Sheffield United: Just how bad has this Premier League season been?
Last updated on .From the section Premier League
Seventeen games played. No wins. Two points. Twelve points from safety.
It's been an awful few months for Sheffield United, who have made the longest winless start to a Premier League season, beating QPR's 16-game run at the start of the 2012-13 campaign.
They've got some way to go to match Derby County's record run of 32 games in the Premier League without a win - but just how bad has this campaign been?
And are there any signs that the Blades can complete a remarkable turnaround and stay up?
How many points then, if you're counting?
The easiest way to measure how good or bad a team is over the course of the season is, of course, by looking at how many points they picked up. That's literally how the league table works.
On this metric - and a few more - the Derby County team of 2007-08 are the worst side to compete in the Premier League. If you can call it competing. Their one win all season is a record low.
Eleven points is, quite frankly, rubbish. But what will worry Blades fans is the fact they need to find three wins from somewhere just to match that figure. And they haven't won one game yet.
Sunderland showed impressive consistency to get relegated, come back up, and be even worse. They won seven games combined in the 2002-03 and 2005-06 season. Their top scorers the second time around managed three league goals each. Ouch.
Finish!
So far Chris Wilder's side have scored just eight times in the Premier League. That's as many as Callum Wilson has netted for Newcastle.
Should they keep up that rate of 0.47 goals per game they could threaten the record for fewest goals scored, held by that wretched Derby side of 2008.
The Rams scored 20 times that year, a rate of 0.52 goals per game, with Kenny Miller top-scoring with four. So far this season David McGoldrick - also on four - is the only Blade to score more than once in the league.
Fewest goals scored in a PL season | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Goals | Season | Club | Top scorer | Final position |
20 | 2007-08 | Derby County | Kenny Miller (4) | 20th |
21 | 2002-03 | Sunderland | Kevin Phillips (6) | 20th |
22 | 2018-19 | Huddersfield | Karlan Grant (4) | 20th |
26 | 2019-20 | Norwich | Teemu Pukki (11) | 20th |
26 | 2005-06 | Sunderland | Four players (3) | 20th |
No need for a clean sheet bonus
Here's a record Wilder's Blades are not likely to get near - whatever happens.
Despite their poor first half of the season United haven't been on the end of many batterings - they've conceded 29 goals at the rate of 1.7 per game. Keep that up and they are on track to ship 64 goals this season.
That's nowhere near the record of centurions Swindon, the only side to need triple figures in the table. They, and Ipswich, did play 42 games instead of 38 in those seasons though.
Most goals conceded in a PL season | |||
---|---|---|---|
Goals | Season | Club | Final position |
100 | 1993-94 | Swindon Town | 22nd |
93 | 1994-95 | Ipswich Town | 22nd |
89 | 2007-08 | Derby County | 20th |
85 | 2013-14 | Fulham | 19th |
82 | 1997-98 | Barnsley | 19th |
Burnley (2009-10) and Wolves (2011-12) also conceded 82 goals |
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Nobody enjoys the hours, the days, following a league defeat. But losing can become as much of a habit as winning and this is one record that could be taken by this year's Blades.
Three teams have racked up 29 (TWENTY-NINE) defeats in a single campaign, although Ipswich do get that caveat of playing a 42-game season.
United have lost 15 times already this season and have 21 matches still to play.
Most games lost in a PL season | |||
---|---|---|---|
Defeats | Season | Club | Final position |
29 | 2007-08 | Derby County | 20th |
29 | 1994-95 | Ipswich Town | 22nd |
29 | 2005-06 | Sunderland | 20th |
28 | 2018-19 | Huddersfield Town | 20th |
27 | 2019-20 | Norwich | 20th |
Aston Villa (2015-16) and Sunderland (2002-03) also lost 27 games |
Pulis doesn't need shots
Wilder's current side are averaging 2.82 shots on target per game at the moment - the seventh-worst record in the Premier League era.
You would think that the adage 'if you don't shoot you don't score' was a logical one - but nobody told Tony Pulis and his ham and eggers.
His Stoke side twice survived - comfortably - with the fewest shots on target per game in Premier League history. Remarkable.
Big Sam isn't faring so well though - his inherited West Brom side of this year are having even fewer attempts on goal than Wilder's Blades.
Can either side do a Stoke and stay up?
Fewest shots on target per game | |||
---|---|---|---|
Shots | Season | Club | Final position |
2.47 | 2011-12 | Stoke City | 14th |
2.63 | 2008-09 | Stoke City | 12th |
2.63 | 2016-17 | Middlesbrough | 19th |
2.71 | 2020-21 | West Brom | 19th (at moment) |
2.71 | 2017-18 | Swansea City | 18th |
Opta has collected this data since the 2003-04 season |
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But in 1938,Man City were the top scoring side in Division 1with 80 goals,had a goal difference of + 3 and still got relegated !
As a Newcastle fan living in Derby at the time it was less than ideal.
They will inevitably get relegated so replacing Wilder now will achieve nothing. Who would you try and employ for a Championship promotion push when that happens - Chris Wilder.
Norwich are showing what can be done keeping some consistency. They will inevitably go up this season and have another go.
Derby in 38 games conceded 89 goals at 2.34 per game.
So Swindon have the worst defensive record in PL history.
Is that calculation to difficult for the BBC ?
During Derby's dire season & in desperate need of quality reinforcements they bought Robbie Savage in the January transfer window!
They have been found out by better teams with better players whilst still riding the crest of last seasons wave, seen it all before, remember Ipswich under George Burley.
Wilder is a good manager not a great one and is out of his depth at the minute, think they are down.
This piece however lacks depth & is padded out with mainly meaningless statistics with no insight. This is so typical of BBC journalism these days, lazy beyond belief, standards have reached an all time low.
When you watch them play, their League position is false, they're a solid team just undone by a mixture of bad luck and occasional but costly individual errors.
Confidence continues to drain though and that's got to be the biggest concern - "losing is a difficult habit to break"
As long as clubs keep having to send out their U18’s, it gives the strugglers the best chance. What sort of season will this turn out to be?!