Our system and teamwork

[Neil Young]

We are not playing as rigidly as we were under Benitez, but the 4-2-3-1 that Dalglish employed at the tail end of last season was not rigid - players were interchanging and moving freely. It really was such a pleasure to watch us destroy United, Fulham etc. Now we seem less fluent and our midfield is really there for the taking.

It's just so frustrating - but hopefully this is just a bedding in process. Dalglish seems comfortable with things so far so maybe we just need to be patient. Hopefully, but I also have my concerns.

[Exiled_red]

I have my concerns but part of me thinks if we could work out what the plan is then maybe the plan isn't clever enough.

We're not playing the more rigid system of Benitez that we all got used to. As a result everything looks a bit haphazard - as I think I said in a thread a couple of weeks ago, the players look like they're making it up as they go along. But perhaps that's the downside of giving players more freedom and when things click then the team will look really good.

Or maybe we're all right and Dalglish is fumbling along with outdated ideas and no clear plan.

I dunno, I just hope it comes together soon. At least we're in with a chance of fourth still and there's still a long way to go.

But if none of that makes any sense, please all feel free to carry on panicking.

I don't mind so much not having a rigid system, but I think that in order for the team to work as a team and not just a bunch of individuals everyone has to know their roles and have a good level of understanding with their team mates, at the moment I'm not seeing that from us.

Whether our plan is obvious for all to see or not obvious at all doesn't matter both have their merits but ultimately what matters is how effective it is, at the moment what we have doesn't seem to be that effective, the reasons for that at this stage are open to speculation, and maybe things will come good eventually...

[Gaz]

We don't have the players to play 442, in CM and on the right, and it doesn't make good use of gerrard. And suarez, our beat player, doesn't really suit 451. Shame really.

I'd disagree with that, a 4-4-2 could make the best use of Gerrard but he'd have to play on the right, if we play with Carroll and Suarez up top then why not play Gerrard on the wing and make the most of his crosses, it would also bring the best out of the Downing and Enrique partnership, constantly swapping between Right and Left wings can't be doing them any favours when they need to get used to how each other play

-------Suarez---Carroll----------
Downing--Adam--Lucas--Gerrard
Enrique-Agger-Carragher-Johnson
-----------Reina----------------

[red g]

I do feel for the lads that saw us on such a good run last year, all have been dropped and to be honest there replacements have not excelled at all.

[Shaggy]

The Maxi thing is totally bewildering.

[Fernandinho]

This thread says it all for me at the moment. People have so many different views on what formations we should be playing and who should be playing in which positions.

I think this is partially down to the fact that we have so many players but whatever way we look at it we seem to be lacking a player in each formation/line up listed that nobody can be confident in their permutation being a clear best or without issue.

It is so out in the open and seems so confusing that it just seems impossible to put down 11 players in a formation which suits our best players without someone ending up out of position or without the team lacking a certain "type" of player.

It worries me that this might be due to the fact that the club has, to an extent bought players who are good but not really been all that sure on where they plan to play them on the pitch, or also that players have been bought on a whole without considering a certain formation which will fit them all. (this may be due the the player not reaching expected/hoped for performance levels in their given positions).

Either way it all seems very confusing and definetely something new for us considering that for a long time under Rafa we generally knew what type of style/formation we were planning on playing even if the players did change often.

[Kenneth]

This thread says it all for me at the moment. People have so many different views on what formations we should be playing and who should be playing in which positions.

I think this is partially down to the fact that we have so many players but whatever way we look at it we seem to be lacking a player in each formation/line up listed that nobody can be confident in their permutation being a clear best or without issue.

It is so out in the open and seems so confusing that it just seems impossible to put down 11 players in a formation which suits our best players without someone ending up out of position or without the team lacking a certain "type" of player.

It worries me that this might be due to the fact that the club has, to an extent bought players who are good but not really been all that sure on where they plan to play them on the pitch, or also that players have been bought on a whole without considering a certain formation which will fit them all. (this may be due the the player not reaching expected/hoped for performance levels in their given positions).

Either way it all seems very confusing and definetely something new for us considering that for a long time under Rafa we generally knew what type of style/formation we were planning on playing even if the players did change often.

Precisely this

[Exiled_red]

This thread says it all for me at the moment. People have so many different views on what formations we should be playing and who should be playing in which positions.

I think this is partially down to the fact that we have so many players but whatever way we look at it we seem to be lacking a player in each formation/line up listed that nobody can be confident in their permutation being a clear best or without issue.

It is so out in the open and seems so confusing that it just seems impossible to put down 11 players in a formation which suits our best players without someone ending up out of position or without the team lacking a certain "type" of player.

It worries me that this might be due to the fact that the club has, to an extent bought players who are good but not really been all that sure on where they plan to play them on the pitch, or also that players have been bought on a whole without considering a certain formation which will fit them all. (this may be due the the player not reaching expected/hoped for performance levels in their given positions).

Either way it all seems very confusing and definetely something new for us considering that for a long time under Rafa we generally knew what type of style/formation we were planning on playing even if the players did change often.

I think that this is a problem that we've had almost continously with one player or another for 15 years or more. The likes of Berger, Smicer, Luis Garcia, Kewell etc have all been players who have been technically good players whose best position is usually off the front man or in a free role that we have never really intended to play them in, various managers have wanted to play them usually in wide roles where they have been less effective.

