Dembele Shaped Hole

Looking at attacking performance indicators so far this season.

The graph below plots Expected Goals (quality of shot chances) and Expected Assists (quality of chances created). Together this is Expected Scoring Contribution but compared we can see the squad attacking potential productivity.

All values are per 90m. I have included all players who have played 100 minutes before the International break.

First point to note is the extreme middle right. Dembele was averaging 0.74 xG per 90m. No on is close to this with the shot hungry Johnston promisingly on 0.5. Last season all 3 strikers averaged over 0.6 xG per 90m. It is a slight worry early in the season albeit these samples are small.

Griffiths is prominent in the xA values which is not surprising given he takes set pieces. 12 of the 21 chances Griffiths has created this season have been from set pieces. Hayes potential is shown with the highest xA value although he has only created 4 chances in his limited 135 minutes.

McGregor continues to impress as the most creative midfielder. A concern is the low value of chances Rogic creates per 90m – only 0.12.

Early days but someone is gong to have to fill the void to Dembele’s numbers.

I’ll refresh over the season.