This graph below shows who in the team helps to progress the ball and create chances (through passing only, not dribbling). No surprise that our defenders play a crucial part in our build up play. Spurs on the flip side are massively reliant on Son and Kane to not only score but to also create. please log in to view this image
Here's a thread on pressing .... First off, let's look at which player looks to pressurise the opponents the most via pressures attempted p90. In this tree-map, Keita stands out, attempting 27 pressures p90. Minamino and Jota aren't too behind also. please log in to view this image Now look at the efficiency of the players' pressing. Unsurprisingly - and eye test backs this up also - Keita is very successful in his pressing, averaging 7.73 successful pressures thus far this season. Minamino shows impressively on here as well, as do Jones and Jota. please log in to view this image Moving on to tackles, let's see who's attempting the most tackles p90 for #LFC this season. Fabinho: in a league of his own. *pretends to be shocked* Curtis Jones: with Fabinho playing in defence, Jones' presence in midfield has helped #LFC massively off the ball. please log in to view this image Finally, let's have a look at tackles attempted vs. successful tackles p90. Further evidence Fabinho is in a different world compared to the other players. He's successfully won 2.37 tackles p90 out of the 3.07 tackles he's attempted this season. please log in to view this image Summary - Fabinho is an absolute monster. Keita, Jota and Taki are pressing demons.
A lot of focus on Trent at the moment for giving the ball away but let's not forget - he constantly loses possession (even last year and the year before that). It's because he plays very risky balls which help progress us up the pitch. please log in to view this image
Said as much when I pointed out how many times (38) he lost possession last night; he puts a lot of crosses in which will fail more often than succeed. He also plays the switch (very good success rate here tbf) and the ball down the line to Salah too. I'm sure Robbo will have high numbers for possession loss too and he's much more reserved with the ball than Trent.
Very informative chart. Visually shows the difference between spurs and LFC on where the creativity comes from. Spurs don’t need the defenders and midfield for their chances. They are there to stop goals being conceded. They need the forwards to create their own chances. Which confirms that they rely on counterattacking. We on the other hand need our defenders to be creative. The likes of TAA and Robertson we know have been crucial. The yield from our feted trio actually come from defenders creating chances for them. As we suspected the Manchester teams depend heavily on their midfield. Fernandes and Debryun have been key for them.
Exactly pal. Our defenders play such an important role in our build up play - Robbo and Trent are key focal points but we can't underestimate the impact that VVD, Gomez and Matip have as well - they're excellent at carrying the ball and passing forward.
This difference in creativity could impact upon the best tactics LFC and MU use for the coming Anfield clash. If they want to decrease our chances being created their forwards must push up against our full backs and stop them from running into the lanes and from crossing like Robertson and TAA have being doing with great success last season. Lots of early pressing and making sure our full backs are tracked. Whereas we have to focus on the creativity of their midfield. Most will come from Fernandes and possibly Pogba so that we should put more players in the midfield. But they also pose a counterattacking threat. As the chart shows, their defenders hardly create anything so stopping the ball reaching the midfielders either from the defenders or the forwards could be important too.
Performances and results may not be going our way but we're still amongst the top creators in Europe ... it's only a matter of time before we start putting them away .... ] please log in to view this image
forwards runs are all well and good when you have a midfielder willing to drop in behind it as fabinho would do. It forces someone to engage the run and that has to create a space to exploit. however that said it is largely irrelevant overall. to a game for a cb to be running forward. what i find more interesting is nobody at all wants to carry the ball and engage the opposition we want to pass it in front. no midfielder really wants to do it.
Aerial success of potential defensive targets for us (including our own CBs). I'd be surprised If we sign anyone with a win % of less than 60% (unless it's to partner VVD or another aerially dominant partner). please log in to view this image
we can't really use a stat like this when in some leagues they might have a lot less headers. It does show though that gomez is not that big a guy and his strengths are speed and on the ground. the two guys we are actually after asking about are on this list.
Which is why you have to keep an eye on the number of duels they challenge for as well. Most of our defenders are challenging around 5 duels p/90. Botman does look like a very good young option for us.
Defensive comparison year on year ... on the face of it, not much of a difference apart from the huge drop off in aerial success. However, this does not factor in the deeper line: please log in to view this image
Offensive comparison - again, not much of a difference however the huge drop off is in finishing. Pressing has also dropped however this is due to tiredness / hectic schedule and maybe a symptom of playing a deeper defensive line: please log in to view this image
It's been a depressing couple of months when looking at the stats but I thought I'd try to revive this. We've been in horrible form recently but you will see that prior to the past 5-6 games or so, our underlying numbers have been good despite the defeats. We create more chances than we concede. This was encouraging because we were doing this with a heavily depleted squad, and we simply had some awful luck. The last 5 games is where the real concern is because we're now at a point where we're conceding more chances than we're creating. This is how very poor teams / relegation battling teams look, let alone PL champions. This all seems to stem from when we lost both Fabinho and Matip in defence. Whilst they weren't the best partnership we have, they were still very good defenders and were able to limit chances conceding. please log in to view this image
Sad but true. No doubt our attack is also failing but we can't underestimate the importance of having a semi decent defence.
Speaking of the attackers ... Mane and Bobby are pretty much rock bottom in terms of non penalty goals and assists. Salah is slightly better but still below the average. please log in to view this image