We concede the 2nd lowest number of shots per game of all the teams in europe in league games this season. We concede by far the lowest number of shots in home league games of all european teams. Away from home we concede the 10th lowest number of shots per game in league games when ranked against all other european teams.
We've only lost two games this season in the league and CL.... the 2nd lowest after city. Those games were city away with 10 men and tottenham away, the two toughest games of the season.
In terms of attacking. We take the 4th highest number of shots per game ranked behind only Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Napoli. In terms of shots on target we rank 7th in europe (city being the only British team ranked higher). We're 4th in key passes behind Bayern, Real Madrid and Napoli.
Our stats in the CL are brilliant but wouldn't read into them due to the maribor games and some nerves we've had holding on to leads in the other games which shouldn't last beyond this season.
Our area of weakness is giving the ball away too cheaply. It's still not diabolical.....just not up there with the best. I truly believe that Mane's red card away at city and Lovrens horror show at Tottenham are skewing how we view our season. Yeah we've had a few more draws than we'd expect but we're within 3 points of Chelsea and Arsenal, and only 6 points behind United in 2nd with us having played all of the top 6 wheras they've got City & Arsenal to come.
We've also had Coutinho, Mane, Lallana and our best defender on Clyne out for significant spells. There's work to be done and players to be signed. But we're not as far away from competing as it may seem. A good GK, one CB, a LB and a deep lying playmaker would see us up there with the best sides in Europe if you ask me! And when i say up there i mean as good as!
Bad Luck & Errors Overshadowing Klopps work
posted on 1/12/17
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 1/12/17
85 % this season 83 overall.
posted on 1/12/17
Yeah after we scored vs chelsea we sat off and couldn't retain the ball (hence my point about giving tje ball away cheaply)......before we scored we were the better team by far.
Either way, Chelsea are the champions and its not shame in losing the midfield battle to them for 30 mins ....and we were missing Mane, Firmino and Lallana. 3 of our 5 best players.
I'm talking about overall season performance. Chelsea's goal was very lucky tbf.
You guys wanna talk about ifs but if we addressed the areas i talked about in the article.....liverpool win that game.
IOAG - yeah the defensive lapses lead to quality chances for the opposition and once a mistake has been made in a game......we sometimes go into panic mode at tge back which compounds the issue. Spot on mate.
We're not the finished article, the point of the article is that a few games where individual errors have sent us into a panic........aswell as an inabilty to hold on to the ball/lead in a few others have been our downfall this season. Injuries to key players haven't helped but thats just bad luck.
posted on 1/12/17
Stoke.
Mignolet.
The red card tackle.
Having watched it a couple of times, it's clear Mig, who I try to support, falls apart; he just doesn't get his act together for the next crucial five minutes. Headless chicken springs to mind.
And that isn't good enough. That's not going to help us win much, if anything.
posted on 1/12/17
I think giving the ball away cheaply may be a structural defect with the way we play. We’re set up to take chances quickly with the ball when we win possession, which creates space for our attacking play.
But when we enter a phase of the game where we need to keep possession and ‘manage the game’, we don’t seem able to do it, either because the players have difficulty switching their mindset during the game, or because that’s just not the kind of players they are.
We’ve got used to being a bit more patient with teams parking the bus, and we’ve improved our ability to break them down, so we don’t see as much of the intense pressing at the start of the game. But where I’d like to go from there , is to adopt the intense pressing after we go 1-0 up, instead....go for the jugular.
Last weekend I was hoping he’d bring Mane on earlier after we took the lead, and really go for it, because at that stage, there was no point, for Chelsea, in sitting back.
But he didn’t do it, instead we go for this kind of halfway house where we try to slow the game down but can’t really do it, so put ourselves under pressure.
Still, there are definite improvements: our ability to break down the bus-parkers is a big step forward, and even the fact that so many teams see the need to park such a big bus is really a good sign.
Being able to leave out Coutinho and Salah, in midweek, without it amounting to capitulation, suggests that we have more strength in depth than we’ve had in the past.
I think there is steady and clear progress, and I haven’t really felt negatively about it at any point. The defensive meltdowns, when they come, are really frustrating, but strangely they are interspersed with long sequences of clean sheets.
posted on 1/12/17
comment by Nickasaurus (U9257)
posted 1 hour ago
your opinion. I thought we did. Maybe not everytime, but when we went forward we troubled you, everytime hazard got the ball we looked like causing damage. Liverpool are there to be got at.
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Nobody is saying we are tight at the back.
We do alright for clean sheets though.
More than Chelsea this season I believe.
posted on 1/12/17
conceded 7 more in the league than us and we've been shambolic at times. conceded 3 to burnley, 2 to palace.
posted on 1/12/17
More clean sheets though.
I guess teams must just not bother attacking against us sometimes. Bit of a weird way to play football though.
posted on 1/12/17
comment by Jordan Henderson £16m AKA Henderlol (U12335)
posted 2 hours, 7 minutes ago
Yeah after we scored vs chelsea we sat off and couldn't retain the ball (hence my point about giving tje ball away cheaply)......before we scored we were the better team by far.
Either way, Chelsea are the champions and its not shame in losing the midfield battle to them for 30 mins ....and we were missing Mane, Firmino and Lallana. 3 of our 5 best players.
I'm talking about overall season performance. Chelsea's goal was very lucky tbf.
You guys wanna talk about ifs but if we addressed the areas i talked about in the article.....liverpool win that game.
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There have been games in the past were you have been better than us but this wasn't one of them.
You say you would have beaten us if you fixed your weaknesses in the summer, well that works both ways, imagine if we had Alex Sandro and a quality RWB on the pitch?
posted on 1/12/17
utd and cheslea draws were not bad. v top 6 rivals its ok.
hell burnely draw at anfield wasn't that bad given thier form.
The 3-3 v watford could have been a win but equally we could have lost. that was opening day
the 1-1 v newkie was a terrible result due to rank defending.
Really we've drawn a couple games too many in there.
But the two losses were horror shows.
We can talk stats all we like but we've been decent at home and quite poor away from home this season and thats why we are behind where we need to be.
The trick is this; get mane in the team all the time and marry that with continued goals from salah and we will be ok.