West Ham 3, Liverpool 1: The big top is burning

There is a weathered tale about a 19th century Siberian circus that while traveling through Eastern Europe is brutally attacked by the people of an isolated, starving mountain village.  The circus performers were so shocked by the merciless gore of the rampage upon them, they stood and did nothing while being torn to shreds.  Clowns were sadistically murdered, trapeze artists tortured and mangled, and all the animals, except the elephants, were killed and eaten raw.  The elephants apparently got away, but were never seen from again.  Though the town in Siberia where the circus originated made inquiries and notified the proper officials in Moscow about their missing family members and citizens, nothing was ever done.  It was brushed under the rug because, ultimately, nobody cares about a dead clown.

That's what Liverpool were today, a bunch of dead clowns.  Almost from the get-go it was apparent the ref was going to be lenient when it came to physical play.  How many times does Liverpool have to lose before they realize the match official is going to call a match a certain way and it's best to play that way instead of our own style.  This is how it works, there is no precedent for how a match is called no matter how much verbal feces the EPL aficionados defecate in our ears.  Now, had Liverpool started playing like West Ham, tackling viciously, studs up or not, being overtly physical, and then were called for it, then we have an issue, but LFC players didn't wrangle, they fell to the ground in the fetal position and let the Hammers have their way.  Sure, Kouyate should have been sent off for his barbaric tackle on Moreno, but he wasn't and that's my point.  Break Winston Reid's leg with a stud up sliding tackle and if the ref does anything about it, then we have an argument for fairness.  Ultimately the fault would have fallen on the ref and the EPL's inability to produce a consistent, legitimate product.

The biggest issue I have with the match is Craig Pawson referring to his ear-piece for the Balotelli-Adrian incident.  Why isn't this happening more often?  And why isn't it happening when it should actually matter?  The Moreno-Kouyote incident in particular.  Again, if the Premier League wants to avoid situations of complicity, shouldn't they do this every time to avoid controversy?  Maybe I'm not just the average ignorant, blinded, and drunk Premier League fan.

Now, with that said, Liverpool played atrocious defense.  Who in Hades' name was marking Reid on the first goal?  From the looks of the replay, nobody, so it is the fault of Skrtel, Lovren, and Manquillo, who were closest to him at the beginning of the free kick.  Communication guys, come on, this is getting old.  I honestly think Lovren and Skrtel dislike one another for whatever Eastern European rubbish reason, but regardless, you aren't playing for your countries, you're not on the battlefield, and you play for the same team who is paying you and counting on you to perform to the best of your abilities.  Suck up your pride and do what is best for the club.

The second goal allowed was more dumb luck than anything.  Lovren laid off Sakho because Moreno was there, should the Spaniard have played him tighter?  Probably, but it was just one of those perfectly placed goals where not much could have stopped it. It reminded me of the goal by Konchesky in the 2006 FA Cup final.  I doubt Mignolet could have been better positioned either, if he was further back, Sakho would have probably tried to slam in closer to the near post.  It was a great goal by Sakho, get over it.

Borini is rubbish, he doesn't know when to pass and when to shoot and that was quite evident.  When he had the breakaway in the 54th minute with Moreno and Lallana lurking, but took the impossible angle shot, that was ridiculous.  Then he took the optimistic shot outside of the box in the 64th minute when he should have held the ball and see what developed since no West Ham players were close enough to dispossess him.  Adrian pulled in his leg there, by the way, so any studs up calls on that one are rubbish.  Then, finally, when Sterling tries to do a give-and-go in the 74th minute, he should have went for goal.  His style of play just doesn't work for us, put him on the reserves squad and let him die a slow play less death.

For once, Balotelli played well, he even got back on defence a couple of times which impressed me, but he has to take advantage of every scoring chance and his weak effort in the 59th minute was unacceptable.  He puts that three yards higher and it's a goal.  He's a special player, but has yet to play so for us.

