Progress in the offensive

Last season, Lech’s accuracy in the offensive was one of the most frequently brought up topic. It isn’t surprising considering that a team with such great players is expected to score numerous goals and dominate every single match. However, the team from Poznan struggled to meet these expectations. Even though in some matches Lech’s players would create plenty of goal-scoring chances, one thing was missing – precision in the last phase. As a result, throughout the recent campaign, Lech scored only 49 goals in total – one of the lowest figures since years and the second-worst result among the top 8 first-division teams.

Coach Zuraw’s philosophy is all about easy-on-the-eye offensive football. The defenders’ job doesn’t only come down to stopping the rival; it also includes initiating an offensive attempt. Similarly, forwards and wingers are expected to help their teammates defend whilst the opponent is in possession of the ball. One of the key elements of Zuraw’s philosophy is ball possession – as long as the team has the ball, they can create scoring chances. So far this season, Lech has the highest number of shots in the whole league which highlights the players’ dedication to their coach’s tactics.

In total, Lech has already fired 107 shots at their opponents’ goal over the last few league matches. Even though the number of shots doesn’t have a direct influence on the quality of performance, their accuracy and effectiveness do – both of which have improved significantly since last season. To support this claim, you must look at the statistics which say that against Wisla Plock and LKS Lodz, Lech fired the least shots on target, i.e. 6, whereas throughout the last season, the team from Poznan managed to beat this figure only 4 times (two of which resulted in a league win and both against Zaglebie Sosnowiec (4:0, 4^th round, and 6:0, 19^th round). Meanwhile, so far this season, Lech’s best score was 11 shots on target against Rakow Czestochowa; last campaign, the team from Poznan failed to go anywhere further than 8 shots on target.

When facing Lech, you can’t afford even a moment of distraction since the team from Poznan is capable of attacking from every side. For instance, in the clash with LKS Lodz, Zuraw’s squad fired 12 shots, 6 of which were on target, and 33% of them resulted in a goal. Quite interestingly, it’s the worst performance so far this season when looking at statistics alone, but last campaign, the team from Poznan didn’t come even close to hitting these figures. After 6 league rounds, Lech already has 11 goals on their account which is 20% of what they finished on last season. If they continue placing the ball in the back of the net at this rate, Lech’s offensive line will once again occupy top ranks in the country.

* includes the first six rounds of PKO Ekstraklasa (2019/20 season)
stats source: ekstrastats.pl / ekstraklasa.org