What a Waste: England and Germany's Worst Culprits for Shots Without Scoring

With 3 of the 5 major European Leagues now in full swing, goals have flown in in the Premier League and Bundesliga in particular, with Wayne Rooney and Mario Gomez showing exactly how it's done with 8 goals each. The former's haul have come from just 4 games, one fewer than Gomez, and come courtesy of back-to-back hat-tricks and goals in every game he has played.

With the England striker in fine form, we turn our attentions to those having a little more trouble in front of goal, comparing the wastefulness of England and Germany's elite divisions. WhoScored collates the most wayward finishers from each league by gathering the players to have attempted the most shots without scoring in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

One can make various assumptions from the findings, with the Premier League's attacking players, outside the Manchester clubs, thus far struggling to find the net. Firstly it should be stated that the Bundesliga has had one more round of fixtures than the Premier League, meaning one would expect their players to have had more shots, therefore shots per game for each player were also collected.

Premier League

Defence

In terms of the back line of our most wasteful side in England there have been an average of just 1 shot per game taken from each, with Fulham's newboy John Arne Riise the most adventurous having taken 4 shots in his 3 appearances without netting. Just 14 shots between the back four suggests that defenders have posed little goal threat in the division thus far.

Adventurous Attack

It is when you analyse the more attacking positions that the attempt numbers rise dramatically. Of the 6 players in midfield and attack a combined total of 68 shots have been taken without scoring and some names in the line-up suggest that it could be a long season for their respective clubs. Striker Danny Graham is the focal point of a Swansea attack that has seen the newly promoted side fail to score in their first 4 games, with newboy Graham the main culprit, missing 11 chances.

Another of the newly promoted sides are represented in attack and though it is no surprise to see that the hugely confident Adel Taarabt has attempted 12 shots at goal (3 per game) it is more of a shock that the Moroccan has failed to score thus far. Rafael van deer Vaart has played just twice this season but registered a massive 10 shots at goal- indicative of Tottenham's reliance on the Dutchman for goals.

The Premier League player to have tried his luck more often than any other player who has failed to register is Yaya Toure. The Ivorian is a mainstay in a City side that have netted 15 goals already, but Toure hasn't managed to contribute, despite having a go at goal 13 times, with an unbelievable total of 9 from midfield in the side's opening day 4-0 rout over Swansea.

Overall

The 10 most wasteful players by position have had a massive 82 shots without scoring in the league. In terms of the shots average, 2.37 attempts have been fired in by each player per game, with the 82 efforts coming from a combined total of 36 appearances in the line-up.

Bundesliga

Defensive Dominance

A look at the shots taken from defenders in the Bundesliga who have failed to score shows that set-pieces may prove more successful in the German league. England's defensive culprits had tried a combined total of 14 shots, while the respective Bundesliga back four have registered 20 attempts. Per Metesacker is an interesting inclusion having attempted a shot per game in the four games he played for Werder Bremen prior to his switch to Arsenal.

Less Adventure in Attack?

While much of the Premier League wasteful XI have played one less game than their German counterparts, the attacking 6 players have amazingly attempted 15 more shots at goal without scoring than the worst culprits from the German division. The Bundesliga Wasteful XI's midfield and attack have attempted 53 shots without scoring, which could suggest that they pick and choose their chances to shoot more wisely in the Bundesliga.

Two Bayern players, Muller and Kroos, make the side having failed to score in 19 shots between them, despite the club sitting top of the league. There are also two inclusions from last years champions Dortmund in Kagawa and Perisic, with 17 efforts between them.

Croat Perisic did manage to open his account for his new club in spectacular fashion against Arsenal in midweek, but is still to score in the league. His inclusion is remarkable given the fact that he has only managed to make substitute appearances in all of his sides 5 games thus far. Despite this, Perisic has attempted 9 shots at goal, proving to be the most adventurous player in the league, in terms of shots per minute at least, without scoring.

Overall

A total of 73 shots from the combined outfield 10 in the our Bundesliga is 9 down on the respective Premier League side, despite the players having made 13 more appearances between them. This goes to show that players in Germany have been far less wasteful than in England, backed up by the fact that the 10 worst culprits in the Bundesliga have averaged 1.56 shots per game between them- a full 0.81 efforts a game less than their English counterparts.