State of Play: Analysis of Major European Leagues Ahead of International Break
The current international break affords clubs the time to look at the start of their campaigns, assess where improvements can be made and see what realistic objectives they now have for the 2014-15 season—if they need to be changed from the original ones during summer.
It also gives us a chance to look around the major leagues in Europe and see which teams are doing particularly well, which are underperforming and where the surprise statistics lie after around seven games in most top flights.
We're taking a look at clubs, individuals and stats but there's a lot of ground to cover, so feel free to contribute to the discussion by adding in your own thoughts below!
Premier League
1 of 5
Unbeaten sides: Chelsea
Yet to win: Newcastle United, Burnley
Highest scorers: Chelsea, 21 goals
Worst defence: Everton, 16 conceded
Best unexpected start: Southampton, third place
Underperformers: Everton, 17th and Newcastle, 18th
Quirky stats: Aston Villa have taken 10 points while averaging 7.4 shots per game (league lowest). Newcastle have managed 14.3 shots per game (fifth highest), but only four points. West Ham United have scored five goals from set pieces, while Crystal Palace commit the most fouls per game—15 on average.
There have been several stand-outs in terms of playing personnel, with Diego Costa hitting the ground running in England, Gylfi Sigurdsson once more looking a decent player in the white of Swansea City instead of Tottenham Hotspur and the re-emergence of Saido Berahino for West Bromwich Albion.
The current storylines to watch include Manchester United's gradual improvement: A tactical change has led to the Red Devils emerging into the top four under Louis van Gaal. Elsewhere, Leicester City have proved—so far—the most capable promoted side and, finally, two of last year's top four continue to search for form: both Arsenal and Liverpool have won less than half their matches so far.
[Stats from WhoScored.com]
La Liga
2 of 5
Unbeaten sides: Barcelona, Valencia
Yet to win: Cordoba
Highest scorers: Real Madrid, 25 goals
Worst defence: Deportivo La Coruna, 19 conceded
Best unexpected start: Valencia, second place and Sevilla, third place
Underperformers: Athletic Bilbao, 18th and Real Sociedad, 15th
Quirky stats: Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 13 goals in six matches. That's more than 16 teams in La Liga (in seven games) and more than 66 of the 78 top-flight teams from England, Italy, Spain and Germany.
Obviously Ronaldo's absurd goalscoring rate is the eye-catcher in Spain, but Barcelona also bear noting for being the only team in any of the major European leagues left to concede a goal domestically—they have seven straight clean sheets with Claudio Bravo between the sticks. Valencia look a completely different side under Nuno, but Atletico Madrid have not yet matched the consistency of last season.
The biggest storyline to watch has to be the flagging Basque sides. Athletic and La Real have been woeful with results so far, though performances have actually been quite good at times—but key players are lacking in impact for both. Tiny Eibar, with the town's 27,000 population smaller than many top-flight stadiums, currently reside in the top half, while both other promoted sides are in the bottom three.
[Stats from WhoScored.com]
Bundesliga
3 of 5
Unbeaten sides: Bayern Munich, Mainz, Hoffenheim, Borussia Monchengladbach
Yet to win: Freiburg, Werder Bremen
Highest scorers: Bayern Munich, 15 goals
Worst defence: Werder Bremen, 16 conceded
Best unexpected start: Hoffenheim, second place
Underperformers: Borussia Dortmund, 13th and Werder Bremen, 18th
Quirky stats: Bayern Munich average 687 short passes per game; no other Bundesliga team manages even 500 and half the teams average less than 50 percent of Bayern's total. Conversely, Bayern average 94 short passes per shot on target, while Wolfsburg—with the fourth-highest long balls per game tally—average just 70 short passes per shot and have scored only four less goals than Bayern.
Arjen Robben and Robert Lewandowski are quickly emerging as a stand-out partnership for Bayern Munich, scoring twice each in their most recent game. Shinji Okazaki has scored half of Mainz's goals so far, with three of his five strikes being the first goals in a game. His goals have so far been "worth" four points.
Roberto Di Matteo faces the challenge of reigniting Schalke's season. Although they sit 11th, S04 are just four points off the top four, hardly an insurmountable task at this stage. Dortmund need rapid improvement to emerge as the closest contenders to Bayern again, having won just two games so far in 14-15. The bottom three is made up of traditionally strong German sides: Stuttgart, Hamburger SV and Werder Bremen, with just two wins between them.
[Stats from WhoScored.com]
Serie A
4 of 5
Unbeaten sides: Juventus, Sampdoria
Yet to win: Palermo, Sassuolo
Highest scorers: Juventus and AC Milan, 13 goals
Worst defence: Parma, 16 conceded
Best unexpected start: Udinese, fourth place
Underperformers: Inter Milan, 10th and Parma, 18th
Quirky stats: Juventus are the only remaining side in a major European league with a 100 percent start to the season. The man with the most assists in Serie A so far is a full-back: Ignazio Abate of AC Milan, with four. Team-mate Giampaolo Pazzini has made three appearances off the bench, but has only made two passes. Parma have made less tackles than any other side and the third-lowest tally of interceptions—perhaps insights into why they have the worst defence.
Carlos Tevez is the top scorer in Italy with six, having impressed at the start of this term. Kostas Manolas has also proven a great signing already for Roma, despite a recent red card. Keisuke Honda is looking revitalised at AC Milan and, as a final largely irrelevant sidenote, Cagliari's Albin Ekdal recently scored a hat-trick—after scoring precisely one per season in each of his last five campaigns in Serie A.
Going forward, Inter Milan's season bears close watching as Walter Mazzarri struggles to get them any closer to the top three, but city rivals AC have made an entertaining, if inconsistent, start to life under Pippo Inzaghi. The legendary former striker has won three of his first six league games and has Milan in fifth place, scoring plenty but conceding lots too.
[Stats from WhoScored.com]
Elsewhere in Europe
5 of 5
Unbeaten sides: Zenit St. Petersburg and Kuban Krasnodar (Russian Premier), Benfica, Sporting CP and Porto (Portuguese Primeira), Paris Saint-Germain (Ligue 1), Twente (Dutch Eredivisie)
Yet to win: Arsenal Tula (Russian Premier), Gil Vicente (Portuguese Primeira)
In Russia, Zenit St. Petersburg have made a flying start to the new season and Andre Villas-Boas' men have dropped just two points this term. They are already four points clear of reigning champions CSKA Moscow, who have recovered after an uneven start. Salomon Rondon and Hulk are Zenit's stars in attack, though the team is well-organised throughout and look a clear favourite for this year's title.
Portugual's big three look set to fight for big honours again, though it is perhaps a small surprise to see Benfica top of the pile after selling off major players this summer and not really replacing them with established quality. Perhaps the changes in management at Sporting and Porto are aiding the transition for Benfica in that regard.
France's expected battle between Monaco and PSG never materialised after the former's lack of investment this summer, but Marseille's appointment of Marcelo Bielsa has yielded instant rewards: They are top of Ligue 1 by five points, playing an aggressive, swashbuckling style and clearly full of confidence, none more so than galvanised striker Andre-Pierre Gignac. PSG have catching up to do after six draws from nine.
PSV and Ajax lead the way in the Netherlands, with Feyenoord struggling in mid-table after selling several of last year's squad—despite having the best defensive record in the league. Memphis Depay started the season on fire for PSV, but suffered an injury against PEC Zwolle in September that has since kept him from playing. The big three have won two from six games combined in European competition this season.
