Ricardo Rodriguez would be a brilliant addition

We are obviously shopping for a left back with reports that we have bid for Alberto Moreno and are also looking at Marcos Rojo & Daley Blind, but Ricardo Rodriguez of VfL Wolfsburg & Switzerland may be the best value.  I'm not big on adding World Cup phenoms, but Rodriguez has also shown his worth at the club level. Here are his stats from the Bundesliga last season:

app(subs)	34
mins	3060
goals	5
assist	9
chances	78
gcp90	0.41
ccp90	2.3
pass%	80.5
bp%	44.6
sacc%	55.3
shot%	13.2
tack pm	3.1
tack %	57.7
int pm	1.9
off won pm	0.4
clear pm	2.8
dribb past pm	0.8
bs pm	0.4
adwon pm	3.1
adwon%	56.2
own goals	0
TTI90	11.1

If we are going to splash major cash for a player, Rodriguez would be the one.  He is arguably the best left back in the world right now.  His chances created per match, pass %, shot selection, tackling success, and aerial duels won are phenomenal.  Paying £30m for him is very reasonable as he remarkably will turn just 22 this August.

His TTI90 does worry me, but he more than makes up for it with his ccp90.  Imagine him feeding Sturridge and Suarez.  We could even play him in front of Flanagan or Enrique on the wing and allow him to utilize his creative abilities and worry less about his defensive responsibilities.

Suarez was not even the best LFC player on the pitch for England vs Uruguay

In fact, I would argue he was the worst.  It's amazing how a little luck and a lot of skill can cloak such a poor performance.  Not to take anything away from his brilliant finishing, but if it wasn't for a great pass from Cavani and an errant header from Gerrard, Suarez would probably be ridiculed for his erroneous-filled effort. A look at the stats is even more damning:

	Suarez	Johnson	Sturridge	Sterling	Gerrard	Henderson
mins	88	90	90	64	90	87
goals	2	0	0	0	0	0
assists	0	1	0	0	0	0
chances	1	3	0	0	1	1
gcp90	2.05	1	0	0	0	0
ccp90	1.02	3	0	0	1	1.03
pass%	67	83	73	86	74	89
bp%	65.2	32.2	34.6	50	29.3	21.7
cross att	11	3	1	1	7	1
succ cross	0	0	0	0	2	0
cross %	0	0	0	0	28.6	0
sacc%	50	0	60	0	0	100
shot%	50	0	0	0	0	0
take on	0/1	1/2	3/5	5/6	1/1	1/2
take %	0	50	60	83.3	100	50
dispo	3	2	1	5	0	1
offside	2	0	1	0	0	0
fouled	1	1	3	1	0	0
fouls	3	0	1	3	1	0
tack	1	2	0	0	3	1
tack %	50	67	0	0	60	50
int	0	0	0	0	1	1
off won	0	0	0	0	0	0
clear	2	3	0	0	4	3
clear %	100	100	0	0	100	100
shot blk	0	0	0	0	1	0
adwon	2	2	1	2	2	1
adwon%	50	40	50	66	100	100
TTI	17	13	16	10	12	8

Suarez was the inferior passer by a mile, completing only 67% of his passes despite 65.2% were towards his own goal.  He also attempted and failed 11 crosses, that's the same amount of all the other LFC players combined considering Gerrard had two successful.  He also had the highest TTI and that doesn't even account for crosses that changed possession.

If I had to pick the best player, statistically speaking, it would be Jordan Henderson.  His passing was outstanding, especially considering his incredibly low back pass rate and the fact that he lead all players with 60 attempts.  If he had only scored on his lone attempt, we would be talking about him today as the MotM instead of Suarez.

The only player who gave Suarez a run for his money was Sterling.  Had he not been subbed out in the 64th minute, he very well could have had a higher TTI, but his passing and take-on numbers were both superior.

Glen Johnson vs Kyle Walker

A recent comment stirred my interest.  I'm actually a big fan of Kyle Walker, but I'm not sure if he's more effective than Glen Johnson.  Let's take a look at the stats.