I was a bit baffled by the no-call on Lallana right outside of the box in the 61st minute.  Why didn't Pawson refer to his ear-piece then?  If the Premier League doesn't want to be accused of complicity than don't put others in the situation to do so.  That was a clear foul by Song from behind and though I don't think it was penalty worthy, it still should have been called back for a free kick despite play-on due to possession.  I personally love Noble's applauding the ref for his non-call at the end of the 'play'.

Ultimately, I think are defence was suspect and Sterling has to realize he is the new 'man'.  He has to step up and be the replacement for Sturridge,  Unfortunately, he is only 19 and that has to suck for him.  He is our best player and probably the most talented player at his age in the world.  One goal was not enough and hopefully he'll realize that most fans, especially myself, would rather see him take 5 bad shots than make a useless pass.

Skrtel or Sakho? Who is better to partner Lovren?

Despite being far apart on the ethnic field, Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho play an eerily similar style of football on the pitch.  The Slovakian and the Senegalese-Frenchman are both efficient passers, each posting around 90% last season and this campaign so far, neither are very committal to tackling, preferring to play a 'stand-offish', marking style of defense, and both like to get forward, though Sakho does this much more to my liking.  If I had to give an edge to either concerning attacking and/or defending, I'd say Skrtel is actually better on both sides of the ball despite Sakho being more 'creative'.

That is not the question though, it is whom is better to partner our Croatian juggernaut, Dejan Lovren.  To do that, let's take a look at Lovren's style of play.  Our Number Six is not as good a passer as his fellow centre backs, but has improved from last season when he played for Southampton.  So far he's posted an 88.5% pass completion percentage compared to 82% last year, which is even more impressive when you consider he's averaged 17 more pass attempts per a match this season so far.  That probably has more to do with the fact that the Saints averaged nearly 2 more yards per pass and attempted 14 more long balls per match, finishing second in the league with 70 attempts on average. Lovren is also more likely to 'go to ground' and attempt a tackle than Skrtel or Sakho.  He has completed 11 successful tackles this season so far while the other two have 3 combined.

One could argue match-ups should play a part, but there are two great examples from this season that make that argument invalid.  Skrtel paired Lovren at the Etihad which Liverpool lost 3-1 despite playing well.  Unfortunately, City played slightly better even though two of their goals were due to defensive mishap, none the fault of Skrtel though.  In fact, I re-watched an extended highlights video of that match and noticed a lot of friction and distrust displayed between Lovren and Skrtel, but ultimately, the first two goals were mostly the fault of Lovren being out of position.

During the build-up of the first goal, Lovren is more concerned with whether Skrtel is marking Dzeko instead of covering 'his' area, the left side of the box.

As the above still shot from the match shows, Lovren was not in the best possible position and was unable to provide proper coverage for Moreno and Gerrard.  In a panic, he heads the ball right to a surging Jovetic.  Sure, Moreno could have done better to clear, but he shouldn't had to in the first place.

Here is a still shot just before the second goal:

Jovetic has the ball and is about to release both Zabaleta and Nasri with an excellent back heel pass through.  Lovren is way out of position to begin with, why he is so far forward is beyond me.  Jovetic has his back to the goal, which for him to gain possession and right himself would take more than enough time for Henderson and/or Gerrard to collapse on him, so Lovren had no business being there.  Once the break starts, Skrtel had no choice but provide coverage on the left, leaving Johnson to mark Dzeko.  Jovetic sneaked in behind, found himself all alone on the right, and the rest, they say, is history.  Had Lovren stayed behind Zabaleta, he would have most likely been able to clear the ball or at least disrupt play enough to prevent the goal, plus Skrtel would have been able to stay more central and allow Johnson to pick up Jovetic.  One could argue that Lovren was trying to set an offside trap, but if that is so, he's doing a terrible job of communicating it to his fellow defenders.

