by Jonathan Fadugba

Despite there being an abundance of football to keep you ticking over through the summer (more than usual or is it just me?), the off-season is usually a good time for reflection. On Just Football we recently used the time to run #StrikersWeek, in which I statistically analysed the world’s best strikers, before readers voted on the top 10 best strikers in the world in 2013 (Three Ligue 1 players made the list including the winner, which bodes well for French football heading into 2013/14).

As a French football analyst and keen observer of the French game, running Strikers Week also piqued my interest as to how the same analysis would apply to Ligue 1 strikers. Who were Ligue 1’s best forwards in 2012/13? Who were the most efficient? Is anyone punching above their weight and are there some hidden gems we’ve been overlooking?

I decided to run the numbers, focussing on the top 10 goalscorers in Ligue 1 2012/13, and who better to bring them to than the good people of French Football Weekly?! Let’s take a look. Stats via Whoscored, numbers in green represent the best performance of anyone in the top 10 for that criteria, red the worst

Goal Stats

Observations

As expected, Zlatan Ibrahimovic led from the front last season with more goals, more shots per game, more total shots and a better goals-per-90-minutes than anyone. No-one else even came close to matching Zlatan, who more or less singlehandedly won PSG the title, matching Jean-Pierre Papin’s brilliant 30-goal blowout for Marseille in 1989/90.

Four of Ibra’s 30 goals were from the penalty spot but that doesn’t take away from what is a phenomenal strike ratio. As the stats suggest (or anyone present in Sweden, as he hit his unbelievable fourth goal vs England will testify), Ibrahimovic has his own personal ‘shoot on sight’ policy, and this willingness to shoot from anywhere lends not only to his wonderful unpredictability but also to 157 shots over the season, .

What it does not lend kindly to, however, is his shot conversion percentage. Ibra needed 5.23 shots to score in Ligue 1 last season with a 19.1% conversion rate which, while decent, only puts him fourth on this list behind Dario Cvitanich, Salomon Kalou and Wissam Ben Yedder.

Cvitanich’s conversion rate for Nice last season was absolutely exceptional. A 32.8% conversion rate and 19 goals made him one of the most clinical strikers in Europe last season – better than Mario Gomez, Falcao, Edinson Cavani and many other top strikers you could name.

Nice’s main man only had 58 shots all season, 2 per game, lower than any other player on this list, but still ended up joint-second top scorer in Ligue 1. Cvitanich scored 5 penalties, more than anyone else in the top 10, but his numbers are remarkable nonetheless.

An issue that may concern Borussia Dortmund fans going forward was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s low shot conversion rate of 13.9%. Regular watchers of Saint-Etienne will know finishing has never been Aubameyang’s strongest suit and it is something he will have to work on in Germany. Only Anthony Modeste and Andre-Pierre Gignac had worse shot conversion rates than Aubameyang in the top 10, Gignac’s 10.2 shots per goal a quite appalling number for an out-and-out striker at this level.

As we will see shortly, Gignac’s passing statistics also leave a lot to be desired, with zero assists and a mediocre number of key passes per game. As OM’s chief striker, such average passing would be acceptable were he snatching up chances left, right and centre, but allying it with a goal per 10 shots is not good. There have been whispers that Marseille may be willing to sell Gignac this summer, and these figures help explain why.

If you are looking for efficient strikers then Ben Yedder and Kalou rank highly. 5.07 shots per goal made the Toulouse / Lille pair twice as clinical as Gignac, with conversion rates better than Ibrahimovic and Robin Van Persie, for example.

TFC’s Ben Yedder had a long dry spell without scoring around Christmas last season but if you look at his economical strike rate, young age (22) and all-round play stats (5 assists, 76.6% pass completion rate and 1.9 turnovers per game) it emerges that Toulouse have a player with real potential on their hands. Ben Yedder was also the only player in the top 10 alongside Gignac whose tally was not boosted by penalties.

Salomon Kalou’s pedigree is well-known, and while his wages may be beyond Lille’s means they still have a fine player at Ligue 1 level on their hands as the stats suggest. His 1.5 successful dribbles per game was the 5th best in Ligue 1 last season, new teammate Florian Thauvin number one on that particular list.

