Black Star Spotlight: Shedding Light on the Underappreciated Lawrence Ati Zigi

Lawrence Ati Zigi (28) has recently attracted attention following the revelation that he has conceded 300 goals in 202 appearances while playing for St. Gallen.

However, this figure doesn’t paint the entire picture. The goalkeeper’s position is intricate, necessitating a deeper understanding and context to accurately assess performance.

Take Jordan Pickford, the England and Everton keeper, for instance, who has let in 398 goals in 281 matches. While this statistic may raise eyebrows, it overlooks significant elements like team form, the number of shots faced, and the saves made.

It’s important to differentiate between a goalkeeper who concedes three goals from three shots and one who allows ten goals from a hundred attempts.

Goalkeeping metrics reveal that delving deeper into the statistics can unveil the true impact of a keeper’s performance.

Returning to Ati Zigi, it’s crucial to acknowledge that a goalkeeper’s main duty is to stop the opposition from scoring.

Yet, goalkeepers aren’t infallible; they can’t intercept every shot that comes their way, which is why coaches design defensive strategies to minimise high-quality chances for the opposition.

When these strategies falter, you wind up seeing results typical of the Swiss Super League.

This league is among the highest-scoring competitions in Europe, averaging 2.92 goals per game this season.

St. Gallen has consistently positioned itself in the top seven of the league’s ten to twelve teams over the past decade, categorising them as a mid-table club.

Thus, in the case of Ati Zigi, he plays in the Swiss Super League, one of Europe’s most prolific leagues, and his team, St. Gallen, is not operating at the absolute top tier domestically.

Consequently, expectations should be tempered, as it’s unreasonable to assume a mid-table team in any league would maintain the finest defensive statistics.

Despite these hurdles, Ati Zigi has demonstrated commendable form. Over a period of five years, he has faced 786 shots, saving 538 of them, resulting in a save percentage of 68.2% in the league.

Once again, it’s vital to understand that goalkeepers can’t save every shot, but there are methods to assess the quality of the saves made.

For instance, one cannot hold a goalkeeper accountable when faced with two attackers, one of whom passes to the other for an open-net finish. However, one would expect a goalkeeper to stop a weak shot directed straight at them.

This is where the concept of Expected Goals on Target (xGOT) becomes relevant. It’s a metric that evaluates the quality of shots a goalkeeper encounters.

Since 2020, the Ghanaian keeper has averted a total of 6.77 goals, as estimated by Expected Goals on Target (xGOT), showcasing a net positive contribution.

If a goalkeeper’s role is to thwart opponent scoring, why should someone who has prevented 6.77 goals be viewed negatively?

His abilities extend beyond simply stopping shots, encompassing sweeping, high claims, and initiating play from the back.

In the 2022/23 season, Ati Zigi’s outstanding performances for St. Gallen earned him the title of goalkeeper of the season. Throughout that season, he conceded 47 goals in 33 appearances, demonstrating once more that goals conceded do not encapsulate the entire narrative.

This season, one could either regard Ati Zigi as the keeper who has let in 33 goals in 25 games, or as the goalkeeper who has delivered 81 saves from 114 shots faced, preventing 5.90 goals – the highest in the Swiss league.

Your interpretation of Lawrence Ati Zigi will depend on your perspective.

The Black Star Watch is an engaging weekly column authored by Owuraku Ampofo, a seasoned sports journalist with over five years of experience covering Ghanaian players. This column seeks to uncover trends, address pressing queries, and shed light on trending issues surrounding Ghanaian footballers.