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Only two weeks into the #FAWSL but we can argue that some patterns start to show. Of all the "top teams" the one struggling the most probably is Man City. So, let's take a look into shooting patterns so far
The team with most shots so far is Chelsea, with 53. There's a bit of a preference for shots from the right hand side, where we can argue there's an influence from Fran Kirby, Ji moving into right hand side channels, Leupolz too.
There's a high number of low quality shots (30 with a xG under 0.2), but all but one of the shots that had a value over 0.4 were converted, a wide shot by Sam Kerr against Man Utd.
Close second is Arsenal with 47. They are a bit more over the place in terms of shooting, choosing to either go into the box (and it works) but they dare to get difficult, low quality shots more often than Chelsea
Arsenal has a higher number of low quality shots than Chelsea (34), but they are less central and they were more productive from them (6 goals vs. 30). Like Chelsea, the high quality chances are taken (4 goals from 6 shots with 0.4 xG or higher)
Manchester City is third in number of shots, with 35. There's no clear pattern except from shots between the penalty spot and the 6 yard box. But look at the wide shots. They represent more than half of the total shots (18).
Having 18 wide shots it's not a high number itself, but when it comes to %, so far, Manchester City it's just not hitting the target. It's the least efficient team with an incredibly low 37%, and far behind Birmingham with 44%. Arsenal has 72%, leading the chart.
Of the arguably "top 4" in the #FAWSL, Manchester United is the team with less shots (33). It's really interesting to see their pattern since they overload the left hand side. Most of the shots there were wide, but when they switch to the right, they hit the target
Only 5 of those shots had a higher xG than 0.2, and surprising no one, most of those low quality shots were shots wide from the left hand side.
If I take it back to 5 games for Manchester City, they had 66 shots, where 26 of them were wide. That's still incredible high. 47 of those 66 shots had an xG of 0.2 or lower.
Obviously, with only 2 games played is pretty early to jump into conclusions and say that Man City won't be fighting for the title. But in 2 games they scored only thanks to Villa's errors and they struggle to find the target. Will be interesting to see the next couple of games.
Of course, they can keep "this plan" and be successful, but it's only so far in time where you can sustain a "let's shoot for the sake of it strategy" and win games. The game in the Community Shield against Chelsea is proof of that.
