While Robin Van Persie and Luis Suarez were scoring 49 Premier League goals between them last season, there were a few strikers looking on and hoping that just one of their shots hit the back of the net.

We have taken an in depth look at these strikers and compared the worst strikers in front of goal from the 2012/2013 season, doing so by looking at all the strikers that have had 30 shots or more and comparing their shooting accuracy and chance conversion stats from the season just gone.

However, we have also taken into consideration where on the pitch these players took their shots from and how many of their shots and goals were from clear cut chances. This helps us get a better look at these strikers and whether their stats give their performances in front of goal last season justice.

First of all we take a look at the strikers that had the worst chance conversion rates last season and how many of their shots were on target.

Chance Conversion Rates

Carlton Cole has the worst chance conversion rate out of all the strikers, having at least 31 shots during the 2012/2013 season, as he only scored with 6% of his shots. Danny Graham, Hugo Rodallega and Nikica Jelavic all converted 8% of their chances, Djibril Cisse and Jay Rodriquez converted 9% of their chances and Andy Carroll, Franco Di Santo and Papiss Cisse all converted 11% of their chances. Olivier Giroud and Victor Anichebe converted 13% of their chances last season.

Although, Danny Graham failed to score for Sunderland he has the best shooting accuracy out of all of the players in this comparison, with 61% of his shots hitting the target. 52% of Carlton Cole’s shots were on target, 51% of Hugo Rodallega’s shots were on target and 49% of Franco Di Santo’s shots were on target last season.

Andy Carroll had the worst shooting accuracy out of all the players in this comparison, with only 36% of his shots hitting the target. 41% of Papiss Cisse’s shots hit the target and 43% of Nikica Jelavic’s shots hit the target.

The three players with the best shooting accuracy last season were in the bottom four in terms of converting their chances. However, they have had fewer shots than all of the other players in the comparison apart from Djibril Cisse and if they would have played more and had more shots then it might be a different story.

After looking at the strikers conversion rates we will now take a look at how well the strikers converted the clear cut chances that were created for them by their team-mates.

Clear Cut Chance Conversion Rates

31% of Nikica Jelavic’s shots came from clear cut chances during the 2012/2013 season, which was a higher percentage than any of the other players in this comparison. 30% of Papiss Cisse’s shots came from clear cut chances, 27% of Victor Anichebe’s shots and 26% of Hugo Rodallega’s shots came from clear cut chances.

At the other end of the scale only 6% of Andy Carroll’s shots came from clear cut chances and only 15% of Franco Di Santo’s and 16% of Carlton Cole’s shots came from clear cut chances.

Jay Rodriquez and Hugo Rodallega both relied on clear cut chances to score all of their goals last season, while 67% of Danny Graham, Victor Anichebe, Nikica Jelavic and Djibril Cisse’s goals came from clear cut chances last season.

None of Carlton Cole’s 2 goals came from clear cut chances last season, while only 14% of Andy Carroll’s goals came this way.

Out of the players in this comparison Jay Rodriquez has the best clear cut chance conversion rate, as he converted 46% of his clear cut chances in the 2012/2013 season. Victor Anichebe and Djibril Cisse have both converted 33% of their clear cut chances, Hugo Rodallega has converted 30% of his clear cut chances and Andy Carroll has converted 25% of his 4 clear cut chances.

After looking at how well the strikers converted their overall chances and their clear cut chances in front of goal, we have now broken the stats down even further and looked at how well the strikers performed in the 18 yard box last season.

How Well Did The Strikers Perform Inside The 18 Yard Box?

Danny Graham has taken the highest percentage of his shots inside the 18 yard box out of all the strikers in this comparison, with 89% of his coming inside the area. 81% of Carlton Cole’s shots have come inside the 18 yard box, while 78% of Nikica Jelavic and 76% of Olivier Giroud’s shots have come inside the 18 yard box.

Only 49% of Jay Rodriquez’s shots have come inside the 18 yard box, while 54% of Hugo Rodallega’s shots and 55% of Franco Di Santo’s shots have come inside the 18 yard box.