Now we’ve assessed the goal stats let’s have a look at the player’s all-round contributions with passing/dribbling and turnover stats:

All-round Play

Observations

The first thing that stands out here is the excellent contribution to all-round play from both Aubameyang and Jeremy Aliadiere who weighed in with 9 assists each to go with their 19 and 15 goals for Sainté and Lorient respectively.

Aliadiere’s career has drifted fairly aimlessly since he was a precocious young ‘next big thing’ at Arsenal but at 30 he finally proved he can make a major contribution to a team with a fine season for Les Merlus. 2012/13 was the first time Aliadiere managed more than 10 league goals in a season and his involvement in build-up play was also impressive with 24.4 average passes per game and 1.5 key passes per game to go with the 9 assists (joint-4th most assists in Ligue 1, Dimitri Payet number one).

Anthony Modeste’s poor all-round contribution sums up my feelings on the player – that he’s an average-at-best frontman who needs to be the main man and feel the confidence of those around him (as he was at Bastia) to make the most of limited ability. With only an aging Ilan for competition Modeste profited from being Frederic Hantz’s chosen one in attack but really his numbers reflect a middle-of-the-range player. In a 15-goal campaign Modeste still needed too many chances to score (7.67 per goal), missed numerous clean cut opportunities (Bastia v Lyon springs to mind where despite a 4-1 win he missed several one-v-ones) and contributed little to Bastia’s build-up play (worst numbers for key passes, average passes, pass completion and successful dribbles). I like Modeste and feel sympathy for the poor treatment he received from Bordeaux fans, but it’s no surprise Francis Gillot had no confidence in the player and shipped him to Hoffenheim with little deliberation. I can’t see him pulling up trees in Germany.

Elsewhere Ibrahimovic’s tendency to drop deep is reflected in his high number of average and key passes per game, and it’s interesting to note from those turnover figures how often he loses the ball.

I’m yet to mention Bafetimbi Gomis and Saber Khelifa, but as you can see both are solid players who offer middling statistics for every metric measured here. Both can create when necessary, were well-involved in their team’s build-up play and take their chances when they come, though Gomis’ chance conversion % could be better.

Gomis seems to divide opinion amongst Ligue 1 fans but is a useful player, and at the figures quoted (€4-6million) I think managers needing a striker would do well to look at both. Khelifa, for one, deserves to be at a French club with loftier ambitions (Saint-Etienne? Marseille?)

And finally…

Those are the numbers for the top 10 scorers in Ligue 1 2012/13, and I’d be keen to hear your thoughts on the observations. But what about the outliers? Is there any value further down the list of scorers and who should we look out for heading into 2013/14?

To help answer this I looked predominantly at shots per game figures. I wanted to see if there were any players posting high/promising goal numbers from low numbers of shots taken, and the results proved intriguing.

While all 5 players deserve praise for their efficiency in front of goal the two who really stand out here are Eden Ben Basat and Kevin Gameiro.

Kevin Gameiro was the league’s second top scorer in 2010/11 with 22 goals, a tally which led to his big money move from Lorient to PSG. The Frenchman has failed to establish himself in Paris, mainly due to the club’s lust for renowned names, but his numbers from last season are astonishing and his goals included a fair share of crucial ones off the bench on the way to the title. 8 goals from 29 shots and 0.82 goals per 90 minutes are incredible statistics and recommend him to any club looking for a reliable goalscorer, whether in France or abroad (he’s now confirmed to be going to Sevilla – ed.).

Eden Ben Basat is another who posted unbelievable numbers last season, and if he can improve his all-round game Toulouse have a real player on their hands at a bargain price from Brest. Ben Basat scored 12 goals from 35 shots, a quite brilliant ratio of 2.92 shots per goal, statistically one of the best strikers in Europe. A comparatively low goals per 90 figure suggests he doesn’t involve himself in play consistently enough yet, but once the ball comes to him few players know where the net is better than the Israeli.

Elsewhere Gregory Pujol (3rd top scorer in Ligue 1 2010/11), Brandao and Sloan Privat all posted impressive figures from a comparatively low number of total shots last season. While the former pair are far from young pups, Privat may well be a good signing for someone looking for a low-cost striker with potential.

Jonathan Fadugba is a football analyst and the creator and editor of Just Football. Follow him on Twitter @JFfutebol and @JustFootball.