Troubles on Travels End Streaks for Levante, Dortmund & Lille
Normality was resumed in La Liga this weekend and with it, the early-season romance was somewhat gone. Levante’s unbeaten start to the season finally came crashing down at Osasuna and on hand to prosper were Real and Barca - victories against Sociedad and Mallorca leave the giants first and second after ten rounds of matches.
Elsewhere, Dortmund’s winning streak came to an unexpected halt at Stuttgart, with the defending champions slipping further behind Bayern Munich in the chase for the Bundesliga. It’s a similar story over in France, with Lille’s run of three back-to-back victories ended by Valenciennes, as PSG recorded their ninth win in ten to move five points clear of Rudi Garcia’s side. WhoScored takes a look at some of the broken streaks around Europe’s top five leagues in the weekend just gone by:
Levante Prefer the Underdog Role
Perhaps it was down to the fact that they played against the ten men of Osasuna for over half an hour, but there’s an irony about Levante’s stats last weekend. They had 54% possession, their highest of the season so far - take, for example, the 1-0 over Real, where they had a mere 30%. The higher they climb, the more sides are beginning to treat them with respect and, in a way, it doesn’t suit their gameplan.
It would seem Levante are far more comfortable sitting deep, allowing the opponent to dominate possession - their average for the season is just 40% - but with their new-found reputation, they are being treated more cautiously. Their typical tactic of hitting on the break, combined with valiant defending came undone at Osasuna - they made just 5 successful tackles at the weekend, compared to their season average of 23 per game.
In front of goal, though, perhaps the pressure was starting to get to Levante. The recent run of form had seen them racking up the goals, netting 3 times in four of their previous five fixtures - with an average of just 11 shots per game, their finishing was particularly clinical. On Sunday, though, it was a different matter altogether; they again surpassed their season average, with 14 shots, but managed just a single goal attempt on target as they slumped to defeat.
Wayward Shooting Proves Costly for Dortmund
As the domestic season unfolds, the Bundesliga champions are picking up the pace in their pursuit of Bayern Munich. With just two wins in their first six fixtures Dortmund had opened the season in less than impressive style but recent results had highlighted a definite upturn in form. Jürgen Klopp’s side arrived at Stuttgart on the back of a four-game winning streak last weekend and with the lead cut to just three points, were looking good to maintain their challenge for top position.
A draw was as good as it got, however, with the champions dropping points for the first time since the 18th of September. They only have themselves to blame, too; Dortmund had 53% of possession, made 18 successful dribbles to their hosts’ 9 and had an incredible 22 shots in comparison to Stuttgart’s 13, but could only muster a 1-1 draw.
Given that their season average for goal attempts on the road is 16, it’s clear Dortmund surpassed their previous performances in terms of goal threat, but the problem lay in their woeful accuracy- just 6 shots were on target, with Stuttgart managing 5.
Much of the blame can be laid upon their trio of attacking midfielders; between them, Mario Gotze, Shinji Kagawa and Ivan Perisic had 10 shots, with just 2 on target. Gotze can perhaps be exempt from criticism - the young playmaker produced 4 key passes for the visitors but failed to return an assist due to incompetent finishing from others. Right-back Lukasz Piszczek saved the day, grabbing an equaliser, though he followed the tone set by his team mates, with just 1 shot on target from 4 attempts.
Lille Fail to Make Possession Pay
Lille arrived at Valenciennes having dismissed Lyon the previous week to extend their Ligue 1 winning run to three games. Their hosts are a stubborn side at home, having lost once on their own patch compared to five on the road, and although the game faded out to a goalless draw, it was a fairly open affair.
The champions bossed the match with 61% possession, though this is less than their usual away average of 66%. Their goal attempts were also down on average- Lille typically managed 14 shots, with 6 on target on the road - here they had 12 shots with a mere 3 on target. Despite all the visitors’ possession, Valenciennes proved the biggest goal threat with 18 shots and Lille had keeper Mickael Landreau to thank for keeping out the home side - with 5 saves, he picked up the WhoScored man of the match award with a rating of 8.4.
For once, Eden Hazard proved a huge disappointment offensively - the winger had just 1 shot and made 1 key pass, way down of his average of 2.6 and 2 respectively. Hazard had 4 successful dribbles but failed to deliver any end product. Moussa Sow had 2 shots, with both off target - compare this to Valenciennes’ front man Vincent Aboubakar, who had 5 shots - and it’s obvious how much of an off-day Lille had. This was the first time they failed to score away from home this season and with PSG hitting 4 past Caen, they may live to regret it.
