Since Christmas it has felt like the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) captains have been continually wasted on out-of-form players Erling Haaland (£15.1 million).
Across all competitions, he is without an open game goal in eight games, limited to just a successful Gameweek 21 penalty against Brighton and Hove Albion. For someone who continually receives between 6.8 million and 7.6 million bracelets, this is a concern.
After Manchester City’s Champions League humiliation at Bodo/Glimt, Haaland acknowledged his silence.
“I take full responsibility for not being able to score the goals I should, so I apologize to everyone and every Manchester City supporter who traveled today. I don’t want to talk about how I feel. I do my best when I’m on the pitch, and I’m on the pitch quite often because we play a ridiculous amount of games. I try to do my best, that’s my job, and I try to prepare for the next game.” – Erling Haaland to TNT Sports
Is there a logical reason why the 25-year-old has stopped scoring?
Does Haaland have fewer shots?
Not really. Four of this season’s league matches have featured just one shot from Haaland, but the last of these came in Gameweek 15.
In fact, the early January draw against Brighton saw Haaland reach a season high of eight tries.
There have been at least two shots from close range in each of these five ‘quieter’ occasions, and he is part of our ‘Goals in hand’ table.
Until Gameweek 17, the Norwegian averaged 3,765 non-penalty attempts per match, while since then it has risen to 3,600. A very similar percentage, although non-penalty shots have dropped from 3,588 to 2,800.
Are they of poorer quality?
Here a drop becomes clear. None of these five encounters are among his nine best non-penalty expected goals (NPxG), while all are among his worst nine for expected goals (xG) per non-penalty shot.
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