A Story about Philipp Klement and Shot-Creating Actions
Now that the Bundesliga is underway, I was perusing some of the advanced stats on FBref to find standout performers on Matchday 1. The Shot-Creating Actions (SCA) leaderboard caught my eye.
After Bayern’s 8–0 demolition of Schalke, I expected to see many Bayern players on the Shot-Creating Actions leaderboard. But I definitely did not expect to see Philipp Klement. Not only did he match Joshua Kimmich and Emil Forsberg’s SCA total — he did it in just 31 minutes.
First, let’s review what a shot-creating action is for those who don’t know.
The two offensive actions directly leading to a shot, such as passes, dribbles and drawing fouls. Note: A single player can receive credit for multiple actions and the shot-taker can also receive credit.
Goal-creating actions are simply shot-creating actions that lead to a goal. These stats are found on FBref.
To be completely honest, I have never heard of Philipp Klement. After coming up through the Kaiserslautern youth system, the 28-year old Klement transferred to Nürnberg in 2011. After three seasons (that included a loan spell at Hansa Rostock), Klement moved to Mainz. There he made his Bundesliga debut against Schalke on Matchday 4, playing 8 minutes in a 2–1 loss. He later made a second appearance against Dortmund, playing 20 minutes in a 2–0 loss. Those were his only Bundesliga minutes until Saturday.
Klement moved to Paderborn in January of 2018 and helped them secure promotion in consecutive seasons. In 2018–19, he scored 16 goals and assisted seven more in the second Bundesliga. Instead of going to the Bundesliga with Paderborn, he moved to Stuttgart for a fee of €2.5 million. Last season he played just over 1,000 minutes and was held scoreless with two assists. But Stuttgart was promoted (his third straight promotion) and he went with them to the Bundesliga.
So how did he get eight shot-creating actions in 31 minutes on Saturday?
60th minute
Klement comes on for Gonzalo Castro with Stuttgart already trailing SC Freiburg 3–0. A few minutes later, Sasa Kalajdzic comes on for Marcin Kamiński.
71st minute
Klement makes his first mark on the match, picking up the pre-assist on Kalajdzic’s goal. He made the pass to Didavi, who earned the assist. Klement is awarded with an “SCA 2”, meaning the second shot-creating action before the goal.
73rd minute
Klement wiggled out of trouble and played a pass to Waldemar Anton. Anton played a cross to Roberto Massimo. Massimo’s header was deflected out for a corner. This was Klement’s second SCA and was also an SCA 2.
74th minute
Klement took the subsequent corner and met Sasa Kalajdzic with another header that was deflected out for a another corner. This was the action immediately before the shot, so it is an “SCA 1” (and Klement’s third shot-creating action).
Klement took the corner again and met Marc-Oliver Kempf, who headed over the bar — an SCA 1 and Klement’s fourth SCA of the game.
75th minute
Klement played a pass to Anton and Anton set up another headed shot by Sasa Kalajdzic that was deflected for a corner. It’s an SCA 2 and Klement’s fifth.
In this five minute spell, Klement picked up five SCAs (one a GCA, or goal-creating action). For comparison, in the entire match against Borussia Mönchengladbach, Jadon Sancho had five SCAs (one a GCA).
81st minute
Stuttgart scores again. The goal was unassisted because a long pass took a deflection off a Freiburg player’s foot. Klement was not involved.
85th minute
Klement suffers a heavy head-to-head collision with Nicolas Höfler. He is taken off the pitch to get it wrapped.
88th minute
Play resumes with Didavi taking the free kick after the foul on Klement. The shot was deflected out for a corner. Klement was still waiting on the sidelines to come back in, but he gets an SCA 1 for drawing the foul that led to the shot. That’s six. Klement is let back in after the shot.
There are six minutes of added time due to the injury stoppage. Stuttgart is still behind 3–2 but is looking close to an equalizer.
90+3rd minute
Stuttgart earns a free kick that is taken by Klement. His shot hits the wall, but it comes back to him. He takes a second shot which that is deflected out for a corner. His first shot is was the shot-creating action before his second shot (an SCA 1), so he now has seven (and also has two shots of his own).
Klement takes the corner, which is cleared and falls to Orel Mangala. Mangala passes back to Klement who sets up Marc-Oliver Kempf. His headed shot is off target but that’s another SCA 1 for Klement — his eighth.
90+5th minute
Klement takes his best shot of the match from outside the box, forcing Florian Müller into a excellent diving save. Klement took the corner but it was cleared.
90+6th minute
In his final action of the game, Klement takes the free kick where it looks like Stuttgart may have won a penalty because Lucas Höler bear-hugged Anton as the shot was taken. Alas, no penalty is called and the final whistle blows.
Overall, Klement took three shots of his own and picked up eight shot-creating actions (one of them a goal-creating action through a pre-assist). Five were SCA 1 and three were SCA 2. Four came from live-ball passes, two from dead-ball passes, and one apiece from a rebounded shot and a drawn foul. Klement didn’t earn a goal or assist, but shot-creating actions can help illustrate the impact he made in his 31 minutes on the pitch.
