5 reasons why we shouldn't be THAT bothered about losing Enrique

While he's our player, we'll obviously only ever care about his good points, and he does have some cracking points, there's no denying it.

However, now he's gone, I'm going to put on my pessimistic hat and highlight his bad points. Just to make us feel better.

1). Attacking play

Enrique is sort of renowned as a good attacking left back who has a bigger role in our team than just defending. However, by looking at the stats, you wouldn't think so. He made a lot of passes in his time here, during the 10/11 season he only managed 1 assist and 0 goals. This is worrying for a defender who not only has the attributes to be a great attacking left back, but also found himself in ample good positions to either score or set up an assist. For all his running about, the end product was severely lacking.

Compare this to someone like Leighton Baines, who racked up 11 assists and 5 goals. That shows what a REAL quality attacking left back is capable of.

2). Jonas.

I reckon Jonas is actually one of the best in the league for tracking back and helping out with both defending and attacking. He may not be particularly great at it, but it puts in much more effort than most. It makes me wonder just how much of an influence Jonas had while he was helping out at the back. Without him there, and without the understanding they both had, will Enrique now look more vulnerable?

3). Being too good at one-on-ones

There's no denying that Enrique was HARD to get past. However, I don't think this did us any favours. I think managers would have known how difficult Enrique is, so they would have directed players down the right hand side and through Danny Simpson - a comparatively weaker defender. Directing the players down that side and past Simpson would increase the number of goals the opposition could get whilst improving the look of Enrique's stats.

That would have been great if we had top quality down the left AND right, making it hard to get through no matter which side they came down, but in our case, perhaps Enrique's ability actually caused us more harm than good when it came down to conceding goals. You need an iron strong back 4, otherwise the opposition will naturally avoid the strongest point and exploit the weakest point to break through.

If this theory is true (and I think it is, managers aren't stupid) then there's a possibility that we may being in a not-as-good left back and actually end up conceding less. Why? Because the opposition won't be so afraid to take it down the left anymore. That should balance it out, take the pressure off Simpson and also involve the quality of Coloccini much more, who is the left-centre-back and was basically the next barrier behind Enrique.

Obviously Enrique would be great for another team, but perhaps he wasn't ideal for us at this time.

4). Stats

With the theory of point 3, and for any other unexplained reason, despite having "one of the best LB's in the league" we conceded 1.5 goals per season during 10/11. That puts us in 12th place. Bolton, Sunderland, Stoke and Fulham all conceded less.

I'm not sure how much of that is Enrique's fault, but with a top CB like Coloccini, and decent mid-table EPL players in Williamson and Simpson, you would think that the man hailed as one of the best left backs in the entire league would have helped us to a better than below average finish in goals conceded.

5). Passing

Remember a few of those passes he made in front of goal during the second half of the season? Those ridiculously dangerous ones? Yeah, he does that. His concentration at times also left a lot to be desired.



Now obviously I have my pessimistic hat on here, but they're all real points. For all of the almighty attributes of Enrique, the statistics in passing and defending aren't particularly great, and the man had his weaknesses.

 

For me, it just depends on the replacement. If he's good, I won't be that bothered, upset slightly, but not TOO fussed. However, all your points are countered by the fact Perch may start today :/

 

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tbh

 

I told you it's a purposely pessimistic view, but the points are valid nonetheless. If you don't like it, ignore it.

 

Enrique made tonnes of chances last season and it wasn't his fault we couldn't take them mate. Remember the Blackburn game away? That pretty much sums it up really. All he can do is create chances, the chances turn into assists when the strikers take them.

 

personally i'm ****ed off he's gone bad points or not he's still one of the best LB in the league and replacing him with someone of his standard will be ****ing hard if not impossible the dippers have got the bargain of the century

 

It's the same as saying Barton's contribution in attack was only 9 assists. He meant so much more to the team than only 9 assists. He created far more than that, and there were plenty of goals that he crossed in or knocked in that hit Shola or Carroll before being scored. Barton created 20+ goals.

 

In fact, I honestly think that point 3 is the biggest one of them all. Being unable to get past Enrique just heaped far more pressure on the likes of Simpson. Any manager with even an ounce of common sense would have exploited our weakest defensive points and directed play down the much easier right hand side, which was made up of Simpson, and Barton who wasn't as good defensively as Jonas.

Once we bring in a new LB and taking the ball down the left doesn't seem like such a scary proposition anymore, I think we'll see a more balanced defence, with less pressure on one side.