Nikica Jelavic has the worst shooting accuracy inside the 18 yard box out of all these strikers, with only 39% of his shots hitting the target from inside the 18 yard box. Andy Carroll has hit the target with 43% of his shots inside the 18 yard box, while Papiss Cisse has hit the target with 44% of his shots.

Danny Graham has the best shooting accuracy inside the 18 yard box, hitting the target with 66% of his shots, which is 4% better than Franco Di Santo and 9% better than Hugo Rodallega.

Victor Anichebe has the best chance conversion inside the 18 yard box, converting 19% of his chances which is slightly better than Jay Rodriquez who converted 18% of his chances and Olivier Giroud who converted 16% of his chances. Carlton Cole has the worst chance conversion rate in the 18 yard box out of all the players in this comparison as he only converted 4% of his chances. Danny Graham converted 9% of his chances, while Nikica Jelavic converted 11% of his chances inside the 18 yard box.

Analysis

Carlton Cole has the worst overall chance conversion rate (6%) and worst chance conversion rate inside the 18 yard box (4%) out of all the strikers in this comparison. However, he has only played a bit part role at West Ham this season and had the fewest shots out of all the strikers in this comparison.

Only 16% of Cole’s shots have come from clear cut chances, with only teammate Andy Carroll and Franco Di Santo having a lower percentage of their shots coming from clear cut chances. Therefore, it can be argued that if Cole was given more playing time at West Ham and had more clear cut chances created for him last season, then it may be a completely different story.

Is Carlton Cole’s poor chance conversion rates down to his poor finishing or down to the quality of the chances that were created for him by his teammates? It is difficult to decide without watching all of the shots that Carlton had during the 2012/2013 season, although with only 6% of Andy Carroll’s shots coming from clear cut chances it may be something West Ham might want to work on next season.

Although, Danny Graham has failed to score since joining Sunderland it has not been down to a lack of trying, as the former Swansea player has hit the target with more of his overall shots (61%) and shots inside the 18 yard box (66%) than any of the other strikers in this comparison. More of Graham’s shots have come inside the 18 yard box than the other strikers (89%), but only Carlton Cole (4%) has a worse chance conversion rate inside the 18 yard box than Sunderland striker (9%).

Graham has also wasted a lot of the clear cut chances that have been created for him by his teammates, as he only converted 15% of the 8 that were created for him. However, you could again argue that this would change if more clear cut chances were created for him.

Nikica Jelavic and Papiss Cisse have both had poor seasons in front of goal for their respective clubs, especially compared to last season (Cisse in particular). A high amount of both of the strikers shots have come from clear cut chances this season, as 31% of Jelavic’s shots and 30% of Cisse’s shots have come from clear cut chances.

However, Cisse only converted 22% of his clear cut chances and Jelavic converted 18% of his clear cut chances. This is compared to last season when Papiss Cisse converted 50% of his clear cut chances and Jelavic who converted 43% of his clear cut chances. Both strikers have also failed to hit the target as often inside the 18 yard box, with only 44% of Cisse’s shots and 39% of Jelavic’s shots inside the 18 yard box hitting the target.

Olivier Giroud has had mixed reviews in his first season for Arsenal, but has finished the season with 11 goals and 3 assists. However, Giroud has 88 shots for the gunners, with 43% hitting the target and only 13% being converted into goals.

Only 36% of Giroud’s goals came from clear cut chances, which was one of the main criticisms of the Arsenal strikers game – missing the easier chances. Giroud had 23 clear cut chances created for him by his teammates, with only 4 of them chances resulting in goals. So, if Giroud can convert some of the easier chances next season then we may see him a bit further up the goal charts.

It is difficult to give the full reasons for these strikers poor conversion rates in front of goal, as it is all down to interpretation. Are the poor chance conversion rates down to each striker or the quality of the chances that are created by their team-mates? You would have to look at each of the strikers chances individually.

However, breaking the statistics down to how many of the strikers shots and goals were from clear cut chances and how well each striker performed inside the 18 yard box goes some way to explaining just how well these strikers did in front of goal during the 2012/2013 season.

[box_light]All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.com –Subscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) Check out our new Top Stats feature on the Stats Centre which allows you to compare all players in the league & read about new additions to the stats centre.[/box_light]