Cittadella’s offensive struggle can be seen in expected goals tally

Scoring has been hard to come by for Cittadella this season, and its expected goals tally reflects the team’s struggles.

The Granata are bottom of Serie B in goals scored, netting seven goals (excluding 8/27 forfeited loss) in 13 league games. Alessandro Dal Canto’s side sits 19th in the league with 12 points as Serie B pauses for the November international break.

The offensive struggle this season can be seen in the club’s expected goals (xG) tally. According to FBref.com, Cittadella has accumulated 10.5 xG after 13 games: the second lowest in the league. Only Catanzaro has created a lower expected goals tally, with Fabio Caserta’s side creating a xG of 9.5.

In the 13 league games, Cittadella has failed to create a xG of 1.0 in nine of those games. Despite this, the Granata have pulled three wins from those nine games, all of them resulting in 1-0 wins against Palermo, Brescia and Modena.

Forward Simone Rabbi leads the team in individual expected goals, calculating 2.5 xG since arriving at the club in the summer. Luca Pandolfi, Mario Ravasio and Alessio Vita follow Rabbi in individual expected goals for the team.

Cittadella also holds the highest expected goals against (xGA) in the league, conceding 19.8 xGA. Brescia holds the second worst xGA in Serie B, accumulating 18.7 xGA despite sitting in 8th place.

Dal Canto’s side will look to shrug off its scoring struggles on Nov. 24 as Cittadella faces Bari at the Stadio San Nicola.

PHOTO: Massimo Felicetti/A.S. Cittadella