In the City match, a Skrtel-Lovren pairing was ideal being that Lovren is usually better at maintaining his position than Sakho.  Unfortunately he failed to do so.  For Villa, a Sakho-Lovren pairing is more ideal because Villa is dreadful and adding another player on attack seemingly can only help.  Unfortunately it did not, but once again Lovren was somewhat at fault for the goal.  He was beaten by Senderos on the corner, had Manquillo's arm not blocked the attempt, there was a chance of it getting past Lallana and going in.  It instead fell to Agbonlahor.  I would say Balotelli and Moreno's inability to clear it before it got to Senderos was more of an issue than Lovren's marking.

It would have been nice to have Skrtel for Ludogorets.  I can't see him getting caught out of position as much as Sakho and Lovren did.  I didn't expect to draw this conclusion, but after looking over the stats and watching match highlights, maybe the best pairing for Lovren is a seat on the bench.  The only thing he brings so far is tackling and errors.  That may be harsh, but it is clear he has positioning and communication issues, certainly with Skrtel on the latter.  Maybe Rodgers should give him a couple of matches off and some time to think about his latest performances.  I think he's a great defender and player in general, but it seems like he's trying to do too much and it's hurting the side.

Skrtel top defensively, Flamini takes over attack & overall

Martin Skrtel didn't even touch the pitch on Sunday, but he still went to the top of the defensive efficieny table.  That's what happen when everyone else falters.  If he doesn't play at least 60 minutes in two weeks time when we host Villa, he'll no longer qualify.

player	dpe
M. Skrtel	0.905
M. Flamini	0.899
C. Chambers	0.889
J. O'Shea	0.888
P. McShane	0.878
R. Ferdinand	0.877
F. Coloccini	0.877
D. Lovren	0.873
V. Kompany	0.873
P. Jagielka	0.870

 Flamini has produced an absolutely ridiculous 95.2% pass completion rate in his two matches for Arsenal, which helped him take top in both attack and overall efficiency.  The most excellent Morgan Schniederlin makes his debut in attack rankings and I expect him to be there for the long run.

player	ppe
M. Flamini	0.856
S. Nasri	0.855
Y. Toure	0.838
D. Fletcher	0.813
S. Cazorla	0.805
N. Bentaleb	0.803
Cesc Fàbregas	0.789
E. Capoue	0.788
Schneiderlin	0.785
G. Barry	0.784

John O'Shea may be a bit surprising, but he rarely makes mistakes, and Capoue is a ball-moving machine, second in the league only to Aaron Ramsey with 339 touches but leads with 301 pass attempts.  Gerrard dropped to 33rd overall, by the way.

player	per
M. Flamini	0.878
Y. Toure	0.837
J. O'Shea	0.834
S. Nasri	0.829
C. Chambers	0.829
F. Coloccini	0.829
E. Capoue	0.824
D. Fletcher	0.824
Fernando	0.821
V. Kompany	0.818

Without Dean Hammond and Andy King, Leicester would probably be pointless, as would there season, but those two have carried the foxes thus far.

player	eot
D. Hammond	0.207
J. O'Shea	0.206
Andy King	0.202
David Jones	0.192
J. Olsson	0.182
Ron Vlaar	0.179
Dean Marney	0.179
G. Whelan	0.179
F. Coloccini	0.169
P. Senderos	0.168

Skrtel is Liverpool's most valuable player with 0.148 eot, followed by Lovren at 0.108 and Gerrard at 0.100.

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

Is Etienne Capoue the best player in the league?

Only players with 120 minutes played are considered.

