Without Samu, FC Porto strikers' output drops alarmingly | OneFootball

Frustration. That is the term that best sums up the mood revealed by Francesco Farioli in the aftermath of the match against Nottingham Forest, after FC Porto recorded their second consecutive draw at the Estádio do Dragão. The Italian coach was clearly disappointed, especially with the team’s poor attacking efficiency, recalling the “four or five chances” missed in the first half alone: “When we waste many chances, the killer instinct disappears.” Farioli avoided directly criticizing the forwards, but the reality is that the performances of Terem Moffi and Deniz Gül once again fell short of expectations.

Game after game, the crisis up front is becoming more evident, and it is getting harder and harder to hide the dissatisfaction coming from the stands. In this match, boos were already heard for Moffi, who missed two good chances to score, while Gül also failed to do better with the only opportunity he had. And it is not just a matter of impression. The numbers clearly show what the Dragons’ attacking department was like before and after the injury to Samu. With the Spaniard on the pitch, the team’s attacking contribution percentage stood at 36.7%, with 25 goals scored out of the team’s total of 68. Samu scored 20 goals, Gül got four, and Luuk de Jong scored one.

Since Samu got injured, that figure has dropped sharply to 10.5%. In practical terms, the strikers now account for only a small share of the team’s overall output. Of the 19 goals scored by the Dragons since then, only two have come from the men up front. Moffi scored against Arouca and in Stuttgart, while Deniz Gül has yet to score again since Samu’s injury.

“We cannot deny the fact that we have been without Samu for more than a month and without Luuk [de Jong] for almost the entire season. If we look at our opponents and imagine Benfica or Sporting without their main forwards, Pavlidis or Suárez, of course they would feel that something was missing. We miss Samu,” Farioli recalled in the build-up to the home match against Famalicão.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.