Liverpool 2, Swansea 1: Seven things learnt

Finally a decent win and a comeback none the less, let's just hope this leads to greater things.  The following points no way reflect a sane person.

1. Coutinho doesn't last.
The Brazilian's quality on attack diminished significantly after 20 minutes in the first half and after about ten in the second.  It may be conditioning or just the pressure of him having to be the creative force, but he went from brilliant to utter rubbish after those times.  Not sure if there is a fix to this, I guess having Sterling on the pitch will allow him some 'down time' off the ball, but he may just be best as a super-sub.

2. Our defence is getting better...
...and it's really about keeping possession, which all great sides do best.  It took Swansea 28 minutes to mount an attack into Liverpool's third.  After that, it became more frequent, but we kept possession well and didn't make many silly turnovers until then.  Also, their goal was more luck then anything.  It was a great finish, but a deflection and a missed-kick were what found the ball to Enmes.

3. Rickie Lambert is a meaningless late match sub at best.
The 32-year-old just doesn't have the physical ability nor instinct to be on the same pitch as some of his teammates and it showed at a near embarassing level in this match.  Coutinho, in particular, was clearly frustrated that Lambert failed to see what the Brazilian was trying to do and stood like a statue during a bomb raid nearly every time the midfielder was trying to feed him.  Even if and/or when we get Sturridge back, we need another striker come January.

4. Markovich was a major catalyst on attack.
I know most fans have no love for the 20-year-old Serbian, but he did things in the match, particularly off the ball, that did wonders on attack.  Mainly, he created space, specifically for Coutinho.  He was disciplined and stayed to the left when it was clear he was not comfortable there.  He also made runs to open space, something Lambert and Lallana could learn from him.  By the way, to all those who worship the disco dancing Lallana, he was absolute rubbish.  At one point, with no one on the left and Coutinho bringing up the ball into Swansea's half, the over-rated midfielder went to his right where everyone else was.  What an idiot.

5. We could do without Hendo's showboating.
Seriously, half the time it was pointless, a quarter of the time it cost possession, and the other quarter of the time a simple, straight forward pass would do.  We get it, you can pass the ball with all parts of your feet, congratulations, now do something worthwhile.

6. Borini can play second striker.
I was actually impressed with the Italian's ability to keep possession and make intelligent passes deep in Swansea's territory, surrrounded by defenders.  He basically made his name as a poacher at Swansea, Roma, and Sunderland, but it seems like he has more to his game than first thought.  He also benefited from a statuesque Lambert and a disciplined, space-hopping Markovic giving him room to work.

7. The goal is inside Anfield, on the pitch.
This something our players need to learn as well.  Seems like they didn't figure that out until four minutes to go in the match.  How many times did our players sky the ball into the stands beforehand?

Liverpool 0, Hull City 0: Five things learnt

1. Joe Allen isn't championship material.
Well, he would be great in the Championship, but Liverpool will never win anything starting him.  He's good for a mid-table club, but if we are going to be serious contenders, we need players who can take us to that level.  I like Joe Allen and think he's about as good as he can be, but it still isn't good enough.  Seriously, would he be anything but a reserve at Chelsea or Man City?

2. We can play defense.
Hull is not a top five side, but they are far from the relegation discussion.  They are capable of scoring goals, but today, even with Ben Harfa starting they were hardly a threat.  I just hope this positive, one of the few we can take from the match, is a trend for the future.  Still, I think Skrtel and Lovren went too far forward at times and that will hurt us against better clubs.

3. Balotelli is useless as the lone striker/forward.
The game tilted completely in Liverpool's favor once Lambert came on.  Prior to that, Sterling and Balo tried to team up, but it just wasn't working as Sterling wants to stay on the flanks and it appears to confuse the Italian.  Lambert may be the perfect companion for Balo as his passing ability gives Super Mario chance after chance.  The problem is the 32-year-old lacks the ability to be effective more than 30 minutes on the pitch so using him as a 60 minute sub is our best bet, unfortunately that means an hour of watching Balotelli play defence.

4. Coutinho is a highly effective second half sub.
He was gangbusters when he came on today and was the major catalyst in giving us a chance to win.  If only Balotelli would have converted that last second goal...

