From Jorginho to Mooy: the Premier League’s ‘unluckiest creators’ so far this season

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One of the classic hallmarks of a great midfielder is his assist statistics at the end of the season. 

These pass masters are charged with threading the ball through the eye of a needle and laying it on a plate for their waiting forwards.

However, making pass after pass or creating chance after chance doesn’t always guarantee a raft of assists, with some midfielders lacking the ambition to make a defence-splitting pass and choosing instead to endlessly recycle the ball with a brand of football more reminiscent to the movement of a crab.

Poor finishing and negative playing style can also be factors behind a players’ failure to put a notch in the assist column.

Others manage to take the game to the opponent and create a hatful of chances, only for their inept strikers put it high, wide and not at all handsome.

At Squawka, we’ve had a look at some of the Premier League midfielders who have created their fair share of chances this season but have no assists to show for their efforts.

Toothless Terriers

Huddersfield’s lack of edge up front has been well documented and incredibly costly this season, with the Terriers sitting bottom of the Premier League table with just 11 points from 26 games and scoring a grand total of 14 goals – the lowest of any team in Europe’s top five leagues.

That is not for the want of trying from Huddersfield’s playmakers, however. Australian midfielder Aaron Mooy has laid on 31 chances for his team-mates this season; the highest number of chances created without registering an assist in the Premier League.

Even more baffling is the fact that Florent Hadergjonaj (21), Philip Billing (19) and Alex Pritchard (19) all feature in the league’s top 10 for this particular stat – forwards Steve Mounie, Laurent Depoitre, Elias Kachunga, Adama Diakaby, Karlan Grant and Collin Quaner have scored a grand total of one goal between them this season from their 93 shots. Mooy must feel like he is loading bullets into bananas.

Vertically challenged

Arguably, the only person under more pressure at Chelsea than Maurizio Sarri right now is his Italian ‘pass master’, Jorginho.

The 27-year-old is the Premier League’s undisputed king of ball retention at the moment with 2054 completed passes, the most of any midfielder in the division.

However, of those 2054 passes, only 275 (13.4%) have ended in the final third, while Jorginho has managed to create just 17 chances in the Premier League so far.

His last assist came in February 2018 while still playing for Napoli while an incredible 43% (884) of Jorginho’s passes have been in Chelsea’s own half.

There is a severe lack of vertical ambition from the Italy international, who is making a mockery of the ‘registia’ role and causing Sarri’s side to get caught in a nauseating, passing merry-go-round.

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Moura-less

One of the shining lights of the Premier League in the early part of the season was Tottenham’s Samba star, Lucas Moura.

The former PSG man scored twice in a famous 3-0 Spurs win at Old Trafford, making it three goals from three at the start of the campaign.

Things have slowed up a little since then for the 26-year-old, who has only managed another two Premier League goals since then, while he is yet to register an assist in the league this season, creating just 19 chances in 21 appearances.

Moura is now being outshone by Son Heung-min, while Christian Eriksen is Mauricio Pochettino’s brilliant creator-in-chief.

However, with an ice-cool forward like Harry Kane to aim at, it still makes you wonder how Moura hasn’t managed to notch up at least one assist this season.

Functional

During his time with Newcastle, Georginio Wijnaldum was a very impressive creative force, scoring 11 goals and providing five assists in just 38 Premier League appearances in a relegated team.

The Netherlands international has now become an important, yet unsung member of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side. His role nowadays, though, is quite different to that of his Newcastle, PSV and Feyenoord spells.

Wijnaldum is no longer the maverick No.10 that opens up a defence or runs off his striker to get in on goal, he has been well and truly converted into an industrious No.8.

The 28-year-old can often be seen shuttling around the Liverpool midfield, winning the ball, playing the simple passes and protecting possession with his strength and touch.

His role in the Reds’ midfield cannot be understated, with Klopp recently describing him as an ‘outstanding player’, and Wijnaldum has played in no fewer than six positions for the German since joining the club in 2016.

As a result of this industry, though, Wijnaldum has created just 16 chances in the Premier League this season and is yet to contribute a single assist.

Scarce opportunities

However, simply creating a shedload of chances is by no means a guarantee of assists. Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse is still yet to record an assist – despite serving as the South Coast club’s set-piece taker.

Plenty of players have created fewer chances than some of those we have already mentioned but boast a healthy – and enviable – total of assists.

For example, Arsenal midfielder Lucas Torreira has created 13 chances but has two assists to his name.

Everton forward Richarlison has carved out 13 opportunities and has one assist while West Ham skipper Mark Noble has three assists, despite creating just 11 chances for his team-mates.

And then there’s the curious case of Tottenham’s third-choice right-back, Kyle Walker-Peters.

He has barely featured this term but notched three assists in 36 minutes of football against Bournemouth.

Scroll down to see the players with the most chances created in the Premier League this season without recording an assist:

Aaron Mooy – Huddersfield (31)
James Ward-Prowse – Southampton (29)
Joe Ralls – Cardiff (23)
Stuart Armstrong – Southampton (21)
Andre Schurrle – Fulham (21)
Florent Hadergjonaj – Huddersfield (21)
Jonny – Wolves (20)
Philip Billing – Huddersfield (19)
Alex Pritchard – Huddersfield (19)
Lucas Moura – Spurs (19)
Isaac Success – Watford (18)
Jorginho – Chelsea (17)
Romelu Lukaku – Man Utd (16)
Georginio Wijnaldum – Liverpool (16)

The post From Jorginho to Mooy: the Premier League’s ‘unluckiest creators’ so far this season appeared first on Squawka News.



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