Brendan Rodgers

[RedReet]

Those articles are interesting. Still unconvinced that our current players are suitable to the system. Hopefully I'm proved wrong.

The more I read the more that the only player whose off the ball game suits the system appears to be Lucas. There are a few more who might well learn but I think the difficulties Mascherano had adapting to this type of play at Barcelona will prove instructive.

I really think the first half of next season at least will be a struggle for us.

Tailor made for Suarez IMO. I think he'll thrive under Rodgers.

[Muddled]

I think lots of the players could work on the ball. It's off the ball and in transition I think we are lacking. I think eventually Shelvey and Henderson will thrive in the new system but they will need to work to get hard.

I can't decide how hard the defenders will find the transition - without Lucas last season they struggled as a unit I thought. I think they will be asked to be more proactive and that would seem to have been one of the failing last year. That said I think the way the midfield sets up can have a big impact on the defense and so behind a newly organised unit they might do well. Again you might expect that in the end all four of our first choice defenders might well see benefits from the evolution seemingly signaled by Rodgers arrival.

It's a fair comment. When you look at the movement off the ball, it will be interesting to see if Johnson and Enrique have to curtail their forward runs to provide an angle or an outlet to retain possession in their own half. You're right too, Henderson and Shelvey, whilst they have the attributes, will need to work hard. Due to their age, I think they will be open to a new vision. - perhaps more so than Gerrard, it could be argued.

The Skrtel stories seemed to have died down, but I hope there was no truth in them. He compliments Agger and if they are both fit and raring to go next season and able to build on their form, it could provide at least a solid foundation for Rodgers to turn to if we struggle to find our feet in the early games.

Whilst I agree that the loss of Lucas had a detrimental effect on our defence, I think it was inevitable as we fielded a makeshift midfield that was never settled and relied heavily on Spearing to provide security that he struggled to offer. How we provide a healthy competition for that position, as well as cover, will be very important this season as they're going to be the player that links pretty much everything together.

But yeah, evolution is right - I'm cautiously positive.

[Muddled]

Tailor made for Suarez IMO. I think he'll thrive under Rodgers.

Up top, or on the left (or right) of a front three?

I think he's a great player and I think Rodgers will help him further; the only area of concern I have, is if he goes left (or right) the unpredicatbility of Suarez will not allow for Carroll to determine the (limited) runs he makes.

I want Carroll to start, but the more I think about it, I think Suarez would thrive as the focal point of a Rodgers attack.

[RedReet]

Up top, or on the left (or right) of a front three?

I think he's a great player and I think Rodgers will help him further; the only area of concern I have, is if he goes left (or right) the unpredicatbility of Suarez will not allow for Carroll to determine the (limited) runs he makes.

I want Carroll to start, but the more I think about it, I think Suarez would thrive as the focal point of a Rodgers attack.

Haven't really thought about it TBH. His closing down off the ball and his anticipation I was more alluding to. Would need to see who we sign before I decide where I'd like to see him play.

He's such a good player though that no matter who was in charge I probably would have said 'I think he'll thrive under ******' anyway.

[Muddled]

Haven't really thought about it TBH. His closing down off the ball and his anticipation I was more alluding to. Would need to see who we sign before I decide where I'd like to see him play.

He's such a good player though that no matter who was in charge I probably would have said 'I think he'll thrive under ******' anyway.

Tru fax.

I agree, the tenacity and desire of Suarez would mean we would be defending from the front - I wonder if he could stop that closing down element to his game if the ball leaves his zone, for example?

And you're right, we should see what happens this summer before taking up time contemplating something that might change.

[Muddled]

Whilst we are talking about our defensive foundations too:

Liverpool – Opta Stats Season Review 11/12 | Part One -Defence

I’m stumbling around an eerily darkened room at 2 o’clock in the morning. The musty aroma of burned eraser fills my nostrils. Skin-inflamed fingertips pulsate with throbbing bolts of pain. I grasp for the calculator that litters my tea-stained desk. Frazzled and frizzled amongst a clutter of paper & pencil, it can only mean one thing. I’ve been on the statistics again.

Euro 2012 aside, it’s the end of the footballing year, as we know it, and what better time to crunch the numbers and see how our beloved Reds players have done. Just to get context on some of the statistics I will be comparing them to other Premier League players. Also, I’ll mostly only be looking at players who have started 10 games or more during the 11/12 Premier League season. So let’s dive right in and take a look at some interesting goalkeeper statistics.

Goalkeeper

It’s a given that Pepe Reina hasn’t had his best season at Liverpool, however, inside we all know there is a quality goalkeeper bursting to get out. He’s made 79 saves this season, his lowest in four seasons.



And yes that might be because the defence has been so good he hasn’t had to save as much, but when you think someone like Joe Hart made 97 saves for City, then on balance I believe Pepe should have really saved as much, if not more. In fact, of the 18 goalkeepers to have started 29 games or more, he has the lowest amount of saves of them all.



