Our style of play

[SB]

I still just don’t see it. Coutinho hardly ever wins the ball imo. Maybe before but not this season. I’m not saying Wijnaldum is having a great season either but last season he was a contributor & id keep him around for another season, but I wouldn’t keep Henderson based on what he’s dished out since his injuries & his position he’s been asked to play. Bring in Keita & Goretzka & there’s no need for him.

[The_weatherman]

I still just don’t see it. Coutinho hardly ever wins the ball imo. Maybe before but not this season. I’m not saying Wijnaldum is having a great season either but last season he was a contributor & id keep him around for another season, but I wouldn’t keep Henderson based on what he’s dished out since his injuries & his position he’s been asked to play. Bring in Keita & Goretzka & there’s no need for him.

These are just stats, taken from Sqwawka. I have not been against Gini but it seems he is having problems to impact games, he has fewer passes, few tackles while he's not scoring nor assisting.

I'm not saying Coutinho is a tackler but he is winning the ball more often than Gini who is posting the worst stats of of our midfield, by far really.

[SB]

These are just stats, taken from Sqwawka. I have not been against Gini but it seems he is having problems to impact games, he has fewer passes, few tackles while he's not scoring nor assisting.

I'm not saying Coutinho is a tackler but he is winning the ball more often than Gini who is posting the worst stats of of our midfield, by far really.

Gini works harder off the ball than Coutinho ever will. Yes he’s not in peak form but he still brings energy that might not translate in the stats but he does a job. Yes we need better I agree but I see Henderson as a much bigger problem than Wiji.

[The_weatherman]

Gini works harder off the ball than Coutinho ever will. Yes he’s not in peak form but he still brings energy that might not translate in the stats but he does a job. Yes we need better I agree but I see Henderson as a much bigger problem than Wiji.

They are both a problem for us right now Really looking forward to seeing Keita in a red shirt.

[baitman]

They are both a problem for us right now Really looking forward to seeing Keita get a red card.

fixed it for you

[The_weatherman]

Well, it should be exciting at least.

[Lecter]

You sit & study & compare stats of Coutinho & Wijnaldum do you? Really or are you just making that up ? Genuine question by the way cause I just don’t see it.

No but I saw it on one of the Twitter stats things I follow

[Lecter]

Gini works harder off the ball than Coutinho ever will. Yes he’s not in peak form but he still brings energy that might not translate in the stats but he does a job. Yes we need better I agree but I see Henderson as a much bigger problem than Wiji.

Hes a real enigma for me

I know what you are saying about him working hard and "getting into good positions" seems to be another thing people like to laud him for

To me hes a real enigma and what you see I clearly dont, hes by-passed to easily for me, goes missing in games, doesnt have enough of an effect further up the pitch and doesnt win you possession. But hey he runs around a lot (that is being facetious by the way!!)

What I have found interesting is that Coutinho has consistently been our most successful ball winner in midfield

That doesnt say much for Wijnaldum nor Henderson

[Lecter]

I looked it up now, and it's true, Gini completes around 40 passes per game, almost half of them backwards and he wins 0,21 tackles per 90 minutes opposed to Coutinho who wins 1,58. He also doesn't score nor create chances......his chance creation is 0,83 but Jordan Henderson has 1,27.

Put Lallana in this team in place of Gini and you get more passes, more tackles, more chances created and more goals, we might see a big change when that happens, same is true of Emre as well. Of all our midfielders Gini has the fewest passes by far. He doesn't seem to impacting the games enough.

I only saw the tackling stats, the passing backwards was just an observation (interesting to see it backed up with stats again)

[Buzzo]

Hes a real enigma for me

I know what you are saying about him working hard and "getting into good positions" seems to be another thing people like to laud him for

To me hes a real enigma and what you see I clearly dont, hes by-passed to easily for me, goes missing in games, doesnt have enough of an effect further up the pitch and doesnt win you possession. But hey he runs around a lot (that is being facetious by the way!!)

What I have found interesting is that Coutinho has consistently been our most successful ball winner in midfield

That doesnt say much for Wijnaldum nor Henderson

6 goals and 9 assists for Wijnaldum last season. Not bad for a first season, he’s not been as effective this season I’ll grant you.

[Lecter]

6 goals and 9 assists for Wijnaldum last season. Not bad for a first season, he’s not been as effective this season I’ll grant you.

There was a period last season for about 5 or 6 gamed when I thought, ok I can see what this lad can do

Then he faded from sight in a number of games

This is why I say hes a real enigma, thats before you even look at his record away from home

[Buzzo]

There was a period last season for about 5 or 6 gamed when I thought, ok I can see what this lad can do

Then he faded from sight in a number of games

This is why I say hes a real enigma, thats before you even look at his record away from home

Yeah, thats fair enough.

He is frustrating, because there is clearly a decent player in there, maybe if he will perform in a better balanced midfield?

[baitman]

stoke away.
good going forward last night but the midfield were again far too easy to play through and they had little to no affect on the flow of the game.
some decent defence from gomez and matip. odd good/bad moments from moreno.
our attack was ok in the build up but a little wasteful until someone pressed the red button and salah came on to save our asses.

[Lecter]

stoke away.
good going forward last night but the midfield were again far too easy to play through and they had little to no affect on the flow of the game.
some decent defence from gomez and matip. odd good/bad moments from moreno.
our attack was ok in the build up but a little wasteful until someone pressed the red button and salah came on to save our asses.

Didnt watch the game only saw the highlights

Look at where Wijnaldum is on the 2 times Allen broke into the box

Now Can isnt exactly innocent in all this either but Wijnaldum is a world away from the play and only ambling back

[Shaggy]

Our main attacking players - some stats.

Firmino - 18 starts, 10 goals, 4 assists
Salah - 18 starts, 17 goals, 4 assists
Coutinho - 11 starts, 6 goals, 6 assists
Mane - 11 starts, 5 goals, 4 assists

They're all producing. Coutinho and Mane have both had injury affected campaigns and there's a lot more to come from Sadio in particular.