Premier League’s Underachievers: 5 Big Names Missing the Mark So Far
By Ivan Buss
4. Riyad Mahrez
Similar to Son this season, Mahrez is coming off an outstanding season with Manchester City, which saw him atop their goal-scoring leaders, with 24 goals in all competitions – including 7 in the Champions League.
This season, after 9 games, he has managed only 1 goal in the league, and that’s it. His accolades and accomplishments stop there for this season. He has had his chances, most notably two separate opportunities to give City the lead from the penalty spot in a 0-0 game against Coppenhaagen and Dortmund, respectfully. City’s manager had this to say when asked after the missed penalty against Dortmund (article by Sam Lee of The Athletic):
"“I don’t know how many millions of penalties we’ve missed,” – Pep Guardiola"
Penalty misses aren’t something new for Mahrez, or City for that matter, but it’s the visible difference in Marhrez’s confidence. His hesitation to take players on down the right, his trickery suddenly looks all too predictable and looks to be short of his normal cutting edge. Looking at stats, his dribbles, dribble success ratio, shots per 90, and more are all down according to Soccerment.