Futile state of team that can't score? (13)
I believe the answer is:
pointlessness
'team that can't score?' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'futile state' is the wordplay.
'futile' becomes 'pointless' (I've seen this before).
'state' becomes 'ness' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'pointless'+'ness'='POINTLESSNESS'
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pointlessness that I've seen before include "that is demonstrated by blunt type" , "Futility" .)