Which European Team Creates and Limits the Most Shots?

Following on from my first article looking at shot data from the Top 5 European leagues using data from WhoScored, I decided to take a lot at the defensive and attacking sides of shots. Much inspired by the graphics of the Ben Mayhew which most of you have probably seen, I also thank Ben for his courtesy in allowing me to post this graphics.

Learn About Tableau

Again, I want to allow you, the reader, draw your own conclusion but I thought I'd pick out a couple of teams worthy of note.

Fulham are very, very poor at both creating shots and stopping the opposition from shooting, but were even worse 2 games ago. The sacking of Martin Jol was probably justified by Fulham's performances, which led them to be one of the worst teams in Europe according to this model. The appointment of Rene Meulensteen also seems a good one, especially on the offensive end, with Fulham averaging an astonishing 18.5 shots per game since he has been in charge. That's double their average of all games so far and puts them on par with the likes of Bayern and Dortmund. These have been 2 home games, but they've been against a great defence in Spurs and a good one in Aston Villa. The quality in the squad that saw them finish 12th last year suggests they have the potential to turn things around, but there is a lot to be worked on.

Unsurprisingly few teams are elite in one area but poor in another. Hamburg are the only team who seem to be gung-ho all out attack and have scored as many as Schalke despite being 7 places below them in the table. This is likely in part due to the shooting of Pierre-Michel Lasogga who is averaging 3 shots per game, 3rd most in the Bundesliga.

Nantes are alone in the ' Top Defence, Poor Attack' section, but it is Lille that seem the most defensive team in Europe. Currently sitting 3rd in Ligue 1, Lille have only managed to score 18 goals (which places them 12th in Ligue 1), but have an impressive defensive record, conceding just 5 in 17 games. I don't watch Ligue 1 so can't give an explanation for this, but WhoScored's player ratings suggest Idrissa Gueye should receive much credit as a holding defensive midfielder. His stats suggests he plays the Makelele role superbly, and he might be one to look at for in future transfer windows (hint hint David Moyes). If anyone reading this does know more about Gueye I'd love to hear about it.

In the premier league and there's a small group of Man City, Chelsea and Tottenham who lead the league in taking shots and limiting to opposition in shooting. A more detailed piece of analysis might show Tottenham's shots are largely from long range, leaving Man City and Chelsea as the Top 2. Like many others these are the two teams I expect to ultimately fight it out for the title. Arsenal much more middling and I'll be bold and suggest they'll finish outside the Top 3.

With 5 straight wins you don't need a graphic to tell you Juventus are quite good and there's no reason to bet against them in Serie A. What will be interesting is whether they can translate their league dominance into top European performances. They are yet to qualify from Group B, needing a point in their final away game against Juventus, and their absence from the knockout stage would be a loss to the competition.

In La Liga we see Real Madrid stand far above anyone else in Europe for shots per game, not at all surprising given the shooting abilities of Ronaldo and Bale. They are only average across Europe for stopping the opponent having shots, but who needs clean sheets when you average nearly 3 goals per game.