	G. Johnson	K. Walker
apps (sub)	29	26
tackles/pm	2.2	2
interceptions/pm	1.7	2.2
offsides won pm	0.1	0.3
clearances pm	2.4	2.6
dribbled past pm	0.8	1
blocked shots pm	0.3	0.2
aerial duels won pm	1.4	1.8
own goals	1	0
goals	0	1
assists	2	2
chances created	28	31
shots pm	0.7	0.7
passing %	84.1	82.2
passes pm	50.2	53.7
back pass %	45.6	34.9
crosses pm	0.2	0.7
cross %	9.8	20.2
long balls pm (total)	2 (57)	3.8 (100)
long ball %	54.3	60.2
key passes pm (total)	1 (28)	1.2 (31)
successful dribbles pm (total)	1.6 (46)	0.8 (22)
fouls drawn pm (total)	1.3	1.2
dispossessed pm (total)	1.2	1.3
turnovers pm (total)	1.1	0.6
TTI	11.9	12.7

Well, I was wrong.  Walker is more effective and the overall better right back.  He is just as turnover prone as Johnson, but he at least makes it up more on the defensive end.  The stats that stand out most for me are his 34.9 back pass percentage, 20.2 successful cross percentage, and especially his 60.2 long ball success percentage with 100 attempts.  The latter is just ridiculous when you consider he only played in 26 matches.

How is Kyle Walker not in the England side for the WC?  Apparently Phil Jones is second choice and that's just laughable.  Might as well put a cardboard cut-out of a donkey out there, it will do the same as 'El Terminator'.

Was Glen Johnson really that bad against Italy?

There are calls for Johnson to lose his place in the England side due to his 'dismal' performance against Itay at the World Cup, but is it really warranted?  Let's compare him to Leighton Baines, who can step on a puppy and the English press would publish articles about the state of his injured foot.

	Johnson	Baines
chances created	2	2
pass %	90	93
back pass %	36.2	50
tackles	3	2
tackle %	40	33
fouls	1	0
interceptions	0	2
blocked shots	0	0
clearances	0	0
dribbled past	1	1
key passes	2	2
true turnover index	9	4

This is a great example of how my 'true turnover index' can be skewed, especially when it comes to defenders.  Glen Johnson has a higher TTI simply because he had more possession of the ball.  He possessed the ball 15 more times than Baines and England's attack was 15% more from Johnson's side of the pitch.  Of course, that doesn't excuse bad shot selection.

Defensively, Johnson did little if nothing, but he also had less opportunity than Baines.  Italy's attack was more focused on the right side of pitch than the left, 38% to 27%.  He did have more tackles and a higher tackle % though, despite Baines' 2 interceptions.

Where Johnson is clearly better is passing.  Baines had the higher passing percentage, but half of his passes were toward his own goal, which is really not a good thing when you are a left back.  Johnson's 36.2% back pass rating is outstanding to say the least, especially paired with his 90% success rate, but his attacking abilities have never really been questioned.

The bottom line is, if Johnson should be dropped, so should Baines and probably most of the first team for that matter as really only Sturridge put on an outstanding performance.  He never has been and never will be a top class defender, but he is an above average attacking right back.

Sterling showed his strengths, but exposed his weaknesses vs Italy

There's no doubting that Raheem Sterling did an outstanding job introducing himself to the world yesterday.  It is nothing new to us Liverpool fans who have followed his progression the past four years.  Unfortunately, what he does worse was just as apparent as what he does well. His defense and ability to hold on to the ball left much to be desired:

chances created	1
back pass %	57.6
errant passes	3
shots	3
shot %	0
dispossessed	2
take ons	4
unsuccessful to	3
turnovers	1
true turnover index	13

He basically did two things good, albeit very good, he set-up England's only goal with a brilliant pass to Rooney and he treated the Italian defenders like orange cones, dribbling pass them at will.  That's all fine and dandy, but most of it was all for nothing.

