Six players who shared 109 goals in the Barclays Premier League last season -Sergio Aguero, Harry Kane, Diego Costa, Alexis Sanchez, Eden Hazard and Wayne Rooney - are all misfiring.
Six games into the new season and the attackers have just three goals between them from a combined total of 35 games - and one of those was attributed to Hazard when it could easily have gone down as a Calum Chambers own goal.
The prolific marksmen have lost their accuracy. Centre forwards Kane (Tottenham), Aguero (Emirates Marketing Project) and Costa (Chelsea) were the top three in the Premier League last season.
Sanchez (Arsenal), Hazard (Chelsea) and Rooney (Man United) play wide or in a deeper attacking role but all contribute vital goals when confident. Rooney became England’s greatest international goalscorer this month but has scored only four league goals in 2015.
TIRED OLD EXCUSES...
All strikers need confidence. It can disappear without good reason and take time to return. Or it can be damaged by a permanent change in circumstances, which might be physical (age) or mental (ambition) or a bit of both.
Managers, it seems, like to condition everyone to consider fatigue, even at the start of the season. Players who don’t feel tired are being told they are tired. Kane, Aguero and Sanchez were at summer tournaments.
Kane came home from the European Under 21 Championship after England’s last game on June 24. Aguero (Argentina) and Sanchez (Chile) went on to the final of Copa America on July 4. They were excused summer club tours and started the first game of the season on the bench.
Aguero has spent less time on the pitch than the other six but played two international friendlies in the USA earlier this month, while Sanchez was in Chile for a match against Paraguay.
Players were supposed to be weary last year after the World Cup but it did not stop Costa scoring eight in his first six or Aguero four in six.
Commercially driven club tours mean it is hard to summon much sympathy. Modern footballers compete around the year and travel in luxury.
Their clubs boast hi-tech equipment and armies of medical experts to lavish care and attention on bespoke recovery programmes.
If players are not in top condition, their clubs have a squad big enough to supply an alternative.
WE KNOW YOUR TRICKS...
The strikers who have what is needed to succeed in English football usually do so with a bang. Costa, Sanchez and Kane were new to the Premier League last season and ensured the novelty worked in their favour.
Many hours spent analysing opponents are, however, devoted to finding ways to nullify the goal threats.
Of last season’s top five scorers, four were new to the league: Kane, Costa, Sanchez and Charlie Austin of QPR. Only Aguero was not.
The ability to perform consistently under pressure and scrutiny marks out the best and nobody doubts the six in question will find their groove again soon. Something will click.
For Kane, expectation is a fresh burden, increased by the fact Tottenham disposed of their other recognised centre forwards. Goals from Son Heung-min suggest he will share the load but Kane does not shirk responsibility. Two goals for England prove the knack has not deserted him but they came in a gentle qualification campaign, against inferior opposition. The same might be said for Rooney’s Champions League hat-trick in Bruges, his one recent flourish in United colours.
SUPPORT ACTS STRUGGLING...
This is most obviously a factor for Kane and Chelsea’s Costa and Hazard. Costa’s form cooled at the end of the last campaign — during which he struggled with hamstring problems — in correlation with his creator-in-chief Cesc Fabregas.
Costa has eight league goals in 2015. Kane has 16, Aguero 13, Hazard eight, Sanchez six and Rooney four.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho drove the core of his squad hard last season. They went on a post-season tour to Thailand and Australia, returned later than usual and went on a pre-season tour to North America.
With hindsight, Mourinho accepts this was a mistake, although Hazard bucks the trend. He has created more chances in the first six league games of this season than last, according to Opta.
Chemistry is important. Kane has missed the creativity of Christian Eriksen for a month. Aguero must learn to understand new players in the City side and Rooney has appeared more isolated over time as United have shelved their cavalier traditions and become a more functional unit.
MOVE TO LEICESTER!
Opponents always strive to improve and are setting up, probably more than ever, to sit deep, smother space around the penalty box and spring quickly on the counter-attack.
In tight areas, passes must be more accurate and shots taken cleanly. ‘Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything,’ as Wyatt Earp said.
Like Earp, Sanchez loves to shoot. His 31 shots in 437 league minutes this season comes in at an average of one effort every 14 minutes. Nearly half were blocked before they reached goal. Eight forced a save, and two hit the woodwork against Stoke, on a day when goalkeeper Jack Butland was inspired.
Sanchez is a natural risk-taker but does not always show against the best teams. Perhaps the better defensive units force him into areas where his shooting is less potent. Perhaps when he is slightly below his peak, or when opponents are especially well drilled, he cannot perform the usual heroics.
City have played already against some of the most effective counter-attackers: Crystal Palace, Watford, Leicester, West Ham and West Bromwich. Aguero’s only goal came against Chelsea.
After six games, the Premier League’s top scorers are: 5 — Riyad Mahrez (Leicester), Callum Wilson (Bournemouth). 4 — Bafetimbi Gomis (Swansea), Odion Ighalo (Watford), Graziano Pelle (Southampton) and Jamie Vardy (Leicester).
Leicester, Bournemouth and Watford rely heavily on the counter- attack. Gomis and Pelle are strong in the air and capable of punishing the fashion among the bigger clubs for more mobile and less physical centre halves.
Arsenal, perhaps the most extreme example, lack height and three of the seven goals they have conceded in all competitions have been from set-pieces, while four of the eight goals conceded by Manchester United have been headers.
PS: Top of the charts in Spain is Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who had gone 500 minutes without a goal in La Liga before scoring five against Espanyol. Barcelona’s Lionel Messi has three in four while, in Germany’s Bundesliga, Thomas Muller of Bayern Munich has six in five.
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