Let’s start by taking a look at the key statistics from yesterday’s frustrating goalless draw at the Bet 365 Stadium.
Possession
Despite being largely regarded as the better side at The Bet 365 Stadium yesterday, there were many key areas where we had no joy at all and possession of the ball was one of those. The hosts had a hearty share of 57.1 percent possession, to our unflattering 42.9 percent of the keep ball in the draw. Keeping the ball away from home has been something we have struggled to do all season long and many fans are suggesting that it is the real reason why we haven’t been collecting as many points as we should have on the road and this can be seen from our possession statistics on another frustrating afternoon yesterday.
Shots on and off target
In the early stages of yesterday’s game we seemed to pepper the Jack Butland’s goal, but with no success and the attacking statistics certainly do paint the picture of chances missed in the goalless affair. We had 12 shots in total with only one-third of them on target whereas our hosts managed 19 attempts with only four on target, similarly to us. There is almost no doubt that we had the pick of the chances in the West Midlands yesterday, once again proving that for the second week in a row we just weren’t clinical enough in front of goal.
Corners and passing accuracy
In the absence of tall attacking powerhouse Andy Carroll for the second successive game, it is almost undeniable that we lacked a certain deal of aerial threat and were unable to make the most of our few corners at the Bet 365. The Potters, who themselves boost their aerial threat by introducing 6ft 7in striker Peter Crouch in the second half, had the Lion’s share of the corners with five to our three of the wide set pieces. Despite having three centre-backs in the starting line-up we were unable to make the most of our corners and crossing opportunities, however neither were the home side in the closely knit affair. In terms of passing success rate we had another disappointing afternoon yesterday, we have been able to pass the ball with more than an 80 percent success rate in some time as we again lacked quality in finding the final ball on at The Bet 365. The hosts didn’t pass the ball too well themselves in the scrappy clash, as Mark Hughes’s men narrowly edged us out in passing accuracy rate with 79.2 percent to our 78.7 percent. We were again without skipper Mark Noble in the centre of the park to hold up the play with his trademark finesse passing and if you are looking for a reason for our poor passing then look no further, we are still yet to win a game without Noble in the starting line-up since December 2015. It was another frustrating afternoon in this poor season and the poor passing stats perfectly reflected that yesterday.
Clearances and blocks
One positive to take from our goalless draw with The Potters yesterday was another solid defensive display which saw us keep our second consecutive clean sheet for only the third time this season, the positive display was reflected well by these defensive statistics. We made nearly twice as many key defensive blocks as our hosts yesterday with seven to Mark Hughes’s men’s four. When it comes to key defensive clearances the stats told a very similar story with the home side only successfully clearing 25 of our deliveries into the box whereas we managed to get rid of 40 of their dangerous attacks. We have now not conceded in three of our last four Premier League games and there is certainly no doubt that our defensive displays are rapidly improving week in week out statistics and results wise.