Coutinho least efficient for Liverpool, Anichebe worst in the league

Coutinho, our wee Brazilian wizard, may have just been called up by Brazil, but it's doubtfully due to his performance versus Southampton on Sunday.  He posted the worst outfield player passing rate of 75.7% and turned the ball over 17 times.  His stats combined gave him an efficiency in possession rating of 0.569 and efficiency over team score of -0.159.  There's no doubt he'll improve, he's just got to realize this isn't pre-season anymore.

Though his numbers weren't good, at least our Radagast was no where near the bottom of the efficiency tables in the Prem.  Here are the ten worst in per and eot:

Player efficiency rating

V. Anichebe	0.303
C. Wickham	0.350
C. Cole	0.367
Kieran Tripper	0.397
A. Knockaert	0.400
M. Biram Diouf	0.407
J. Puncheon	0.407
S. Pocognoli	0.418
Y. Bolasie	0.421
F. Campbell	0.423

Efficiency over team

V. Anichebe	-0.351
C. Cole	-0.338
M. Biram Diouf	-0.314
Y. Sanogo	-0.311
C. Wickham	-0.299
P. Bardsley	-0.297
A. Knockaert	-0.267
S. Pocognoli	-0.235
D. Tadic	-0.230
C. Austin	-0.207

Former Everton and current West Brom forward Victor Anichebe tops a list of a lot of other medicore front-liners to take the Golden Rubbish Bin.  Anichebe played the full 90, but only managed 33 touches and 8 completed passes at a 44.4% completion rate.  Meanwhile his partner scored a brace.

Other questions these tables bring up are how long will Sunderland wait for Wickham to find his form?  How long will Sanogo have to prove himself at Arsenal?  And is Tadic really that poor?  He didn't seem so, but the stats say different.

The Brazilian 'alternative' to the striker issue

I've written about his German teammate, Max Kruse, already, but Borussia Möchengladbach's other offensive weapon, Brazilian forward Raffael, deserves a look as well.  In 34 appearances, he scored 15 goals and assisted on 7 more in the Bundesliga last season.  None of those were penalties, giving him a 0.45 goal per 90 minute average and a goal creation rate of 0.66 per 90.  His most impressive stat though is his take-on rate of 5.1 successful dribbles per 90 at a 68.7% efficiency.

The Fortaleza, Brazil native came to Europe in the summer of 2005, joining FC Zürich of the Swiss Super League.  His impact was instant as he helped lead his new club to back-to-back league titles, scoring 40 goals and dishing out 20 assists in 70 appearances, nearly a goal created per match.  He would leave Switzerland for Hertha BSC in the January 2008 transfer window for £3.8m.

His stay in Berlin was not as fruitful.  In his four-and-a-half seasons there, he scored just 33 goals with 29 assists in 140 appearances, and twice his club suffered relegation.  After the second relegation, he transferred to Dynamo Kyiv for £8m, but continued his poor form, lasting only half a campaign where he scored just once in 9 league appearances before being loaned to Schalke in January 2013.

Though he made just 16 appearances for Gelsenkirchen club, his performance accented by a goals created per 90 average of 0.79 and a chance created per 90 of 2.71 was enough to earn him a transfer to Gladbach last summer.  His pace, quick feet, and positioning make him a threat to score nearly every time his club have the ball in the opponent's third.  He is also a solid passer, posting an 83.7% pass completion rate and creating 2.1 chances per 90 the last five seasons.

The negatives of signing Raffael are that he is 29-years-old and I doubt he would come cheap coming off his somewhat sensational season.  Gladbach really want to keep the squad together so they can have a shot at Champions League qualification, so prying a major contributor to that goal would be costly.  He did just turn 29 and probably has a couple of seasons left in him, but I'm unsure how the wear and tear of the Prem would effect him.  At this point though, we need competent bodies and Raffael would be a solid add in that regard.

There is only one reason Gerrard should ever play for England again

To knock Beckham off his perch and become the top capped outfield player in Three Lions history. That's it, two more matches and he should hang up those boots.  Gerrard is 34 and we need him to put his England days behind him and  focus on LFC.

