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One Scorer Or A Spread Of Goals For The Prem? (27/1/17)

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Plenty of talk in modern day football surrounds the necessity of having at least one true goalscorer – but how accurate is it?

Alternatively plenty say the last thing you need in the modern game is a focal point or an over reliance when it comes to a goal threat and you’re far better suited as a team to have threats from all over the pitch and instead of having one player hit the magical 20 goals a season mark, you should spread that between two or three players.

The days of having a solitary target man aren’t over but with injuries, suspensions, international commitments etc and simple tactical marking, there is certainly sense in having a threat elsewhere on the pitch – whether that be a goalscoring midfielder ala Frank Lampard or Steven Gerrard or a more regular threat from the backline in the shape of a John Terry for example from set pieces.

But whilst there’s plenty of talk about such things the true reality is Premier League winners never solely boast one threat but teams that do can often find themselves the following season in the Championship.

The balance in threats is key to success or failure – but even then one leading man can have a more telling success if he has a well performing defence at the other end of the pitch. There’s no point boasting one player who scores 20 a season, because that is nullified if you concede one more than he scores in every game.

Talksport have crunched the numbers on this one and it is only for the Premier League so far this campaign – not other competitions – and they decided to look at the gap between the stand out top scorer and next top scorer(s) down the line.

Whilst most pundits would suggest and expect the top sides so far in the division to have a relatively close spread in goals scores – implying they carry a threat in all areas of the pitch – the reality is somewhat different.

Relying on one man to cause the crowd to shout and cheer works, as long as that man gets the service and the remaining goals can come from anywhere, however infrequently, as long as the defence is performing.

Talksport pick out Manchester United for their lack of goals and spread in their wibble if you click the above link because Zlatan Ibrahimovic stands out with 14 goals (second only to Arsenal’s Alexis) and he’s followed by Paul Pogba and Juan Mata on four a piece – so their different is 10 goals.

However joint in first place in the table with parity is Leicester City’s Islam Slimani and Jamie Vardy who have five a piece.

Obviously the difference is Manchester United sit in 6th place whilst Leicester are in 15th. United themselves have scored 33 goals and Leicester only 24 and with United conceding 12 goals less than scored, but Leicester conceding 13 more goals than scored – in reality who puts them in the back of the net (as long as somebody does) is irrelevant.

Statistics can prove anything and unfortunately this is a prime example of just that as football remains a simple game, score more than the opposition.

No
Team
Player
Goals
Player
Goals
Diff
1
Watford
Deeney
5
Capoue
5
Leicester City
Slimani
5
Vardy
5
3
Middlesbrough
Negredo
5
Stuani
4
1
Liverpool
Mane
9
Firmino
8
1
5
Swansea City
Llorente
8
Sigurdsson/Fer
6
2
Tottenham
Kane
13
Alli
13
2
Stoke City
Allen
5
Bojan/Arnautovic/Crouch/Shaqiri
3
2
Southampton
Austin
6
Rodriguez
4
2
Burnley
Gray
6
Vokes
4
2
Bournemouth
Wilson
6
King/Stanislas
4
2
11
West Brom
Rondon
7
McAuley/Phillips/Chadli
4
3
West Ham
Antonio
8
Carroll
5
3
Crystal Palace
Benteke
8
McArthur
5
3
14
Hull City
Snodgrass
7
Hernandez/Dawson
3
4
15
Chelsea
Costa
15
Hazard
9
6
Man City
Aguero
11
Sterling
5
6
17
Arsenal
Alexis
15
Walcott
8
7
18
Everton
Lukaku
12
Coleman
4
8
19
Sunderland
Defoe
12
van Aanholt
3
9
20
Man United
Ibrahimovic
14
Pogba/Mata
4
10



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