- Joey Barton leads all EPL players with 10 chances created.  Eden Hazard is second with 9.
- Frazier Campbell is the league leader in pass completion percentage at 95.0%.  Asmir Begovic is second with a 94.4% rate, which is quite impressive for a keeper.  Mignolet is second among goalies with a 78.3% rate.
- Etienne Capoue has completed the most passes with 173.  Yaya Toure is second (164) and Fabregas is third (150).
- Stewart Downing has connected on the most crosses, going 8 of 19, second best are Mark Noble, Joey Barton, and Seb Larsson at 5 a-piece.
- Kaspar Schmeichel has completed and attempted the most long passes, going 23 of 65.  Joey Barton, Jason Shackell, and Phil Jagielka lead all outfield players with 16.
- Andre Schurrle has taken 11 shots, most of any player, but only one has been on-goal.
- Wilfried Bony has 4 shots-on-target, which leads the league, none of them have found the back of the net.
- With 15 successful take-ons, Eden Hazard leads the league and has more than twice as many as any other player.
- Southampton's Graziano Pelle leads with 16 aerial duels won and 36 attempted.  Agbonlahor is second with 34 attempted, but has won only 6.
- Mile Jedinak leads with 15 successful tackles.
- Phil Jones has the most interceptions with 11.  Youssouf Mulumbu is second in both tackles (12) and interceptions (10).
- Ryan Shawcross has leap-frogged Skrtel to take the lead in clearances at 30, our Slovakian has 25.
- Former Man Utd product and current Burnley midfielder, David Jones, is the most valuable player to his team posting a 0.225 efficiency over team average.  Rio Ferdinand is second with a 0.217 eot and Leicester's Andy King is third at 0.193.

Gerrard breaks into top ten of most efficient EPL players, Lovren falls and Yaya takes top

Top attacking efficient players in the Premiership 
(must have played at least 120 minutes thus far)

	ape
Y. Toure	0.878
S. Nasri	0.859
D. Fletcher	0.825
Cesc Fàbregas	0.822
F. Coloccini	0.817
N. Bentaleb	0.805
Eden Hazard	0.804
S. Gerrard	0.797
E. Adebayor	0.795
T. Blackett	0.795

Fletcher is a bit shocking, but he has posted a 87.3% pass rate and has only averaged 7 caused possession changes a match.  Blackett has managed an even better successful passing percentage at 88.4%.

If all players are included, despite the amount of minutes played, Sergio Aguero is king with a ridiculous 0.938 attacking efficiency.  That's what happens when you score 2 goals, post a 3/4 shot accuracy and are 10/10 on passing in 29 total minutes on the pitch.  Only a matter of time before they play the Argentine, Jovetic, and Dzeko up front at the same time and have the minnows of the Prem soiling their shorts.

Leicester's Andy King is a good example of 'levelling off''.  The Welsh midfielder dropped 22 places in rankings after facing Chelsea, the 2nd most efficient side in the EPL.  The Foxes next host Arsenal, which could go either way for King as he should have the amount of touches to show if he's as good as he was against Everton.

Top defensive efficient players
(must have played at least 120 minutes thus far)

	dpe
C. Chambers	0.914
R. Ferdinand	0.914
M. Skrtel	0.905
D. Lovren	0.896
F. Coloccini	0.894
Y. Toure	0.884
P. Jagielka	0.878
Fernando	0.877
V. Kompany	0.871
T. Blackett	0.865

Chambers continues to impress, but I did change up the formula to be more possession-friendly, meaning the 19-year-old right back benefits greatly from playing for Arsene Wenger.  That shouldn't help Rio though as QPR is the fifth-worst possession side.  Man United should have let him stayed another season.  Skrtel leap frogs Lovren and having both centre backs in the top for says a lot about Liverpool's somewhat deficient defence. Save Gerrard, only Jordan Henderson is  ranked in the top 75 at 74.

Top overall efficient players

(must have played at least 120 minutes thus far)

	ope
Y. Toure	0.881
F. Coloccini	0.856
C. Chambers	0.840
S. Nasri	0.835
T. Blackett	0.830
D. Fletcher	0.829
Fernando	0.825
G. Barry	0.821
S. Gerrard	0.820
N. Bentaleb	0.817

No Chelsea players? Fabregas is closest at 18th, but they are tied with City with a league best 8 players in the top 100.  It is a team sport after all.  Lovren dropped to 13th, one ahead of Skrtel.

