Huddersfield Town have scored just four goals in seven games in all competitions (five in the league) since the 3-2 win over Peterborough on 6th September. Only one of those goals came from open play — Leo Castledine’s strike against Exeter.
In that time, Town have had 96 shots on goal, giving them an overall shot conversion rate of 4.2%. If we were able to separate the efforts from open play, we’d dare say it would be even lower.
We can measure the overall quality of chances created (regardless of the finish) by expected goals per shot. As a benchmark, the best side in the division for creating high-quality chances at the moment is Lincoln City, with 0.15 xG per shot. The worst is Blackpool, on 0.09 xG per shot.
Naturally, to be successful, you need to have three things: volume, quality, and finishing. It’s no good creating exclusively high-quality chances if you don’t convert many of them. It’s also no use creating lots of high-quality chances if you don’t actually take them.
So what’s Town’s issue lately? Volume, quality, or finishing?
From game to game, a bit of all three, and Bolton was the worst of the lot. Let’s pick through the game to see where they went wrong.