All though Pepe has only made one error, which has led to a shot this season, he has made 4 errors, which have led to a goal. Compare that to the earlier three seasons when he only made 1 error, which led to a goal, then we can safely assume someone at Melwood’s been smearing butter on his gloves. Having said that, his passing accuracy has improved, but notably he has made a significantly less amount of passes into the final third than previous seasons. Perhaps a return to a shorter passing game and a lack of pace from our forwards to chase balls over the top meant he didn’t attempt as many long balls

Defence

When it comes to our defence we had a decent season, conceding 40 goals, only City and Untied conceded less than us. Compared to last years 44 goals conceded it is still an improvement. So how did our defenders do compared to each other and the rest of the Premier League? First let’s take a look at percentages of tackles, ground and aerial duels won. Keep in mind that I am filtering out any players to have started less than 10 games.

Percentages



When it comes to aerial duels, Martin Skrtel comes out tops winning 80% of all his, in fact no other Liverpool player can better that for the season. Of the 59 Premier League players to have won 40 or more aerial duels this season no other player has won a higher percentage. And applying that criteria to the two previous seasons then still no player can better it. So to win 78/97 aerial duels in a season is pretty impressive from Martin Skrtel.

Jaime Carragher won a bigger percentage of his ground duels than all of his Liverpool team-mates, not just the defenders, winning 73% of them. Impressive again as of the 293 players to have won 45 or more ground duels this season only one player, Phil Jagielka, has won a higher percentage of them. Again if you apply that same criteria over the last 3 seasons then Rio Ferdinand (76% – 10/11) and Joseph Yobo (78% – 09/10) are the only other players who can better that statistic.

Lastly in this category are the percentages of tackles won by our defenders. In this respect Enrique is the clear leader winning 81% of all his tackles attempted. A fairly respectable number, considering of the 87 players to win 40 tackles or more this season just 15 players had a better win percentage. Jordan Henderson is the only other outfield Liverpool player who can better Enrique with 84% of all his tackles won.

'Minutes Per'

We could look at the total figure of tackles/aerial & ground duels won etc from each player but obviously that wouldn’t give us a fair reflection, considering some players played more games than others. ‘Minutes Per’ gives us a better understanding of how often a player won a challenge comparative to the amount of time they were on the pitch.



Not surprisingly, Martin Skrtel wins an aerial duel more often than his defensive team-mates, winning one every 38.38 minutes. The only other LFC player that can better that this season is Andy Carroll, incredibly winning an aerial duel every 13.59 minutes. We don’t expect full backs to win many aerial duels, however, Enrique’s stat of only winning an aerial duel every 332.44 minutes (nearly every 4 games) is by far the worst amongst our defenders. In fact, the only other outfield player with a worse stat than that is Luis Suarez, winning one every 426.17 minutes.

When it comes to interceptions you’d expect a defender who is quick in mind and feet to make more interceptions than his counterparts, and that proves to be the case here. Agger made an interception every 36.29 minutes he was on the pitch, with Johnson not too far behind making one every 45.40 minutes. However, neither can beat our top interceptor who is Lucas Leiva who was able to intercept every 31.67 minutes. Of the 330 players to start 10 games or more this season in the Premier League only 21 one of those 330 completed an interception more often than Lucas during the 11/12 season.

That leads nicely onto our final statistical chart below. Let’s take a look at our minutes per ground duels won for the 11/12 season. Glen Johnson leads the way winning a ground duel every 16.68 minutes, not really a stand out statistic if we are being honest, as 81 Premier League players that have started 10+ games can better that. Surprisingly Carragher comes out as the Liverpool FC defender who wins a ground duel least often, only every 36.7 minutes. Only 12 outfield (out of 308) players who have started 10+ games this season won a ground duel less often. One could counter that with, well maybe it’s not Carragher’s game to get involved in ground duels, well here is his record over 4 years: 08/09 – 20.87 | 09/10 – 25.22 | 10/11 – 32.32 | 11/12 – 36.7 | As you can see, on a sliding scale per season he is winning less ground duels per minute as the years go by



When it comes to winning possession back in the defensive third then Enrique comes out better than his defensive team-mates winning possession back in that zone every 16.26 minutes. To put into context how good a stat that is, again when we look at the 330 players to have started 10+ games this season only one player wins possession back more often in the defensive third, that is Andre Dos Santos for Arsenal, who won back possession every 16.06 minutes in that zone. So pretty impressive from Enrique. An honourable mention must also go to Glen Johnson in this statistic as only 6 players in the Premier League won back possession more often than him in the defensive third.

Looking at minutes per challenge won then you can only separate both Martin Kelly (every 10.26) and Skrtel (10.81) with a hair’s breadth. Neither stat is that impressive in context with the rest of the Premier League, as you can point to 59 players last season who won more challenges per minute than Martin Kelly. Carragher’s stat is particularly disappointing here, only winning a challenge every 22.12 minutes. Only 20 outfield players during the 11/12 Premier League had a worse record.

