Inter won at Feyenoord with fewer shots than their usual

Inter beat Feyenoord 0-3 after an early goal, but they got there with fewer shots and less xG than they usually take away from home.

Yann Bisseck gave Inter the lead in the eighth minute, with Djed Spence providing the assist, and Inter never looked back. The striking thing about this win is how little Inter needed to produce it. They took fewer shots than they usually do away from home, and fewer of the good chances that tend to decide matches. Three goals came anyway.

Shots are easy to count, but expected goals, or xG, is more useful. It gives each shot a value based on how often shots from that spot turn into goals across football. Inter's xG came to 0.94, against an away average of 2.51, so the chances they made were worth much less than usual. They had 11 shots, where they normally average 20 on their travels, and six of them were on target.

Feyenoord had 53% of the ball at home, where they usually have 43%, while Inter were held to 47%, against a usual 54.3% away. Possession is the share of time a side spends with the ball, and it does not always decide a match. Here it did not, because the side with less of it still scored the goals. Inter took their moments when they came, and that was enough.

Feyenoord were not short of attempts. Their 11 shots compared with a home average of 9.7, and their xG of 0.74 was in line with the 0.71 they usually manage. But only two of those efforts were on target, and they scored none. Both sides finished below the league average of 14.6 shots per team, so this was a quiet match for attacking on either side.

Inter's finishing is where the story sharpens. Three goals from that little xG is more than the chances alone suggested, and their away average is 1.7 goals a game. Pio Esposito scored before the break, and Piotr Zieliński added the third after it, set up by Nicolò Barella. Zieliński's shots were not many, but enough of them found the target to make the difference.

Feyenoord, meanwhile, scored none against a home average of 1.3, and conceded three against their usual 2.7. What makes that harder to explain is that Inter's chances were worth less than the 1.61 Feyenoord usually concede at home. They allowed fewer good opportunities than normal and still let three goals in, which is why the scoreline looks heavier than the chances did.

Both sides now have three points from three matches, but Feyenoord sit 26th and Inter 20th. This was Inter's only win in that run.

Player of the matchP. Zieliński1 goal8.2

F. Esposito1 goal7.8

N. Barella1 assist7.7

D. Spence1 assist7.7