The competition-worst stat that could spell trouble for Sunderland in the Europa League

When your luck is out, it’s out. Watching Sunderland’s 2-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League on Thursday evening, there were several moments in which you found yourself asking how on earth the Black Cats’ hadn’t managed to put the ball in the back of the net.

Through a combination of misfortune, limp finishing, heroic defending, and the woodwork, Regis Le Bris’ men drew an untimely blank at the Stadium of Light - registering 17 shots, with seven on target, to no avail - and as a consequence they slumped to their first loss on the continent this term.

With regards to their hopes of qualifying for the next round of the competition, Sunderland’s midweek setback does little to hamper their chances of making it out of the league stage. After four games, the Black Cats are 11th - level on points with Besiktas in eighth, and with ostensibly winnable matches against the likes of Jagiellonia Białystok, Anderlecht, and Levski Sofia still to come. Even AC Milan - the one true European heavyweight standing in their path - are languishing down in 28th, with the Italian club having lost three of their four outings so far.

But while results have largely been good for Sunderland, the stats suggest that their inability to put away their chances hints at a problem which could eventually come back to haunt them. According to the number-crunchers at WhoScored, the Black Cats’ running tally of four continental goals from a combined xG of 8.98 represents to biggest negative disparity of any side in the Europa League this season.

In other words, Sunderland are dramatically under-performing in front of goal, and it’s not difficult to see how that could be an issue as they look to force their way into the latter stages of the competition.

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Against AZ Alkmaar, Regis Le Bris’ men had to rely on a penalty to secure all three points. Against Torreense - a second division side - they left it until stoppage time to scrape the win. Against Lech Poznan, they dropped points after squandering a number of decent openings, and against Dinamo Zagreb, that trend continued.

As things stand, Sunderland’s wastefulness is by no means a disaster, but if they are serious about going far in the Europa League this term, they need to find their shooting boots sooner rather than later.

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