Most shots and passes, but still the one-goal team of ISL 2015: The oddity of Delhi Dynamos

Is Delhi Dynamos FC the dullest team among the four semi-finalists of the second season of the Indian Super League? Delhi eked out their fourth 1-0 victory when they beat FC Goa at home on Friday in the first round of the semi-final. Add to this three 1-1 draws, and that’s seven games in which Delhi have scored only once. Then add up three games in which they did not score, and that makes it seven goals in 10 games. Out of a total 15 games played. Only in five games have Delhi scored more than one goal. Of this, two produced a scoreline of 2-1. Once the team lost, and another was a draw. Which means six of Delhi’s seven victories have come by a one-goal margin. Only once has Delhi beaten a team by two goals (3-1 against Pune on November 19). [caption id=“attachment_2543150” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Delhi manager Roberto Carlos leads his team out after the 1-0 win over FC Goa. Photo: ISL[/caption] Among the final four, Delhi is the only team with a negative goal difference from the league stage: minus 2. Goa and Kolkata had plus 9, while Chennai had plus 10. Does Delhi lack attacking prowess? Actually, Delhi is the most attacking team this season, if you consider shots taken and shots on target. In its 15 games, Delhi have shot on 218 occasions; 111 times on target. All this has yielded only 19 goals (including two penalties). That is an average of 11.4 shots per goal. Of the 184 shots Chennai took, 99 were on target, yielding 25 goals. That is 7.3 shots per goal. Goa did even better: 170 shots, 106 on target, 29 goals. That is a goal for every 5.8 shots. Kolkata have scored a goal for every six shots. But its 26 goals have come from only 156 shots, 89 of which were on target. That is some attacking efficiency. So Delhi attack more than other teams, but are wasteful of their chances. Delhi’s marquee player and midfield talisman Florent Malouda has shot 30 times (15 of them on target) without scoring once. He has, however, assisted eight goals. He is the player with the second highest passes played and completed. Pass masters who thrive in possession Delhi lead the passing statistics this season. They average 435 passes a game, with 77 percent accuracy. Chennai make 414 passes per game at 75 percent accuracy. Goa average 385, completing 75 percent. The surprise package is Kolkata: only 351 passes per game, with a completion rate of 72 percent. This is the lowest among all the eight teams in the ISL. Yet Kolkata have the meanest attack, which converts more chances than other teams. In direct contrast, Delhi prefer to keep the ball and pass it around, but don’t make it count in the scoreline. Does a busy midfield make a sound defence? Not if you go by the numbers. Not only has Delhi had to make more tackles and saves overall, it averages more tackles and saves per game than any other team. Then why is Delhi’s goal difference in the negative? Obviously, they have not scored enough goals. More crucially, however, half of the 20 goals Delhi has conceded have come in three games. That means Delhi’s defence let in only 10 goals in 12 games, with four clean sheets. Further, Delhi conceded 14 goals in only five games. In the remaining 10 games, it conceded only six. Which suggests two points. One, Delhi’s defence has performed well more often than not (their mistakes have tended to bunch up in a few games). Two, all the possession and passing in the middle has helped the defence, apart from creating lots of chances up the field. Delhi are not the dullest team this season. Far from it, they have played more football than other teams in this ISL season on most counts; in attack, midfield and defence. The only count on which they have performed poorly is goals scored. Like we saw against FC Goa on Friday, Delhi created chances aplenty. The ‘one-goal team’ tag is well deserved. But a dull team they are not.