Continuing on the theme of "a picture's worth a thousand words", here are the best and worst performing offensive sides from across the Top 5 European leagues (Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1) over the last decade (since the 2001/02 season).
The bars show the average number of goals scored per match; the axes on the two graphs have identical scales so that you can see how much better the very best teams were than the very worst. To put the graphs in perspective, these calculations include all clubs that played in one of the leagues for at least one season; and clubs can appear more than once if they qualified as one of the 10 best or 10 worst teams in multiple seasons.
So here are, first, the Top 10 sides in terms of scoring goals (average number of goals per match) since 2001/02. The winner is Barcelona's 08/09 team, which narrowly edged Chelsea's phenomenal 09/10 side. Noticeable, too, is the fact that Barcelona has three teams in the Top 10, followed by Real Madrid and Werder Bremen, each of which show up twice. Another interesting factoid: Only three leagues appear in the Top 10, with five La Liga teams (from Barcelona and Real Madrid), four from the Bundesliga (Bayern, Wolfsburg, and Bremen), and one Premier League team (Chelsea). Across the years, these teams make it into the Top 10 because they managed to score well over two goals per match. In other words, not a single Serie A or Ligue 1 side made it into the Top 10.
The bars show the average number of goals scored per match; the axes on the two graphs have identical scales so that you can see how much better the very best teams were than the very worst. To put the graphs in perspective, these calculations include all clubs that played in one of the leagues for at least one season; and clubs can appear more than once if they qualified as one of the 10 best or 10 worst teams in multiple seasons.
So here are, first, the Top 10 sides in terms of scoring goals (average number of goals per match) since 2001/02. The winner is Barcelona's 08/09 team, which narrowly edged Chelsea's phenomenal 09/10 side. Noticeable, too, is the fact that Barcelona has three teams in the Top 10, followed by Real Madrid and Werder Bremen, each of which show up twice. Another interesting factoid: Only three leagues appear in the Top 10, with five La Liga teams (from Barcelona and Real Madrid), four from the Bundesliga (Bayern, Wolfsburg, and Bremen), and one Premier League team (Chelsea). Across the years, these teams make it into the Top 10 because they managed to score well over two goals per match. In other words, not a single Serie A or Ligue 1 side made it into the Top 10.
What about the Bottom 10 across the European leagues over the past ten years?
This is where the Italian and French teams make appearances, with Torino, Treviso, and Ancona (Serie A), and Istres, Troyes, Arles, and Grenoble (Ligue 1) on the list. In addition, Moenchengladbach's 06/07 side as well as Sunderland (02/03) and Derby County (07/08) round out the Bottom 10. Derby's 07/08 side also have the dubious honor of being the worst team, offensively speaking, that the top European leagues produced in the past ten years. But the company they keep in the bottom 10 isn't much better - with all of these teams producing barely more than half a goal per match.
To me, these graphs provides a sense of the upper and lower bounds of what offenses can (and cannot) achieve in top football leagues. Not everything is possible - there simply are no teams that can consistently score more than, say, 3 goals - 2.5 seems to be a kind of limit. And the range is remarkable as well - from roughly .5 goals a match all the way up to well over 2.5. This means that the best teams were five times as productive as the worst teams. As well, the consistency with which recent Barcelona and Madrid teams have been able to produce offensively is very impressive.
One of these days, I hope to get around to taking a look at the best defenses, too. Until then, enjoy the (overdue) start to the La Liga season.
