Football / Reaction / Missing Players 17 04 10

Missing Players (17/04/10)

Bettorlogic have found a selection of the key missing players from across Europe's major leagues.

Portsmouth's Aruna Dindane

 

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NB: Player appearances are based on a player starting and completing at least 60 minutes. The sample is based on a team’s home and away league matches since the start of last season unless otherwise stated.


Birmingham v Hull

Hull were a mess defensively last week when humiliated 4-1 at home by a Burnley side that had been on target for the worst away record in a Premier League season. However, a look at how many defenders they have injured goes someway to explaining last week’s debacle as they’ve had to make do without their captain Ian Ashbee for almost the entire season, while Anthony Gardner and Kamil Zayatte have both been missing for the past month. Added to that is the fresh hamstring injury that forced Andy Dawson off last week, the injury to backup defender Liam Cooper and of course the sale of their best defender Michael Turner earlier in the season.

It is hard to escape the fact that Hull are a very average team that struggle badly on the road and it is no surprise to see that they have lost five of their last six away matches without Dawson with four defeats by two-clear goals and four having already been trailing by half-time. The stats are even worse for Hull when looking at how they’ve done without Gardner, as they’ve failed to win any of their last 20 games on the road when he’s been missing whilst losing on 14 occasions.


Portsmouth v Aston Villa

Portsmouth reached the FA Cup Final last weekend, however they will currently have to play without their leading scorer Aruna Dindane for the rest of the season as one more appearance for Pompey will trigger a contractual obligation to pay his parent club Lens £4 million.

The Ivorian has played 14 of Pompey’s 31 games since his arrival and with him the South Coast side have averaged one goal per game compared to a meagre return of 13 goals in 17 matches without, as they’ve been beaten 11 times including 10 defeats where they were trailing by half-time.


Parma v Genoa

Genoa have conceded more goals this term than any other side bar Siena and given the porous nature of their defence the suspension to Domenico Criscito looks to be a potentially damaging blow for Il Grifone. Since the start of last season Criscito has played 57 of 71 matches for Genoa and while their average points per game earned with and without him have been almost identical there has been a significant increase in their average goals conceded; up from 1.21 per game with Criscito to 1.64 without.

The result of their troubles in defence without the Italian international has been for a significant increase in games with over 2.5 goals with 10 of the 14 matches that he’s missed since 2008/09 having at least three goals and also nine having four or more strikes hit the back of the net.


Espanyol v Barcelona

A year ago Andres Iniesta was being showered with praise for his performances alongside Xavi in Barcelona’s midfield. However, Barca’s recent displays have largely been without the Spaniard as he’s struggled for fitness and he’s now been ruled out for the next four weeks with a groin injury.

The strength of Barcelona’s midfield is such that even without Iniesta they have turned in one remarkable performance after another and in 15 away matches without him since the start of last season they’ve won on 12 occasions, including all seven he’s missed this term, with nine wins by two or more goals.


Mallorca v Osasuna

Osasuna had their central defender Sergio sent off in midweek and now face a trip to one of the strongest home sides in the division in Mallorca. Since the start of last season Sergio has played 16 and missed 13 of Osasuna’s away matches and his absence has seen a fall in PPG from one point per game to just 0.77, as they’ve taken just one point from their last five away matches without him.
 

 
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