5. Manquillo is better than Glen Johnson.
If you didn't know that by now, then give it up.  Johnson turns over the ball consistently and can't play defence while Manquillo is a positive force on both sides of the ball.  At least when the Spaniard makes mistakes we can cough it up to youth, Glen Johnson is just rubbish.  Sell him in the transfer window, Rodgers... if anyone will take him.

Sturridge dethrones Coutinho as the king of inefficiency: Liverpool stat leaders

Chances created

R. Sterling	4
S. Gerrard	3
Henderson	3
P. Coutinho	2
D. Sturridge	2

Passing

Emre Can	10	10	1.000
D. Lovren	119	129	0.922
M. Skrtel	118	130	0.908
A. Moreno	38	42	0.905
S. Gerrard	123	136	0.904

Shots

	sh	sot	shacc	sh%
D. Sturridge	8	3	0.375	0.125
R. Sterling	5	3	0.600	0.200
Henderson	2	0	0.000	0.000
G. Johnson	2	0	0.000	0.000
L. Leiva	1	1	1.000	0.000
R. Lambert	1	1	1.000	0.000

  

Aerial duels

M. Skrtel	9	11	0.818
D. Lovren	8	17	0.471
G. Johnson	3	4	0.750
S. Gerrard	2	3	0.667
J. Manquillo	2	3	0.667

 

Tackles

J. Manquillo	6
Henderson	6
D. Lovren	4
S. Gerrard	4
A. Moreno	4

  

Interceptions

D. Lovren	6
M. Skrtel	6
J. Manquillo	4
Henderson	2
S. Gerrard	2

  

Clearances

M. Skrtel	25
D. Lovren	17
J. Manquillo	5
S. Gerrard	4
L. Leiva	4

  

Attacking efficiency

S. Gerrard	0.797
D. Lovren	0.726
M. Skrtel	0.708
R. Sterling	0.681
J. Allen	0.672

  

Defensive efficiency

M. Skrtel	0.905
D. Lovren	0.896
S. Gerrard	0.842
L. Leiva	0.833
Emre Can	0.706

  

Overall efficiency

S. Gerrard	0.820
D. Lovren	0.811
L. Leiva	0.808
M. Skrtel	0.807
Henderson	0.674

  

Efficiency over team

S. Gerrard	0.135
D. Lovren	0.127
L. Leiva	0.124
M. Skrtel	0.122
Henderson	-0.010

  

So only four players boast a positive EOT, which means they make up for half of the sides' positive results in possession.  If that doesn't improve, Liverpool are in a world of trouble.

Least efficient players overall

D. Sturridge	0.494
P. Coutinho	0.571
G. Johnson	0.622
J. Manquillo	0.624
R. Lambert	0.625

Suso to score? Liverpool to win 3-2? What the betting markets are saying.

To win:
Man City   13/15  60.21%
Liverpool   10/3    20.64%
Draw          3/1     19.15%

Not enough money on City and too much of a pay off to expect a win/draw tomorrow, but the market isn't always right.

First to score:
Sergio Aguero      9/2    17.65%
Raheem Sterling   11/1   17.65%
No goal scorer     14/1   17.65%
Edin Dezeko         5/1    11.76%
Daniel Sturridge    7/1      8.82%

I actually like Jovetic here at 6/1, Y. Toure is good value at 7/1 but he played deep against Newcastle and think he may do the same here.  Lazar Markovic at 14/1 is a stretch, but if he makes the pitch I expect him to try his damnest to score on his debut, especially against the champs.

Other decent first to score bets: Silva 10/1, Nasri 9/1, Gerrard 14/1, & Skrtel 33/1.
Shots in the dark: Milner 22/1, Manquillo 66/1, Lazar Markovic 14/1, & Bacary Sagna 45/1
Sucker bets: Lambert 10/1 (that number is way too low) & Borini 9/1

Correct Final Score:
Liverpool 3-2   35/1   13.64%
Draw 1-1          8/1    11.36%
Draw 0-0         16/1    9.85%
Draw 2-2         14/1    9.09%
Man City 4-2   50/1    7.58%

The other favorites are City 2-1 (8/1) and City 1-0 (19/2). I am shocked that anyone thinks we will score 3 against City, their defence is just too good.  If we do win, it'll be 2-1 or 1-0, but I think we'll be lucky to get away with a draw.  The Liverpool fan in me says 'Pool 2-0, the pragmatic, intelligent football analyst says Citeh with an emphatical 3-0 win.  Sorry, but we are not on their level... yet.  If Markovic plays and shows he is the talent he's built up to be, then I will be more optimistic.

Draw No Bet:
Man City     2/5   77.78%
Liverpool  28/13  22.22%

That's not good.

Anytime Goalscorer:
Stevan Jovetic      2/1    27.78%
Daniel Sturridge  11/5   16.67%
Raheem Sterling   7/2    16.67%
David Silva          7/2      5.56%
Suso                    5/1      5.56%

Suso? Really? He was no where near the bench on match day one and now that Markovic and possibly Lallana are fit, he probably won't even be in the stands.  Jovetic is crazy at 2/1, which puts a first goalscorer bet in jeopardy as well.  Sturridge, Aguero (6/4),and Dzeko (6/4) would be my picks.  My long shots would be Coutinho (5/1), Kolarov (13/2), and Skrtel (14/1).

Man of the Match:
David Silva                12/1   56.25%
Jordan Henderson     18/1    31.25%
Sergio Aguero            7/1     12.50%

Yaya Toure (7/1), Raheem Sterling (9/1), and any goalkeeper (16/1) seem like decent bets.

Bets if you're feeling lucky:
Kolarov to score 2 or more goals 75/1
The Serbian left back is just the sort of player who has the big game against us.

Henderson to receive a card (5/1)
Henderson and Oliver have a 'history'.

Man City by a goal (11/4)
This is logically the most likely result, but logical people don't gamble much.

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 return of Robo-Skrtel

Liverpool 2, Southampton 1: The match in stats
- Martin Skrtel had 20 clearances.  He led Liverpool and the league last season with 11.5 per 90 minutes and is well on his way to doing so again this season.  Lovren was second with 11 and Manquillo was third with 5.

- Skrtel also led the side in touches with 111, Manquillo was second with 109, and Lovren third with 86.

- Skrtel won the most aerial duels as well with 7 while Lovren was second with 6.

- Lovren led all players with an absolutely ridiculous passing rate of 96%, Skrtel was 2nd at 91%, and Gerrard third at 89%.

- Manquillo led the side with 6 tackles, Jordan Henderson was 2nd with 3.

- Gerrard completed 10 of 13 of long balls.  He lead all outfield Prem players last year with 257.

- Daniel Sturridge attempted 20 passes the entire match, Joe Allen attempted that many in 31 minutes.  Sturridge, a career 80% passer, completed 17 while Allen, a career 90% passer, completed 16.

- Raheem Sterling dribbled past 5 opponents, but was dispossessed 6 times.

-Rickie Lambert had more tackles, one, than Glen Johnson and Lucas Leiva combined.

- Every starter had at least one interception except Sturridge.  Lovren and Manquillo led the team with 4 a piece.

- No Liverpool player committed more than a single foul.  Thank you, Clattenburger.

- One of Glenn Johnson's shots landed in a rubbish bin, the other knocked an ice cream cone out of a six-year-old girl's hand.

- Lucas had a shot on target, created a chance, and dribbled past an opponent.  Either he passed a few bills to the statistician before the match or it's his Uncle Joenihno recording the numbers.

- The only other player to do as Lucas did above was Raheem Sterling, he had 3 shots on target and 2 key passes though.

Liverpool 1, Southampton 0: thoughts at the break

I don't think Koeman is 'parking the bus', but playing three defensive-minded midfielders and Southampton's overall 'conservative' approach is awfully close.  The goal, a brilliant pass by Hendo followed by a non-chalant tap through by Sterling, failed to open things up, the Saints remained disciplined, have not panicked, and have created chances to equalize.  Fortunately for Liverpool, though he has been shaky, Mignolet has come through on those occasions.

If this is the last chance for Lucas and Glen Johnson to prove their value to Rodgers, they've failed so far, Johnson especially.  The right back, playing left back, has gifted possession at least a third of the time he touches the ball.  I used to defend him, but he's clearly well past it.  I don't think he could get a match for, well, Southampton.  Unfortunately he's not doing much good for his value, it'll probably take a million pounds and a pizza for anyone to take him now.  Lucas has been much less dreadful, but at the same time, utterly useless.  Gerrard seems to be playing holding/defensive midfielder, so I don't see the point in having the Brazilian out there, Can offers much more going forward.