After the World Cup embarassment, he should probably go ahead and retire, but with my disdain for 'pretty foot', I don't mind if he suits up a couple more matches.  I don't think it'll do England any good though, they've clearly got to give Barkley, Henderson, and Wilshere more playing time, if they want to improve.  They also need to get a better manager.

I've heard Gerrard called a failure on the International level and that's why he isn't 'world class'.  Rubbish, one man does not make a team, though there were times when Gerrard carried his country.  His statistical output for England has been impressive so far, especially when you consider he's played nearly every outfield position.

npgp90	gcp90	ccp90	ap90	ccv
0.22	0.46	1.97	0.24	12.3
pass%	bp%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90
80.2	25.9*	46.7	15.3	12.7
gap90	gsp90	gop90	tgop	gopd90
0.81	1.99	1.18	0.99	0.19
tp90	tack%	intp90	clrp90	bsp90
2.52	71.8	1.92	1.3	0.45

Those are solid numbers all around save his turnover rate.  His goals on pitch difference per 90 of 0.19 means he has been worth nearly an extra goal every five matches, +21.66 for his career.  Which isn't surprising when he was actually played a part in a quarter of his side's goals when he plays.

I don't really care if others don't think he's world class, but saying it is because he doesn't perform on the international stage is not valid.  In reality, he's played quite well and if it's because he's never won a Euro or a World Cup, I guess Messi, Ronaldo, Bale, Rooney, Robben, Van Persie, and anybody else who hasn't played for Germany, Spain, Italy, or Brazil in the past 12 years isn't 'world class' either.

Griezmann to replace Suarez? That's mental!

Antoine Griezmann, the 23-year-old French International who did little to nothing in the World Cup, has made it known that he wants out of Real Sociedad.  Hopefully Rodgers will be smart and ignore him.  While France scored 8 goals in Brazil, Griezmann was on the pitch for 299 minutes and couldn't even manage an assist.

As for his efforts with Real Sociedad, the Frenchman benefits greatly from having Carlos Vela as a teammate.  In fact, Vela should be the player we go after.  How great would that be?  Bringing on the former Gunner to stick it to Arsene over the Sanchez debacle.

	Griezmann	Vela	Suarez
app(subs)	31(4)	35(2)	33
mins	2652	3104	2962
p90	29.5	34.5	32.9
goals	16	16	31
assist	3	12	12
chances	34	78	87
npgp90	0.54	0.41	0.94
gcp90	0.64	0.81	1.3
ccp90	1.15	2.26	2.6
ap90	0.1	0.35	0.37
ccv	8.7	15.4	14.2
pass%	77.2	78.7	74.8
bp%	46.6	42.9	44.1
sacc%	47.7	41.9	44.8
shot%	14.4	18.6	17.1
TTI90	10.9	11.2	17
gap90	1.49	1.48	1.43
gsp90	1.53	1.65	2.92
gop90	0.04	0.17	1.49
tgop	0.18	0.18	1.32

As you can see from the stats above, Vela was much more valuable to Sociedad than Griezmann.  The Frenchman's stats aren't necessarily bad, even though 34 chances created is pretty poor, but they pale in comparison to his Mexican teammate.  Griezmann is a poacher and not much else, Vela is the more complete player.

I'm not sure why Arsenal let Vela go, they never really gave him a chance to begin with.  In 6 years with the Gunners, he only appeared in 62 matches and was loaned out 3 times.  He hardly started either, accumulating 1051 minutes in 37 league appearances.  The only thing that would worry me is price, if Sociedad think they can get £20m for Griezmann, they are going to want Man United money for Vela.

Paul Scholes: clandestine Liverpool fan

The Ginger Prince appears obsessed with the Reds these days, sounding off on our players whenever he can.  I would say he's a wind-up muppet, but he's not, most of the time he actually talks sense.

He most recently chimed in on the Luis Suarez transfer saga, questioning whether 'El Conejo Loco' and Messi will be able to play together. “If Luis Suarez does sign for Barcelona from Liverpool, will Lionel Messi ‘accept’ him? Suarez is a centre forward and he won’t want to play out wide. I can’t see Suarez and Messi linking well together,” Scholes wrote on his Paddy Power blog.

