Attack sells tickets, defense wins titles

Attack sells tickets, defense wins titles - it's an old, unwritten football "rule".

That is why it is not surprising that the teams with the strongest defenses at the top, or at the top of the national European championships, are the main candidates for the title.

Ajax players have no competition in the Dutch league. After 10 rounds played, the team from Amsterdam won 30 points out of a possible 25 - four more than PSV, which it defeated 5:0 in the previous round. "Kopljanici" play the most beautiful football in the Netherlands and are the first candidates for the title, which they won in 2019 and 2021 (in 2020, the competition was interrupted due to the coronavirus).

Erik ten Haag's team, as usual, plays very efficiently, scoring 37 goals, but what catches the eye and makes a difference compared to the competition is the defense - only two goals in the championship were conceded by the famous Amsterdam club. No team in Europe has conceded fewer goals than the Dutch giants at this stage of the season.

After Ajax, the teams with the least number of goals conceded are Chelsea, Napoli, Dynamo Kyiv and - Sutjeska. The network of these teams was shaken only three times. Chelsea played nine, Napoli ten, and Dynamo Kyiv and Sutjeska played 12 games each.

Manchester City, Sporting Lisbon, Olimpijakos and Moldovan Sherif received four goals each in the current part of the championship, while Partizan received the fifth yesterday... The "Lions" from Lisbon played nine games, the Serbian team 14, the Greek team seven, and the Moldovan team 11.

In Germany, it was not Bayern that conceded the fewest goals, but the third-placed Freiburg, whose net was shaken six times in nine matches. The Bavarians conceded two more goals. Eighth-placed Athletic Bilbao conceded the fewest goals in the Spanish La Liga, also six. The network of Tirana, Teuta and Partizani in Albania also shook six times.

In Scotland, Dundee United and Celtic (7), as well as Salzburg in Austria, Slovenian Bravo, Macedonian Škupi, Polish Lech, Cliftonville in Northern Ireland, Trnava in Slovakia, and Romanian UTA Arad received the fewest goals.

More goals were scored by players from French Nice, Czech Pilsen, Swiss Basel, Armenian Ararat, Welsh TNS and Turkish Hatayspor.

Midtjylland conceded nine goals in Denmark, and Dinamo Zagreb and Osijek in Croatia scored 10 goals each.

Sutjeska is in elite company here, but we should not forget the fact that the Montenegrin championship takes a crushing 53rd place in the UEFA ranking of club coefficients in the competition of 55 domestic championships. Behind the Telekom First Montenegrin League are only the championships of Andorra and San Marino. In these countries, it is just the beginning of the league, and the leader in Andorra is Inter Escaldes, who have not conceded a goal after five matches, while the first in San Marino is La Florita, whose net has been shaken once in six matches.

The teams with the fewest goals conceded

1. Ajax 2 goals (10 matches)

2. Chelsea 3 (9)

3. Napoli 3 (10)

4. Dynamo Kyiv 3 (12)

5. Sutjeska 3 (12)

6. Manchester City 4 (9)

7. Sporting 4 (9)

8. Olympiakos 4 (7)

9. Sheriff 4 (11)

10. Partizan 5 (14)