Speaking of poor performances, Coutinho is not in the midst of his best match by an ostrich mile.  In his defense though, he's been circled like sharks on a bloodied sea lion.  He's got to find some space out there if he's to be a factor in the second half.

Practically everyone else has played well, some great passing especially from Gerrard.  Manquillo has been all over the place and that card was complete rubbish.  If that was a card-worthy foul, half the Southampton side should be booked already, Bertrand especially.  And since we are talking about fouls, Sturridge should have gotten a free kick at the top of the box when Yoshida deliberately left his foot out to trip him.  That was just ridiculous.  Anyhow, second half about to start...

What the betting markets say: Liverpool vs Southampton

Percentage of bets placed:
Liverpool to win -240 71.17%
Draw +400 12.3%
Southampton to win +800 16.53%

First goalscorer:
Daniel Sturridge +333 52.99%
Dejan Lovren +2500 8.21%
Raheem Sterling +650 5.97%
Steven Gerrard +700 5.22%
Rickie Lambert +500 3.73%
Others 23.88%

Correct score:
Liverpool 2-0 +750 13.14%
Liverpool 2-1 +850 10.95%
Liverpool 4-0 +2000 7.3%
Liverpool 3-0 +1000 6.57%
Liverpool 3-2 +3000 6.57%
Other 55.47%

A couple of interesting surprises here, Southampton 1-0 not a popular choice and Liverpool 3-0 and 3-2 about even on bets placed.

Anytime goalscorer:
Sturridge -120 40.38%
Sterling +187 13.46%
Gerrard +260 11.54%
Lambert +137 9.62%
Coutinho +250 7.69%
Other 17.31%

Coutinho looks like a great bet here.

Man of the Match:
Sterling +600 61.11%
Coutinho +750 33.33%
Henderson +1200 2.78%
Lambert +1200 2.78%

No matter how well they play, Sterling and Henderson rarely get MotM honors.  Sturridge is the favorite at +500 though few seem to fancy him.  Lambert? Really? Wishful.

Interesting bets:
Sturridge hat-trick +2000
Sturridge score + Liverpool win +130
Liverpool to win by 1 +300

Bad bet:
Oussama Assaidi first goalscorer +700
The Moroccan  might have to buy his own ticket to the match if he's around.  Boylesports is the only site giving odds and will happily take your coin if you're feeling really, really, really lucky.

Crazy but why not? bet:
Kolo Toure first goalscorer +4000, to score +1400
It's surprising that the pay off for Toure as first goalscorer is so much higher than Assaidi considering the centre back does have a much better of chance of making the pitch, he's at least made the bench.

The most dangerous player for Southampton at Anfield

Nathaniel Clyne gets no respect.  The 23-year-old right back put up some solid attacking numbers last season and was more of a catalyst in the opponent's third than Luke Shaw or any other Saints defender.  If he is allowed to be a factor tomorrow, it will increase Southampton's chances of scoring and even winning exponentially.  They will probably push forward in limited numbers as not to suffer an 'easy' goal on the counter and an extra player to stretch the Liverpool defence would be very beneficial in that regard.

Here is the offensive output for Clyne last season:

ap90	cc90	cc90	ccv	pass%	bp%	lb90	lb%	tti90	gopd
0.19	0.19	0.58	0.143	0.816	0.41	1.26	0.542	10.73	0.42

The most impressive stat is his goals on pitch difference.  Lovren, Shaw, and especially Chambers paled in comparison.  Our new centre back posted an acceptable -0.05, Shaw was a little bit better with a 0.03, but Chambers was horrendous with a -0.59, a full goal difference than Clyne.  Did Arsenal buy the wrong right back?  I think so.