He's not afraid to criticize his former club either.  On the Shaw transfer, he wrote, 'For a left-back to be worth £34m shows how silly the game has gone. For that money I want a centre-forward who’s going to score 30 goals a season.'  Preaching to the choir, my frienemy.

Before the World Cup, he praised 'the Liverpool way' of playing football and challenged the English to emulate it in Brazil.  On the subject he wrote, 'It would be refreshing for England to adopt Liverpool’s attacking mentality in Brazil. Really go for it. That means certainly four, and possibly five, Liverpool players in the England starting XI against Italy on June 14' and 'I’d love to see Roy be brave enough to play like Liverpool (or Man United teams of the past).'  Glad to see he realizes the glory years of his former club are in the past.

When it comes to Gerrard, he's had nothing but love, stating in the same post, 'Gerrard (a good leader who will have quickly moved on from that slip) has adjusted his game superbly, very much like I did' and 'That’s the big difference between Steven (Gerrard) and Lampard, for example. I’m not sure Lampard has the ability to control a game. He’s always someone who’s up trying to score goals.'  You know now he's expecting a nice Christmas present for the Gerrard household.

The best part is he gets a joke in here and there, for instance, 'Defensively Liverpool were poor – conceding 50 goals – but they can be contenders again next year IF they can get two world-class centre halves and a left-back. I’m talking about players of the standard of Jaap Stam and Rio Ferdinand.' Rio Ferdinand, world class!?!? Oh the wit.

It's too bad Scholesy wasted his career on the dark side.  He should have went to Italy or Spain, where he's actually more appreciated and wouldn't have played in the shadows of bigger personalities.  No matter what, I've never desired him to play for Liverpool and he has never been better than Gerrard.

The age-old debate: Coutinho vs Ozil

Ever since Michael Owen trolled Arsenal fans by claiming Coutinho is superior to Ozil, an endless debate has spawned.  One thing before we look at their complete stats from last season.  They usually don't play the same position, but when Coutinho plays central midfield, Ozil's primary position, the Brazilian has the higher production.  I'll explain more after the stats.

	Coutinho	Ozil
age	22	25
app (sub)	28(5)	25(1)
mins	2323	2139
goals	5	5
assists	7	9
chances	64	76
npg90	0.19	0.21
gcp90	0.47	0.59
ccp90	2.5	3.2
ap90	0.27	0.38
ccv	10.8	11.9
pass %	80.6	88
bp %	36.7	41.5
sacc %	28.7	60
shot %	7	16.7
TTI90	11	12.4

As you can see, Ozil edges out in most every stat, but he should.  He's older, more experienced and usually plays the same position, central attacking midfielder.  Which takes us back to my aforementioned point.

Coutinho played 16 matches at central midfield and in those matches he scored 3 goals and served up 7 assists.  At that rate, had he played all his matches at that spot, he would have probably had more impressive stats than his Arsenal counterpart.

It's all speculation in the end, but to be honest, if Coutinho puts up the same numbers as Ozil in three years, I will be slightly disappointed.  He's nearly at that level now and he's potentially much better.  Rodgers wouldn't trade the Brazilian for the German and neither would I.

Is Afonso Alves the answer?

With Peter Crouch's whining arse hopefully on it's way out, Brazilian striker Afonso Alves has been the first name to surface as his replacement come January. You may recall his recent seven goal performance for Dutch side Heerenveen versus Heracles Almelo last Saturday. Though a somewhat impressive feat unless you're playing American Samoa, I am always wary of a player being over-hyped after such a performance.

The only thing I will say about Alves is that he was more deserving of the Golden Boot last year than Totti. I realize that the Eredivisie is not as strong a league as Serie A, but a lot of the AS Roma forward's goals came against lesser opponents while Alves should little disparity in scoring against teams no matter their place on the table. Also Totti got more help from his more formidable side.

With that said, I've never been that impressed with the Brazilian, but I have never really watched that much of him to make a confident assessment as to whether or not he would be the right fit. With our current issues of scoring inefficacy, maybe we need a player that may be lacking flair but has that Ruud Van Nistelrooy sense of netting yawners. Of course ultimately it may come down to availability and price anyhow and I don't see us overpaying for him just to pry Heerenveen's grasp loose.

Anyhow, here's the highlights of his seven goal match: