Van of many talents

Chris Collinson looks at why it is not just goals that make Robin van Persie so valuable to Man Utd.

Manchester United's £24million signing of star striker Robin van Persie from Arsenal has understandably been met with excitement and anticipation. After becoming only the sixth player to score 30 goals in a Premier League season last term, many believe he can provide the goals needed to secure United the title once again. But was it Van Persie's goals alone that convinced Sir Alex Ferguson to sign him?

It's all relative

While Van Persie did finish as the top scorer in the Premier League, the player who scores the most goals is not necessarily the best goalscorer. Van Persie may have scored the most goals, but as the attacking focal point of a side which finished third last season, he also had more opportunities to score than any other player in the Premier League.

Pos	Player	Total Shots
1	Robin van Persie	141
2	Wayne Rooney	120
3	Clint Dempsey	109

That is not to say that he was provided with better service than any other player: the creation of a goalscoring opportunity is a two-man job, and one of the reasons why Van Persie is viewed as such a world-class striker is the runs he makes into goalscoring positions that other less-gifted strikers do not. However, even taking this into account, there is little doubt that in general Van Persie was rarely left lacking service from his Arsenal team-mates. For a truer indication of a player's goalscoring ability, it is more accurate to look at his shot conversion rate rather than his number of goals. If we look at this data, there were seven more effective goalscorers in the Premier League than Van Persie last season.

Pos	Player*	Chance Conversion
		Rate %
1	Yakubu	29.82
2	Frank Lampard	26.19
3	Mario Balotelli	23.64
4	Grant Holt	23.44
5	Wayne Rooney	22.5
6	Sergio Aguero	22.12
7	Jermain Defoe	22
8	Robin van Persie	21.28
	* 40+ shots

Although his shot conversion rate of 21.28% is very impressive, with the likes of Norwich's Grant Holt and Tottenham's Jermain Defoe ahead of him, the data suggests that Van Persie was not quite the most lethal of strikers in front of goal that the top scorers' table would have us believe. However, in the modern era of the Premier League, a striker's job is much more than just scoring goals. And this is where Man Utd's reasoning becomes a whole lot clearer...

Assistance needed

During the unveiling of the Dutchman, Ferguson stated that last season was 'the first time anyone has beaten us on goal difference. That is what cost us the league and it won't happen again. Trust me on that'. Although that title-defining eight-goal gap in goal difference was partly caused by conceding four more goals than their rivals at the back, there is little doubt that Ferguson wants to outscore City this season. Interestingly, in terms of goalscoring, Manchester United players actually performed better than their Manchester City counterparts last season. With a shot conversion rate of 18.9%, the Red Devils were the most lethal team in the Premier League.

Pos	Team	Shot Conversion
		Rate %
1	Manchester United	18.9
2	Manchester City	17.7
3	Newcastle United	15.8

Where United fell short last season in comparison to not only City but to all of their main rivals was the number of chances they created. With 470 shots over the season, the Red Devils created 56 fewer goalscoring opportunities than their title rivals.

Pos	Team	Total Shots
1	Manchester City	526
2	Liverpool	515
3	Chelsea	513
4	Tottenham Hotspur	508
5	Arsenal	472
6	Manchester United	470

If we take City's shot conversion rate of 17.7% into account, that equated to an extra 10 goals for the champions - champions who were crowned with a superior goal difference of +8.