Despite the endless jokes the south coast club has endured this summer, Southampton is not without quality.  Even with Jay Rodriguez out due to injury, they will be a formidable attacking force.  The key will be how well their midfield interacts.  Most likely, Morgan Schniederlin (or Jack Cork) and Victor Wanyama will start as defensive midfielders with Gaston Ramirez, Dušan Tadić, Steven Davis, and James-Ward Prowse in front of them.  Not to be too cliché, but the Saints will look to hold on to the ball as long as possible, forcing Liverpool to come at them and hoping the Merseysiders will make a mistake.

Unfortunately for them, it will leave new boy Graziano Pellè alone at the top.  I don't expect much from the Italian striker, bar a lot of frustration, but getting him the ball in open space will put the skills of Tadić & company to test.  If they can gain any momentum, expect Nathaniel Clyne and/or Ryan Bertrand to 'bomb' forward and help out on the attacking end.  It would be 'suicidal' to do so often though as Liverpool's counter is quick and deadly.

If I had to make a prediction, I'd say Liverpool 2-1 with goals from Coutinho, Skrtel, and Shane Long.

Liverpool 4 Borussia Dortmund 0: 5 things learnt

1. Dejan Lovren is the new Boss.  And a much needed one.  He took command of the defence and dared Borussia to attempt attack.  He is what we needed last season when Skrtel and Sakho doted around the field masquerading as defenders who really wanted to just score goals.  That's a bit harsh, but it's nice to be reminded what a centre back who is actually committed to playing defence looks like.  He reminds me of Carra except more athletic.

2. Coutinho is becoming Gerrardinho.  Is it just me or were some of those passes/flicks from the Brazilian very Gerrard-esque?  He's definitely been paying attention to his captain's methods of ball conveyance.  How he did not get chosen for his country for the World Cup is beyond me, but I'm glad he didn't get picked.  The time off probably did him some good.

3. Manquillo is probably already better than Glen Johnson.  No need to beat a dead horse, but me Uncle Joe is probably better than Glen Johnson.  I can't say I was impressed with Manquillo's performance even given the circumstance of just joining the club a couple of days ago, but at least he didn't turn over the ball every time he touched it.

4. We didn't need Gerrard to dictate attack.  And that is huge.  The less our captain has do on the attacking end of the pitch, the better we will be as a side.  If Sterling, Sturridge, Hendo, and Coutinho can dissect defences without the help of Stevie-G, he can concentrate on controlling the middle-third.  I don't think he'll ever be completely cut out of the picture, which nobody wants, but he's also not 26 anymore.  He has plenty of long passes and through balls in store. Though the only stat that should matter to him at this point in his career is league titles. Glory over goals.

5. Aubameyang was playing? The 25-year-old Gabonese striker was invisible today at Anfield.  He scored 13 goals in 26 league matches after coming over from AS Saint Etienne.  In France, he was finally coming into his own, scoring 35 goals in his last two seasons there.  I thought he might be a player worth looking at, before today, I'd pass.  It may have been a friendly, but he was inexistent today and failed to make even the slightest impact.

Liverpool 4, Dortmund 0: A lovely little pass around

What started out with the intensity of European football, slowly drowned itself in the atmosphere of a true friendly.  Most of our side glistened save the ever turnover prone and utterly useless Glen Johnson who refuses to let the match come to him and forces error after error.  He needs to benched, sold, drawn, and quartered.  Keep him off the pitch, Rodgers, please, at least until he returns to his form of three years ago.  He doesn't play defence and it's like being a man down every time he gifts the ball to the opposition, which is entirely too often.  Opposing managers must smile every time they see him take the pitch, he is always a counter goal waiting to happen.

The passing, for the love of Xabi, was absolutely brilliant.  We picked apart their defence like the Visigoths on Rome.  Pass after scintillating pass came from the feet of Gerrard, Sturridge, Coutinho, and Sterling, who found a better form in the second half, though far from his best.  That one looping lob from Gerrard that found Sterling down the left was harken of our captain's finest displays and the entire episode leading to Sturridge's assist to Hendo was artful, though the ball did go out.

Lovren was solid in the first half, but not really needed in the second.  In fact, we could have filled the back four with Salif Diaos and it wouldn't have mattered.  Fans seems to be smitten with Manquillo's performance, but I guess harder to impres because for me, he didn't do anything spectacular.  He was adequate and far better than Glen Johnson, but so was the hot dog man, me Gran, and that baby elephant. (It even looks like Glen Johnson, don't it?)  I'll withhold a verdict until he plays in a match that matters.

