Algeria failed to make the 2022 World Cup, so Riyad Mahrez will be staying behind as 16 of his Manchester City teammates make the trip to Qatar.
And while a blow that the 31-year-old won’t be playing at the tournament, the absence gives him a chance to work on his shooting, chance creating and dribbling without games getting in the way.
Mahrez scored 24 goals with nine assists from 47 games but has four goals with one assist from 17 games this campaign, so he’ll hope for a strong second half of the season to put things right.
After nine Premier League appearances, the Algerian international is 9th in the City squad for goals (1), 6th for shots on target (0.4) 9th for chances created per game on average (0.8), 6th for successful dribbles (0.6) and 4th for accurate crosses (0.8), so it’s easy to see why he’s been an unused substitute for their last three games.
Mahrez needs to work on his decision-making, as he’s statistically more likely to fire an effort off target (4) or into an opponent (4) rather than test the goalkeeper (4). The majority of his dribble attempts (15) have been unsuccessful (10) too, so he needs to be less greedy in possession.
Finally, the 31-year-old has to give the ball to his teammates in better shooting positions as he’s seldom creating chances despite that being his job as a wide forward. Perhaps Mahrez needs to cut down on shooting and look for players in a better position.
In other news, Pep Guardiola could drop Ederson for Stefan Ortega after World Cup for simple reason
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