Team Analysis: Shooting

 

Next up on my team analysis is looking at how many shots Saints are having on goal and how it is affecting results this season.

Quick Stats:

• Total Shots: 155 (200 shots if you include blocked shots)
• On Target: 63   Off Target: 92
• Minutes per Shot: 9
• Minutes per Shot On Target: 23
• Shooting Accuracy: 41%
• Chance Conversion: 14%

Here’s a line graph showing the amount of goals they are having in each Premier League game this season.

 

 

As we can see Saints tend to fluctuate between games, ranging from between 10 and 15 shots per game. However, when Saints played Swansea and picked up their first point in three games they seemed to gather momentum and as a result we can see the line graph increase and start to plateau as Saints started having more shots. In that period Saints managed to pick up 8 points. Therefore, this gives us a clear understanding how important it is to create opportunities for us to shoot. It’s a fairly obvious point but ‘goals win games’ and the more chances we have the more likelihood we will score.

If we look at the Premier League as a whole, we can see from this bar chart the Shooting Accuracy of each team in their current league position.

 

 

A clear pattern we can see is the Top 7 all have a high Shot Accuracy rate, again an obvious observation but they are only there because they have created chances and put an effort on goal and made the goalkeeper work. Stand out in the league is Fulham who sit in the bottom half of the league but have a higher accuracy rating than any other team. Saints have a shot accuracy of 41% which shows that they’re not struggling to find the target and puts them about midway in averages for the bottom half of the league. Therefore, I see Saints shot accuracy as a positive at the moment but there is certainly room for improvement.

 

 

This bar chart is showing us the Chance Conversion rate in the Premier League, therefore this is probably the most important stat when it comes to shooting. Straight away I can see that Saints have a decent conversion rate in relation to the league, there are a lot of teams who are higher up the table but with a very low conversion rate, for example Norwich and Newcastle. It’s a nice confidence booster knowing that Saints are certainly mixing it with the best and are fully capable of converting a chance when it comes there way, you could also say Saints have been unfortunate at times hitting the woodwork 8 times so far this season.

Next up we can look at how the individuals in the team have been getting on with their shooting boots!

 

 

This pie chart shows us how many shots each player has had on goal (including blocked shots). One thing I think is great is the fact that there are 17 players who have attempted a shot on goal, of which 7 players have had over 10 shots each. A lot of other teams in the league, for example Liverpool have been relying on one player (Suarez) to get the goals which probably explains there low Shooting Accuracy and Chance Conversion rate; whereas, Saints have goals from all over the pitch.

• 72 of the shots have been with the left foot. Puncheon with 24 of them.
• 92 of the shots have been with the right foot. Lambert with 23 of them.
• 34 of the shots have been headers. Lambert with 12 of them.

 

 

Here we have a look at the four most trigger happy players in the Saints team, in the blue block we can see there Shooting Accuracy %, notably Lambert, Puncheon and Lallana are all around the 50% mark which shows that they are all fairly consistent when shooting at goal. However, Ramirez has a very low Accuracy of 28%, I believe this is due to the fact a high percentage of his shots are from outside the area. I have no problem with this and like many other Saints fans we need to have more shots from outside the penalty box to test the goalkeeper, instead of tippy tapping it around the penalty box not having an effort on goal. But, Ramirez does have the 2^nd Highest Chance Conversion rate which shows he does put away more chances on goal than Puncheon and Lallana. However, no one can compare to the Goal Machine himself Rickie Lambert, with an incredibly high Chance Conversion Rate of 18%, this make Lambert more clinical than Suarez, Rooney and Torres!!!

 

 

 

As mentioned in some of my articles and other journals Saints have become notoriously dangerous from set pieces, in total Saints have had 11 shots directly after a set piece and 9 shots from a direct free kick. Saints are at the forefront when it comes to creating new routines, each week we see a different form of ball into the box, this is very important that Saints continue this as we become less predictable and more dangerous.

Overall, we can see that Saints aren’t struggling when it comes to shots on goal, like any other team they can always improve their accuracy and conversion rate on goal. On four occasions this season Saints only had 10 shots on goal and came back with 0 points. Therefore, if my calculations are correct on average this season Saints have picked up points when they have had 16 shots or more on goal this season. It’s imperative that Saints continue to create and take chances when they come their way because it will no doubt be one of the key factors in keeping Saints in the Premier League.

References: EPL Index (stats) SaintsFC Pictures