The bottom line is the matches don't count until next Sunday, but if we can play as we did today, natural-like and calculating, we will win a lot of matches.  The loss of Suarez put us at an advantage of sorts, defences won't know how to stop us.  Before, if you could stop El Conejo Loco, you had a good chance of beating us, but now we are more of a team.  If you stop Sturridge, we've got Sterling, then Coutinho, then Gerrard, then Hendo and so on and so forth, and we score on set-pieces, even more now with Lovre.  That's just scary.  If we are going to win the league though, we must not let one thing beat us, ourselves.  When the opposition scores and they will at times, we must maintain composure and believe we will still win no matter the circumstance.

Striker solution? This 'once-linked', former Barça prospect, could be a quality buy

Despite being 'pre-season' and meaningless, last night's match exposed our need for another striker.  Waiting for the magical boots to turn on and make Lambert the answer just won't hack it.  The problem is there isn't much else out there, certainly nothing of Suarez' class.  We may have to 'settle' for a forward with 'potential' and most likely risk funds to do so.  One of these players is Celta Vigo's Nolito, who we've been linked to in years past.

The 27-year-old forward/winger first came to prominence playing for Segunda División B side, Écija Balompié.  His performances helped lead Écija to the league title, catching the eye of Barcelona B scouts, where he would transfer to in July 2008.  There he scored 29 goals in 108 appearances, helping them get promoted to the Segundo División for the first time this century.

Seeing the pitch just three times for the senior side, he turned down a contract offer in summer 2011 and was transferred to Benfica for £2.2m.  His first year with the Portuguese club was somewhat successful, scoring 15 goals in all competitions and helping the club win the Taça de Liga.  He also scored in his first five consecutive league matches, tying Eusébio's record for goals by a debut player in Primeira Liga.

Unfortunately the honeymoon ended and Nolito found himself as fourth choice forward at the start of 2012-13 season.  After only 6 appearances and 188 minutes the first half of the year, he was loaned to Granada CF in the January transfer window.  At the Andalusian club, he created lots of chances, but only managed one assist to go with his 3 goals, but garnered enough interest to earn a transfer to Celta Vigo for £2.2m.

His stats for the La Liga club last season are not mind-blowing, but somewhat impressive considering it was his first season there and he wasn't exactly surrounded by world class talent:

npg90	gc90	cc90	sacc%	shot%	TTI90	gopd
0.48	0.63	1.94	41.18%	14.12%	11.5	0.29

Nolito seems to set up lots of chances for his teammates no matter where he plays, just imagine what he could do with the likes of Sturridge, Sterling, and Coutinho around him.  He also doesn't waste shot opportunities nor turnover the ball at a ridiculous rate, hence his 11.5 TTI90.  The most impressive stat though is his goals on pitch difference 90 of 0.29, when he wasn't on the pitch, Celta Vigo was destined to lose with a team gopd of -0.13.

The soon-to-be 28-year-old Spaniard is not just a poacher, but can contribute in many ways.  Other than setting others up, he is also a decent tackler, averaging 2.34 successful tackles per 90 minutes at a 48.4% rate.  He's valued at around £5m, which if we could get him for anything close, would be steal.  Recently, he said if Barcelona came calling, he would leave, I wonder if that applies to other 'big' clubs. 

Steven Gerrard, King of the APEs

Attacking Possession Efficiency that is.  I haven't been posting much lately because I've been working on a lot of stats projects.  One of these is APE.  APE measures how efficient a player is in possession.  It takes in account all positive results from possession and gives relative value to these results and then divides this number by total individual possessions.  A goal is given four times the value of a completed pass and shot on goal, while an assist is given double value to a chance created.  Here is Liverpool's top ten APE from last season (the team APE was 0.43563):

Gerrard	0.46478
Henderson	0.46115
Skrtel	0.45314
Coutinho	0.45302
Suarez	0.45268
Johnson	0.44870
Lucas	0.44444
Sterling	0.43388
Sakho	0.42635
Sturridge	0.42570

Skrtel was more efficient than Suarez? Yes, because he did more with less possession and turned over the ball much less, which is essentially what this stat measures.