Dejan Lovren is the most efficient player in the EPL thus far

Individual Stats Leaders after Week One

Top ten most efficient in possession players:

S. Nasri	0.889
Y. Toure	0.868
T. Blackett	0.866
Andy King	0.852
M. Arteta	0.850
G. Barry	0.839
N. Bentaleb	0.828
V. Kompany	0.816
J. Olsson	0.813
G. Obertan	0.800

Leicester's Andy King is a surprising one here.  Gerrard came 11th with a ppe of 0.797.

Top ten most efficient defensive players:

Liam Moore	0.405
S. Dann	0.400
Curtis Davies	0.380
J. Chester	0.344
M. Jedinak	0.339
P. van Aanholt	0.339
B. Hangeland	0.333
Wes Morgan	0.319
P. Senderos	0.297
M. Kelly	0.295

Some solid players (Dann, Davies, Jedinak, & Hangeland) mixed in with some surprises who will probably play their way out of the this category.  Former LFC boy Kelly comes in tenth.

The ten most efficient overall:

D. Lovren	0.953
L. Koscielny	0.950
M. Arteta	0.925
P. Jagielka	0.922
M. Skrtel	0.919
V. Kompany	0.918
J. Chester	0.918
T. Blackett	0.918
J. Collins	0.911
W. Reid	0.911

I was shocked to see Lovren on top here.  Skrtel at fifth, not so much, with all the defensive numbers he racked up.

The top ten in effieciency over team average:

S. Dann	0.271
J. Chester	0.254
Ron Vlaar	0.253
R. Ferdinand	0.249
David Jones	0.238
J. Olsson	0.237
L. Cattermole	0.232
B. Hangeland	0.221
D. Lovren	0.208
J. Collins	0.207

This stat measures a players performance compared to his team's average, for instance, Scott Dann and Brede Hangeland's were the stars on a less than stellar Crystal Palace versus Arsenal.

- Joey Barton lead all players with 6 chances created.
- Mikel Arteta lead all players with 100 completed passes on 105 attempts (95.2%), Aaron Ramsey was the only other player to break the century mark in pass attempts with 106.
- Asmir Begovic was the only player to play a full match and complete all his pass attempts (23 for 23).
- West Ham's Cheikhou Kouyate lead all outfield players, who played 60 minutes or more, with a 96.9% pass completion rate.
- Mark Noble and Stewart Downing lead all players in successful crosses with 4 each, but Noble took just 6 attempts while Downing needed 10.
- Eden Hazard lead the league in take-ons with 9, Sterling and Cazorla tied for second with 5 apiece.
- Former Arsenal and current QPR left back, Armand Traore, was a very impressive 11 for 11 on aerial duels, making him tops in most won and best success percentage (100%).  Southampton's Graziano Pelle won the second most, going 10 for 23 while United's Chris Smalling and Erik Pieters of Stoke were 2nd in efficiency going 7 for 7 each.
- Jack Wilshere won the most fouls with 6.
- England and West Brom's Saido Berahino was the only player to score a penalty and/or a brace, but he also lead in times dispossessed at 7.  Raheem Sterling was runner-up with 6 times dispossessed and Daniel Sturridge tied with Aaron Ramsey at four times apiece.
- Adnan Januzaj lead all players with 6 direct turnovers, 2 more than any other player.
- Victor Wanyama and Mile Jedinak had the most successful tackles with 9 each.
- Sunderland's new left-back, Patrick van Aanholt is the league leader in interceptions with 8.
- Martin Skrtel's 19 clearances were enough to edge out Ryan Shawcross by one to lead all players.
- Marouane Chamakh committed 11 fouls, more than twice as many than any other player.