Welcome to part 6 folks of the 2011/12 EPL season by numbers. After looking at shots in all their glory I shall now move onto the serious business. That being shots on target.
Shots on target(in conjunction to shots conceded) are, in my opinion, a far stronger tell on which teams are strong, which are weak and ultimately which team is more likely to win, than using just total shots for and against. After the jump we'll get started on shots on target for and against at home
2011/12 EPL table by shots on goal (home)
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By Graph
So here we have the shots on goal per game charts for the 2011/12 EPL season. The above charts show the EPL table re-aligned to tell us who was the most proficient in shots on target.
We see Man Utd (7.78) just edge Man City into 2nd. We know Man City had an exceptionally strong home season last year and we expect them to be near the top of most measures that we look at in the coming days. However, It's Man Utd here who excel and jump into 1st place for shots on target at home. Man Utd were 2nd to Man City's 1st in total shots for so we now know Man Utd had a touch more efficiency in getting shots on goal.
We then have Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs and Fulham, who were very strong at home this year, rounding out a small group of teams who excelled in the shots on target measure, all of whom getting around 6 shots on target per game. Livepool are the last team to get the right side of the mean line.
We then see Blackburn, Wolves and Bolton in the middle of the pack. This can be attributed to the relegation threatened teams performing above their talent level at home in desperate attempts to stay up. These relegation teams may have high numbers for shots for but they also had high numbers for shots on target conceded, too.
Toward the bottom 5 teams we see our old friends Stoke at bottom, with Aston Villa and Sunderland again. The biggest shock was Newcastle, 5th bottom of this table by shots on target, fully 1 shot per game below the mean. This is the same Newcastle who, according to some media outlets, outplayed their competitors for a European place and had no real luck in 2011/12. Newcastle were a mid table team who rode their unsustainable strikers to get into a European place. I will present more evidence for this as we go along.
2011/12 EPL table by shots on goal (away)
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By Graph
Now these are the charts for shots on target away from home.
We can see some similar patterns and some teams that struggle compared with the at home data. Arsenal lead the pack here (the also were right up there in total shots conceded away) with 6.15 shots on target per game away from home, nigh 2 shots over the mean.
Liverpool are a suprising 2nd by this measure, and they were really one of the more mysterious tales of the season. By shots totals and shots on target totals they look like a top 4 side, yet, they were crippled by appaling scoring and save %'s both at home and away. Blame the GK Reina for one end and some wasteful, and, expensive strikers for failure at the other end.
Man City, ever consistent are third by the shots on target measure. Man Utd are beaten down into 6th despite owning the best away record in the EPL, a .385 scoring % (way above average) away from home helps offset the lower shots on target numbers (way above average).
The middle of the pack has shuffled around a touch, Everton have dropped (play defensively), Fulham dropped (poor away from home by all stats).
We have Swansea struggling badly here despite all that fabled possession (it's possession in their own 1/3rd and middle 1/3rd, thus preventing too many shots on goal). But, it's Stoke who are the real strugglers on shots on target away. They are close to being 2.5 shots per game under par, below the mean. It's really a poor effort by Stoke and it shows their unique style just doesn't translate away from the Brittania. 33 shots on target in 19 away games, Man City had 35 shots on target in their first 5 away games of the season, compare and contrast those two numbers.
The previous 5 parts of the 2011/12 EPL season by numbers can be found on Bitter on Blue's mainpage