Last but not least comes the minutes per tackle statistic. And Martin Kelly won a tackle more frequently than his fellow defenders winning a tackle every 32.13 minutes. In context with the rest of the Premier League only 10 other players won a tackle more often than Kelly. For a young player only starting 12 games then that is a brilliant statistic. The least frequent at winning a tackle is Daniel Agger only winning a tackle every 101.9 minutes, of course, tackling is not quite Agger’s game, however it’s his least frequent since the 08/09 season where he won at tackle every 71.89 minutes.

Statistically that is a review of the 2011/2012 Premier League season for Liverpool’s goalkeeper and defenders. I included some Premier League comparison’s just to get some context into the statistics. Next up I’ll be looking at midfielders and forwards, which probably won’t be easy reading for us Liverpool supporters. Stay tuned for part two soon.

Linkage: EPL Index

[Phoenix07]

I think we have to remember one thing here; Rodgers is a coach. He'll know exactly from the off who won't be able to adjust to his system and will look to shift them out. There will be plenty from our squad who COULD adjust and that is what this season will be about. He'll coach them through the basics of what is required and develop it further.

I'm worried that a lot of people won't like it at first and since a bulk of the squad will be on international duty, it will hamper the way we set up during the early months of the season. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rodgers continue to play a 4-2-3-1 system with focus on keeping possession and basic pressing. As the season progresses, it will become clearer whether the likes of Enrique, Downing, Carroll can adjust.

The philosophy from Brendan Rodgers does come from the Rinus Michels mould and although the focus will be on ball circulation and domination from the start, it's all about seeing who fits into that and who doesn't during the next 3-4 months.

[Muddled]

I think we have to remember one thing here; Rodgers is a coach. He'll know exactly from the off who won't be able to adjust to his system and will look to shift them out. There will be plenty from our squad who COULD adjust and that is what this season will be about. He'll coach them through the basics of what is required and develop it further.

I'm worried that a lot of people won't like it at first and since a bulk of the squad will be on international duty, it will hamper the way we set up during the early months of the season. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rodgers continue to play a 4-2-3-1 system with focus on keeping possession and basic pressing. As the season progresses, it will become clearer whether the likes of Enrique, Downing, Carroll can adjust.

The philosophy from Brendan Rodgers does come from the Rinus Michels mould and although the focus will be on ball circulation and domination from the start, it's all about seeing who fits into that and who doesn't during the next 3-4 months.

+1. I agree with that, it will mostly be small steps at the start, which is why it's good he has a solid foundation to rely on - or turn to - if there is a need for a variation of 'plan b'.

My expectations this season are lower than they were under Kenny last season, so it will be interesting to see the season develop and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in terms of the squad this summer and the shape the team starts to take over the full season.

[malg]

A lot of talk about a man who hasn't done anything yet.

[Muddled]

A lot of talk about a man who hasn't done anything yet.

It's the summer though, innit?

We can only talk about stuff hypothetically up until we kick a ball in July.

And even then, it won't be kicked in anger. August man, that's when we can start arguing with each other. In the meantime we'll just have to get our chat on about our LFC thoughts, the Euro's and Wimbledon.

[baitman]

one of the biggest failings of our de-fence was dropping back too deep, so they hampered pepe's movement and prevented him sweeping his goal area defectively. this was probably because they felt a little vulnerable not having the luxury of lucas [or suitable alternative] clearing and intercepting in front of the de-fence.

[Daniel 7]

Getting a bit fed up of all this massive over analysis.

Everyone just seems to grasping for something to talk about.

Hot News is, Brendan Rodgers sounded wise in an interview - he's gonna be boss!

Yeah, I just won't read it until SOMETHING happens, thanks for the future advice.

[Red_Polo]

It's all there really is at the moment, but it's a fair point. We know he can talk the talk, what we all want to see is...

[Kronenburg1892]

Getting a bit fed up of all this massive over analysis.

Everyone just seems to grasping for something to talk about.

Hot News is, Brendan Rodgers sounded wise in an interview - he's gonna be boss!

Yeah, I just won't read it until SOMETHING happens, thanks for the future advice.

My biggest gripe last year, I'm sure I wasn't alone, was what the **** was that team about. Where the **** did last summers' transfers fit into any shape. And what was that shape off the ball?

If you step back and look at what we have, you can see we only need a few players to make that domination we displayed last year convert into positive points.

Kenny is a hero, but he's not taken any latest coaching badges to be ontop of what the game is now.

It's not just a matter of pressing the box anymore, it's about drawing the parked bus out of position, and that needs modern analysis to work out what that tactic is.

[Muddled]

Getting a bit fed up of all this massive over analysis.

Everyone just seems to grasping for something to talk about.

Hot News is, Brendan Rodgers sounded wise in an interview - he's gonna be boss!

Yeah, I just won't read it until SOMETHING happens, thanks for the future advice.

I guess it would be too much hassle to close the LFC forum between May & August, but you could always avoid this section if it's causing you a mischief?