Only 9 assists? That makes him 10th in the entire league.

Barton may have created a lot of goals, but I don't think Enrique did. For the attributes he had and the positions he found himself in, the end product wasn't great, so while he contributed to attacking play, he was far from imperative. It isn't going to take THAT much to bring in a LB who can be involved in play like Enrique was.

Really, look at Baines as an example of a left back who can rack up key offensive play.

 

Well we will find out today

 

Don't forget the times he'd randomly decide to start taking people on or fall asleep at last man (I've got Fulham away in my head, but I remember other occasions too). His confidence on the ball was a strength but it was also a weakness, and a weakness that top clubs tend not to ignore as much as we would.

 

Isn't this just a variant of the theme 'now he's gone he must have been crap' that has also been done ad nauseum for Nolan and Carroll? We are substantially weaker, and that's all there is to it.

 

Yup.

I'd rather highlight his bad points instead of highlighting his good points though and making myself feel **** about him leaving. Some people enjoy this form of self-harm, but personally, it isn't my cup of tea.

And if we bring in a decent replacement we aren't substantially weaker. Far from it.

 

Great article imo

 

It's a bit like what happens when a lass dumps you. You highlight all her **** points and make yourself feel better about it. Why not? He DID have weaknesses, and they shouldn't be ignored.

 

I don't think its a 'now he's crap' thing, just that he wasn't as good as many made out. There were so many 'best left back in the league' comments last season (or best left back in club history which is nonsense), playing at an ambitious club this season will prove it, but I don't think he's the absolute star we made out. If the fee was £10m with a year left on his contract its a cracking bit of business once (if?) Pieters comes in.

 

For all the masochists:

1 on 1, Enrique's very hard to beat. Happened only 9 times last season, compared to A. Cole (38), Clichy (26), Baines (24), Evra (23)

LB Tackling Stats Comparison: Enrique: 61 (84% won) Evra: 80 (76% won) Baines: 84 (74% won) Cole: 100 (67% won)

LB Successful Dribble Stats Comparison: Enrique: 65 Evra: 26 Baines: 26 Cole: 17
(what's more, only N'Zogbia and Nani in the whole of the league beat this record, boy can dribble!)

Out of Baines, Evra, Cole, Clichy and Enrique, Enrique conceded the least fouls (in fact conceded 50% less than any of his contemporaries)

However Enrique gave possession away more than the other left backs mentioned.


I think that he is going to be hard to replace because in my opinion he is the second best LB in the league. However if we sign either Pieters or Cissoko I will be happy.


Stats absolutely not pinched from the Liverpool board.

 

Wouldnt mind after the amount theyve nicked off us

 

This.

You're saying him being too good had an adverse affect on us?!

 

Yeah. It really could have.

Just think about it. If one side of the defence is too good, are a team going to put any time or effort into trying to break through? Of course not. They're just going to flood down the weaker side. It's easier to get through and it's easier to score. Once they avoid Enrique altogether, he basically becomes useless.

It would be great if we had a super strong left back AND a super strong right back, because the opposition would have no choice but to try and fight through either side (or go though the middle, which is never easy). In the situation we had though, Simpson's side was clearly the weaker side, so teams just exploited it. This just left Simpson more swamped and more under pressure.

With a new left back who isn't so 'renowned', I think the attacking play will balance out and we'll find more teams start to try and come down the left and right. This should relieve the pressure on Simpson/S Taylor and involve Coloccini more in our defensive play (being the left-centre-back).

I honestly expect to see the number of goals conceded go down this season now Enrique has left. Enrique will be a star buy to add to a solid back 4 which is just as good as him, but in our current situation, perhaps he just wasn't right for us yet.

In my opinion, this statistic just adds weight to the theory:

Enrique is good, but I don't think he's twice as good in 1v1's as Baines and Evra, and I highly doubt he's over 4 times better at it than A.Cole. Does this statistic seem to great because he really is that amazing, or is it partially because far fewer players tried to take him on in a 1v1, instead opting to just take the ball down the much easier right hand side? Do those other players in their respective teams also have the issue of a very strong left side, but a comparatively weaker right side? No.

In that stat, I think the drop between Enrique and the rest of the players (who are some of the best LB's in the world) is just way too much to be uninfluenced by something else.

 

But Everton, Chelsea and Man U are all much weaker down the right than down the left as well so surely the same theory should apply to them as well?