For all the crap they spew, this article is actually pretty accurate and mentioned alot of the things we already know, but it had some allarming statistics which I didn't know. Posted here incase people are scared of my link: We have been awarded 249 corners this season so far...and scored from 4 of them. Lucas is still our top tackler with 68 - despite missing the last 4 months. We've won 68% of the games Carroll has started and 38% when he hasn't. The first one is shocking. 4 from 249. I'd love to see how many we concede from corners though because I worry each time we give one away. Surely corners are the bread and butter of Carroll's game. Is it poor delivery is is no one just able to attack the ball? Both probably. Either way, this needs working on fast. Lucas being our top tackler still. Hilarious. I'm a big fan of Spearing and he's been amongst our top performers in the last few weeks but he's not Lucas. The more I see of him, the more he reminds me of a Carrick type player than a Lucas type. He sits back and keeps the ball ticking over and harrasses the opposition or follows runners without posession rather than breaking up the play with a tackle. I think his passing has improved to the extent where Lucas/Spearing could be a solid pairing in a 4-2-3-1 formation against strong opposition. He won't play against weaker opposition when Lucas is fit. But we need a fit Lucas as the stats show. Last stat: only Kenny can explain why he's dropping Carroll. Those be damning statistics for Kenny's team selection. We've all seen Carrol's improvement recently but even over the whole season him just being in the team creates problems and diverts attention to him and away from Suarez or the midfield runers. He creates space and lately, he's winning the ball and laying it off far better than at the start of the season. He should playing every week.
Interesting stat about Carroll... Another stat is that we have lost most games when Spearing starts which I found really surprising.
Good link and article pal I don't normally take any notice of TalkSport (although I do occasionally listen) but, like you said, these comments are not exactly unknown to Liverpool fans, nor indeed football fans in general. I knew our corners where bad but I didn't think they was 'scored just four goals from 249 corners this season' bad. That is a return of just 1.6%, not good enough!
That Charlie Adam one is horrifying as well ( we win when he doesn't start pretty much, I think it is like 8 wins, 1 loss).
Fergie is sneaky like that, after the mics were off and camera's stopped rolling he was also heard saying "....will I ****!"
Interesting read. As was another link off the same site (apologies if done before) that shows what could of been if we'd actually converted some bloody chances! http://www.talksport.co.uk/magazine...n-and-how-table-would-look-if-they-166304?p=9 Goes to show the fine line between success and failure......and we have failed in the EPL this season!
For once, I would like some humility on this. Why we have to keeping pulling the veil over, making excuses, looking at other points, etc. Why can't we buck up and say " We have been poor in the league, haven't put away chances and it has cost us. Yes the cups are good but we are nowhere near we want to be in the league, which is us and what Liverpool is about." The deflecting can only last so long before we have to hold our hands up, be accounted for, and know that the league has to be better. We didn't have ANY EUROPEAN FOOTBALL this year and that was going to be good for us to do well in......... in the league. We were talking about how all of the other big 6 were going to struggle with all of the fixtures yet who is the first one to come out with the tired excuse? We have been great in the cups, but piss ****ing poor, in terms of results, in the league. EDIT: the stats just kind of brought that out of me and reminded me of the excuses we tend to make, sorry for the rant.
but I don't wish that on him though. Never wish injury on someone but our ' depth' in midfield at the beginning of the season is looking pretty ****ing thin right now.
stats are good... but i could have told you that unless you coulnt two tfotted lunges spearing isn't doing much and adam only ever barges into the back of guys he could have marked but forgot to as he was ball watching. the stats about carroll are not very interesting as if he only plays when kenny is picking a team to play dross its hardly fair is it? the statisitc is CLEARLY bimodal here. you have one set of data with carroll inthe side agasint weak teams and one set when he's not agasint good teams... At least the separing stuff could be considered normal seing he should be playing every game near enough...
We all can see the problems, and stats or no stats can not hide the fact we arn't as good as others in the league.
IMO the central midfield is a weak area for us, even if Lucas is starting. The reason I say this is because Lucas can only protect the back 4 and starting the attacks. Lucas will save matches rather than win them. (I don't mean this in a negative way - I am merely stating that Lucas can only do so much without decent players around him to win games). Adam has been found out however he was showing form and formed a decent partnership with Lucas before he got injured. Spearing has heart and desire but is no where near the class of Lucas. He will run around and win the ball but the difference is intelligence and positioning. How many times did we see the opposition getting behind Lucas and attacking the back 4? Not that many. Now look at how many goals we've conceded since Spearing came in. He is good cover for one or two matches, but if we want to be challenging, then we need real quality. Henderson is still young and lacks confidence, and the same applies to Shelvey. Gerrard is not the force he once was, his passing is wayward, his corners are terrible and his crosses aren't that good anymore. His shooting has been erratic this season as well. However, he is still the best CM we have at this club. All in all, in addition to a striker and right winger, I believe our CM needs a lot more work as I feel it is the most important area of the field. The DM position is sorted with Lucas (although he needs good cover) and we need to fill the Alonso role. Alonso, Mascherano and Gerrard (in his prime) is the standard we need to get back to. Won't be easy and will be even more difficult as we're not in the Champions League.
Stats can be deceptive and ambiguous. Because we win more with Carroll in the team doesn't necessarily mean we win more because Carroll is in the team. This is a correlation, not necessarily causation- there could be other significant factors involved.
Stats dont always match a plays skills and contribution. Take the Spearing stat fo example. If you look at Bales early stats with Spurs, they never won if he played.
Seen as this thread is largely about league form and results the Adam myth should be put to bed. In the three games he has failed to start we lost to Utd, lost to Wigan and beat Everton?
