of the analysis and in the remaining six games of the spell City had 69 shots from inside the box at an average of 11.5 per game – 0.17 shots per game higher than the opening six away games.
Both the shots blocked and shots off target only show negligible reductions (0.20 and 0.12 per game respectively) but interestingly, the number of shots saved by the opposition goalkeeper has increased by 50% from 1.83 to 2.75: simply a result of better goalkeeping or being less clinical in front of goal? A further – and important point – is that over the first six games of the season City’s goals scored total including five goals scored from outside of the box. In addition to a paucity in front of goal during the subsequent eight games City have also failed to score from outside the box and furthermore, have failed to score in open play since Mario Balotelli’s strike against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge back in December.
City’s away form of late – or at the least their return from away games – has seen their lead over United eroded to the extent United now hold the advantage in the title race. The numbers do show that not much has changed a great deal for City from an attacking sense – if anything shots from inside the box is one area they have increased. Admittedly the sample size being looked at is a relatively small one and it would be interesting to perhaps look at a breakdown of City’s home games or even other sides to see whether there has been a more of a ‘natural’ drop off as the season progresses as opposed to a blunting of their offensive sharpness.
However, it does appear though that the key for City being crowned as the 2011/12 Premier League Champions then looks to be not necessarily in creating more but in finding a return to their early season form in being able to more successfully convert these shots into goals – the one thing that has begun to elude them of late.
All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.com – Subscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) See Demo’s and videos about the Stats Centre & read about new additions to the stats centre.