[Shaggy]

(This has not been written or researched by Paul Tomkins)

http://tomkinstimes.com/2011/10/waste-not-want-not/

While tearing my hair out during yesterday’s game as 28 shots resulted in just 1 deflected goal and 2 points dropped, I thought of the latest question that needs answering: how clinical are this current Liverpool team and at what point does it become a major risk to our season’s objectives? The first part of this has been relatively issue to establish and data collection took less than an hour. The second part is more difficult and I’m currently thinking about ways to demonstrate this which don’t involve a weeks worth of data collection…

Andrew Beesley, a regular contributor to this site, has already written about wasted chances from the team and an analysis of Suarez v Torres. This article is going to take a different perspective, looking at Opta’s “Clear Cut Chances” metric. Now this metric has only been in existence since 2010/11 but for me, it has a much clearer purpose than “total shots” or “shots on target”. It removes any necessity to dig into the data to look at how many shots hit the woodwork, how far out from goal they were, or whether they went “just over” or “just wide”. Assuming all Opta staff collect data in the same way (which they’re trained to do) it goes straight to the nub of the matter: there’s a clear cut chance and did it result in a goal.

The approach is simple, collect clear cut chance data by team along with the total minutes played. I’ve created the following metrics from this:

• Clinicality. Simply the conversion rate of Clear Cut Chances (CCC)

• Mins per CCC created

• Mins per CCC missed

The first table is a look at the whole Premier League this season for all 3 metrics.



In terms of Clinicality, Liverpool are just 22% and this only ranks 16th so far this season, way behind the “big 3” who are all 40% plus. Villa are top with 58%. It’s also HALF Liverpool’s Clinicality in 2010/11 (44%) and way below the league average this season of 35%. It’s worth noting that the teams ranking 14th and 15th are Spurs and Arsenal, Liverpool’s main rivals for a top 4 place.

When it comes to Mins Per CCC Created, Liverpool rank 3rd. It’s no surprise to see the “big 6” in the top 6 positions and Liverpool compare favourably to all of them.

In terms of Mins Per CCC MISSED, the “big 6” are again in the top 6 positions but Liverpool are TOP, just ahead of United and Arsenal. Man City and particularly Chelsea are proving to be far less wasteful.

Putting this seasons Clinicality into an XY Chart illustrates the problem. Remember if you are below the line this indicates underperformance and the further below the line, the worse it is. It’s pretty clear that, as it stands, Liverpool are the least clinical side in the league.



So where has it gone wrong this season? This next table shows the game by game breakdown.



The most shocking thing is that while Liverpool are 5 from 23 (22%) in Clinicality, our opponents are 6 from 11 (55%). (Unfortunately, this data is very time consuming to collect as it’s not available on the season summary so it’s not possible to see how we compare against the rest of the league). 3 games (Man Utd, Wolves, Bolton) have seen our opponents with 1 clear cut chance, 1 goal. Norwich were 1 from 2.

With a league average of 35% and our opponents currently running at 55% it has to be noted that, statistically at least, this is highly unlikely to continue. However it does indicate a whole host of football issues for the coaching staff to address.

So who are the main underperforming culprits? This next table shows the player by player breakdown along with the 2010/11 data. Carroll at Newcastle is also included for reference.



Unsurpisingly, Suarez is the main culprit with a Clinicality of just 25% which means he effectively needs 4 clear chances to score a goal. When you consider the 12 CCC he’s had represents over 50% of the team’s total, it’s no surprise that the team overall is struggling (and these stats don’t even include the missed penalty v Sunderland as Opta records penalties separately). Currently Liverpool have no-one over the league average and no-one anywhere near last season’s average. Carroll’s Newcastle stats (1 in 3) are OK but don’t suggest he would be the definitive answer to our problem but perhaps the most serious issue is that we still don’t know how clinical he can be at Liverpool with the team playing to his strengths.

Finally, with Suarez having so many CCC it’s worth looking at his match-by-match breakdown and comparing his Clinicality with other players who have over 6 CCC this season.



It’s clear that Liverpool as a team and Suarez as an individual have a lot of work to do to improve things otherwise the status quo will continue and dropped points will be the inevitable result. Even getting up to the Premier League average of 1 in 3 would be a significant start. To see how Liverpool perform in this regards I will be tracking over the coming months. I will also be thinking about how to answer the 2nd part of the question. All suggestions welcome!

[Roboklopp]

Bloody hell.

[Arn]

In short.

We are a one man team, Suarez. It shouldn't be that way and until it changes our chance to finish in the top four is down to him scoring more goals. Other players must step up and help him.

[Exiled_red]

That's depressing, we need four or five clear cut chances to score, while our opponents need less than two

[~LFCHistory~]

I think our best game this season in terms of quality of football played was against Brighton in the Carling Cup. Here is the line-up :

25 Reina
16 Coates
23 Carragher
34 Kelly
49 Robinson
11 Maxi
20 Spearing
21 Lucas
07 Suarez
18 Kuyt
39 Bellamy

Substitutes
32 Doni, 22 Wilson, 38 Flanagan, 08 Gerrard, 19 Downing, 33 Shelvey, 09 Carroll

Is it a coincidence that Downing, Adam, Henderson and Carroll didn't start that game and he we played decent pass and move football similar to the second half of last season ?

[Shaggy]

Good point, well made.

In Suarez, Maxi, Bellamy and Kuyt we have so much movement and work rate. Not to mention quality. Want to see more of them together.

[~LFCHistory~]

Good point, well made.

In Suarez, Maxi, Bellamy and Kuyt we have so much movement and work rate. Not to mention quality. Want to see more of them together.

Cheers.

I think the point I was trying to make was that perhaps the system/formation isn't the problem, it could be more the personnel that are holding us back. I'm not saying that that is the case, more of a theory really.