I also created a Positive Possession Result Quality, which gives value to the quality of positive result compared to overall 'stripped-down' results. The top ten PPRQ for Liverpool last year (the team average was 0.52788):

Suarez	0.62686
Sturridge	0.60947
Sterling	0.56348
Coutinho	0.54459
Gerrard	0.53748
Henderson	0.52640
Allen	0.51978
Johnson	0.51628
Flanagan	0.51585
Skrtel	0.51147

This basically means that Suarez produced a higher quality result (goal or assist) 62.686% of the time, that shouldn't be much a surprise.  

James Milner: A sad waste of talent and probably now a waste of funds

Following his break-out season at Aston Villa in 2009-10, James Milner seemed destined to do great things, then he signed with Man City.  Instead of developing into a top player for Villa and possibly becoming captain of the Brum club, he has settled for a secondary role at City where he finds himself starting on the bench in 48.9% (68 of 139) of matches he is available and of those, he didn't even make the pitch in 35.2% (24 of 68).

He has won two league titles, an FA Cup, and a League Cup at City though, and has shown what it means to be a true team player, even at the expense of his own evolution. It's admirable in some ways, but I doubt Milner envisioned being a squad player when he originally signed with Man City.  His last season with Villa, at the age of 24, he was finally coming into his own:

g	a	ch	npg90	gc90	cc90	ap90
7	12	69	0.11	0.54	1.96	0.34
pass%	lb%	tb%	cr%	sdrp90	sacc%	shot%
75.6	58.2	35.7	32.6	0.71	34.8	10.6
intp90	clrp90	drbp90	bs90	tp90	adw90	adw%
1.8	0.91	0.97	0.4	2.64	0.43	28.8
ccv	TTI90	gsp90	gap90	gop90	tgop	gopd
17.4	16.9	1.39	1.05	0.34	0.34	0

First, the bad, his 16.9 true turnover index per 90 minutes played is unimpressive to say the least.  He has improved since joining City, reaching a career best of 10.1 in 2011-12 and a 11.4 rate last season, that's on par with Henderson (9.7), Gerrard (10.9), Coutinho (11), and Sterling (12.1). Also, for a player who is characterized as 'strong' when it comes to aerial duels, his won per 90 of 0.43 at a 28.8% success rate is well below the league average of 1.46 at 50%.

His 12 assists that season was third best in the league and his chance created value of 17.4 was well above the league average of 9.2. While normally a goals on pitch difference of 0 is nothing to brag about, in his case it shows that he WAS the team.  Despite losing Gareth Barry the summer prior, Villa still improved their point totals and goal difference from the previous season, and the season after Milner joined City, the Villans plummeted to 9th place, a -24 goal difference, and accumulated 16 less points.

For Liverpool to consider a transfer for the 28-year-old, a what-have-you-done-lately approach is what matters.  Here are his stats from last season where he made only 12 starts, 19 sub-ins, for a total of 1375 minutes:

g	a	ch	npg90	gc90	cc90	ap90
1	3	29	0.07	0.26	1.9	0.2
pass%	bp%	lb%	tb%	cr%	sdrbp90	sdrb%	sacc%	shot%
84	46.4	60	66.6	19.1	1.18	43.9	24	4
intp90	clrp90	drbp90	bs90	tp90	tack%	adw90	adw%
0.65	1.44	1.11	0.06	2.03	50.9	1.05	35.6
ccv	TTI90	gsp90	gap90	gop90	tgop	gopd
10.3	11.4	2.22	1.24	0.98	1.71	-0.73

A regression to say the least, especially considering the quality of his teammates.  His passing has improved, as has his turnover rate, but not much else, and his goals on pitch difference is alarming.  For a midfielder known for playing solid defence, it certainly doesn't look like he's a much of a factor in preventing opponents from scoring.

Milner could have been a legend at Villa, but instead he rots away on the City bench with opportunities becoming more scarce as younger, more creative options surround him and his club have all the funds in the world to go after more if needs be.  The problem is he'll find himself in a similar situation if Liverpool acquire him.  His versatility does play into it a little since he can cover for Glen Johnson at RB, but he won't be much of an improvement.  It really comes down to how cheap City will let him go, anything more than £8m has to be a deal-breaker.