2012/13 Halfway Point Analysis: Shots on target for

In yesterday's posts Danny took a quick look at scoring % and how each team fared. Today I shall be looking at shots on target as an accompanying piece. Any guesses for who is the best team in the league when looking solely at shots on target?

Shots On Target Table

No surprises here.

Man City are the league's best shots on target team by a small margin ahead of Spurs, United and Everton. The logical train of though would tell us that the more shots on target a team generates then the more likely they are to score goals barring any obscene luck in terms of scoring %'s.

As for the bottom of this table, it is no real surprise to see the bottom six teams where they are. Reading and Villa are teams who are struggling so far, Sunderland are improving, yet struggle offensively. Southampton are being heavily restricted in some games and not in others, that inconsistency leads to their poor total (and 1 game less played).

Stoke are bottom of the table as they were, if memory serves, last season. Stoke are a historically poor team in generating shots on target, but it matters less for them than other teams due to their relatively unique style: direct, physical, creating scoring opportunities very close to the opposition goal.

Shots on target is a pretty good measure of a teams ability, but as a small warning we must say we don't know a great deal about shots on target quality--power, direction of shot, placement. Over enough samples those small quirks in shot quality may even themselves out, yet 38 games each may not be enough time for that evening out process.

The PL best shot on target team

Here is a quick example of just how good City have been in parts this season when comparing shots on target each game to the league average shots on target each game. City have rarely (3 times) been near the league average of 4 shots on target.

Home and Away

For the purpose of accuracy and relevance the examination of shots on target for will be presented in SoT per game as not every team has played an equal amount of home fixtures.

Shots on target (home)

The home shots on target for table sees the usual suspects grouped around the top of the table albeit in a slightly different order. Spurs are the most potent home team at generating shots on target, with City and United closely behind.

Liverpool, despite poor form at home with just 4 wins are a very competent team in terms of shots on target and are solely being let down by poor luck/inefficiency in terms of converting those shots on target into goals.

Stoke prop up the home table, a recurring theme stretching all the way back to the summers review of the PL's numbers and trends. West Brom have a poor shots on target number which is below average, but has not been a handicap in terms of collecting points at home.

As for the shots on target per game away table we see that Man City are leading and by a margin. We know of some of City's struggles away, 3 occasions when the club has failed to score, but those away struggles are not due to Man City's having an inability to generate shots and scoring chances.

Everton are second in the above table with a strong number, Liverpool slide in comparison to their ability to get shots on target at home. Newcastle are above average despite having not won away all season. Stoke are bottom, some things never change.

One last point to not: The difference between the the league's average of shots on target for when comparing the home table with the away table.

Next up: Shots on target against.