Indian Super League 2024-25: Overperformers and underperformers
New Delhi [India], June 17 (ANI): For football fans, understanding the reasons behind their team's highs and lows is more than just a pastime, it's a vital ritual. Every supporter carries an inner analyst, constantly seeking insights and patterns that help shape their perspective on the team's performance, as per the official website of the Indian Super League (ISL).
Football has evolved over the years and so has the way in which it is talked about. For the modern-day football fan, there is much more information available to decipher the way the team is performing.
The marriage of data with football has taken insights to an altogether different level and fans today can quantify the reasons behind the success or failure of a football team. Data in modern-day football has gone far beyond keeping records, but is now an integral tool to measure performance.
One such metric that has gained popularity in modern-day football is Expected Goals(xG). It's a metric that quantifies the quality of a chance. You no longer have to debate whether a chance is a big one or a rather difficult one. Expected goals or xG throw an accurate figure at you.
The Indian Super League (ISL) hasn't been behind in incorporating this level of data in their system, and fans are warming up to this modern and deeper data set.
As an extension to this exercise, we take a look at individuals who overperformed and underperformed in front of goals last season with respect to their xG numbers.
NorthEast United FC's Alaaeddine Ajaraie has topped almost all attacking charts this season, and it's no different when it comes to overperforming his xG metric.
The Moroccan scored 23 goals in ISL 2024-25 from an xG of 16.81, which is a staggering overperformance of six goals. This is more than any player in the league last season. Such an overperformance is very remarkable for a striker who usually enjoys a lot of high-quality chances during the course of a season and still delivering so much more is hugely commendable.
FC Goa's Brison Fernandes won the Emerging Player of the season award and for good reason. The midfielder may have only scored seven goals but those came from an xG of just 2.89. An overperformance of four goals. The 24-year-old made the most of his ability to find the back of the net from a distance.
Third on the list is Punjab FC's Ezequiel Vidal. A profile very similar to that of Fernandes, the Argentinian was also adept at scoring through long-range strikes and produced seven goals from an xG of 3.14, an overperformance of almost four goals.
Alberto Rodriguez was one of the best defenders in ISL 2024-25 but he also left a mark with his attacking contributions. The significance of those five goals that he scored is further underlined by the low xG value that he was offered. The Spaniard scored five goals from an xG of just 1.29. An overperformance of almost four goals from a defender is extremely precious for any team in football and it further explains why Mohun Bagan Super Giant were able to win the League Shield in dominant style last campaign.
No ISL leaderboard can ever be complete without Sunil Chhetri and it's no different in this case too. The 40-year-old rolled back the years and netted 14 times in the ISL last season to match his best-ever season's tally from seven years ago. It's a hugely remarkable feat on its own but it gets even more credit as he scored those 14 goals from an xG of just 10.45. An overperformance of 3.55 goals.
Considering Chhetri was also on penalty duties when he was on the pitch, this figure gets added significance as a penalty is often considered an extremely high-quality chance, so naturally, the xG overperformance is very limited.
At the other end of the spectrum are forwards who delivered fewer returns than expected, where their goals tally was less than their xG scores.
Mohammedan SC's Franca underperformed his xG by 3.46 as he scored just once from an xG count of 4.46.
Cleiton Silva had a disappointing campaign by his standards for East Bengal FC after the high of 2023-24. He struggled to find the back of the net from an xG score of 2.9.
Another Mohammedan SC player, Alexis Gomez, features on this list as he had just one goal from an xG of 3.64.
MBSG winger Liston Colaco chipped in with three goals last season but had the opportunities to net more as he enjoyed an xG figure of 5.63. The Indians would want to improve on this tally in the upcoming season. In the same boat is Mumbai City FC's Vikram Partap Sing,h who couldn't reach the heights of 2023-24 that saw him win the ISL Emerging Player of the League last season.
In 2024-25, Vikram managed just one goal from an xG of 2.9.
Teams are looking to shake up their squads in the summer transfer window. Some clubs have already announced their moves as they look to build a squad to meet their targets. For those sticking with their existing clubs, the break presents a great chance to reset and produce an improved show next season. (ANI)
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