Yo!
I know you guys are just as excited as I am that the Premier League has started. However, I’ve noticed that there’s still something missing from Arsenal’s game since van Persie left. And that is scoring from dead balls.
When there was a free kick back in the day, I always thought, “no problem mon” – we have RVP to take it. Nowadays I just shudder. Since 2012, we have scored a meager 3 goals from dead balls including Santi’s crucial goal in the FA Cup Final. We know who to put for PKs – Arteta’s conversion rate from the spot is lethal. For the most part, crosses from a dead ball and corners are taken by Santi and Ozil. But when in scoring range, which Gunner should be over the ball?
I did some digging from the Arsenal.com live texts to see which Gunners have been the most effective at scoring from free kicks. I researched ALL of our games (yes all of them) from the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons. I also did a tiny bit of math and calculated their accuracy (shots on target/shot attempts). Vermaelen’s stats have been removed due to his transfer circumstances. The stats may not be perfect to the core, but I tried to get the most information I could from these live texts. This is what I found…
Santi Cazorla
Shot attempts – 17
Shots on target – 5
Goals scored – 1
Accuracy – 29%
Olivier Giroud
Shot attempts – 3
Shots on target – 0
Goals scored – 0
Accuracy – 0%
Mesut Ozil
Shot attempts – 3
Shots on target – 2
Goals scored – 0
Accuracy – 67%
Aaron Ramsey
Shot attempts – 2
Shots on target – 0
Goals scored – 0
Accuracy – 0%
Theo Walcott
Shot attempts – 8
Shots on target – 2
Goals scored – 0
Accuracy – 25%
Lukas Podolski
Shot attempts – 7
Shots on target – 3
Goals scored – 2
Accuracy – 43%
Mikel Arteta
Shot attempts – 7
Shots on target – 3
Goals scored – 0
Accuracy – 43%
Tomas Rosicky
Shot attempts – 1
Shots on target – 1
Goals scored – 0
Accuracy – 100%
So according to their accuracy percentage, Rosicky should be taking the shot attempts from free kicks. But even this stat is suspicious seeing that Mozart has only had one shot attempt from a dead ball in the last 2 years. Either way you put it, these stats are horrifying. Goals can be scored from free kicks and yet we can barely put them on target. Maybe with Alexis on the squad things could change, but it is ever so evident that ALL of our Gunners need to practice their shot attempts from dead balls. What do you guys think? Who should be taking the kicks?
– KC