A back pass % of 57.6 for a winger is abominable.  That means of his 33 pass attempts, 19 of them were toward his own goal and at least one of those fell into Italy's possession going in the direction they so desired.  True turnover index takes in effect whenever a player gives possession over to the other team either by shots that lead to opposition possession, errant pass, dispossession, unsuccessful take on, or offensive foul (including offside).  Sterling had the worst TTI of Englishman on the pitch.  In comparison, Rooney had a TTI of 10, Henderson and Sturridge each had a 9, Gerrard had an 8, and Welbeck had a 7.

As I stated in my last post though, I'd much rather have a player who takes risk, but the results have to prove positive.  Sterling's back pass percentage severely skews his stats and makes it seem that he is not as risky and turnover prone than he actually is.  He is only 19 though and a whole lot of fun to watch: http://vimeo.com/98246489.

Would anyone take Balotelli over Sturridge right now?

Daniel Sturridge is king right now, the world is at his fingertips, but before January 31, 2011, he was a prisoner, an oppressed striker relegated to the wings and the bench of a Chelsea squad fiercely controlled by a maniacal Italian (that is called 'sarcasm').  Then he was sent out on loan to Bolton, where he scored  8 goals in 12 matches, and seemingly proved his ability up front, even with a lesser supporting cast.  Unfortunately, he got lost in the manager merry-go-round when he returned to Stamford Bridge and was oft-injured the next season-and-a-half.  I guess I should say 'thankfully', since those are the circumstances that led him to Liverpool.

Since joining LFC, he has been pure magic, scoring 31 goals and assisting 10 more in 43 matches (plus 4 goals in 6 cup matches).  He has had one major bout with injury and a few minor ones, which is concerning, but let's just hope that is behind him.  Otherwise, he's been outstanding on and off the field, which the same can't be said of his Italian counterpart.

I just don't understand all the hullabaloo over 'Super' Mario.  There's no denying his talent, but his crap attitude and spotlight antics are not worth the distraction.  I have no problem saying he was the reason City aren't three time champions, his efforts on the field were far less than off.  It's hilarious that he became such a prolific scorer for Milan, at least for the remaining of the 2012-13 season, I'm sure his lack of performance at City during the first half of the season was the Blues' fault and not his.

While I'm convinced Balotelli is more talented than Sturridge, he desperately lacks the maturity, self-respect, and work ethic that the latter displays.  Can you imagine how Balotelli would have reacted to having to play out of position for years (and young, developing years at that) like Sturridge did at Chelsea?  He would have cried and complained until his hair turned whatever color it hasn't been yet.

If there is any indication that he may be maturing and becoming more of a team player, it's the fact that he had 6 assists last season, that's 4 more than he had in any season at City and 3 more than he had his whole time there.  I won't hold my breathe though and with all that said, watch him go out and score a brace today, lead Italy to the finals, and get the most outstanding player of the tournament.  He and Sturridge are certainly both capable.

Today's Banter: Ref change for Wigan, Crouch wants answers, & Gerrard 'almost fit'

- Due to protest from Wigan manager Chris Hutchings, the referee for our match on Saturday has been switched from Steve Bennett to Mark Clattenburg. Hutchings' ground for protest was Bennett's sending off of Kilbane for apparently no reason whatsoever in the Lactics tie at Newcastle on the first of this month. Though he has yet to receive any punishment for what has been deemed an 'incorrect decision', it was thought best that Bennett not be in charge of this upcoming fixture. Fine by me, the guy has handed out four red cards in six Premiership matches so far this season which would have probably meant a sending off for Mascherano at the JJB. Clattenburg has yet to hand out a red so far this year. Knock on wood.

- Peter Crouch would like to know FIFA's response to Graham Poll's accusations that the refs during last year's World Cup were asked to single the forward out. It's pretty obvious that he was. While he had the stage, Crouch also warned Torres that performance is not the main factor in Rafa's selection process and therefore he may not even be on the bench at Wigan. Crouchy may either be trying to force Rafa to start him Saturday or he may just be laying the foundation for a request for a transfer come January. If Torres is selected, look for the lanky striker's whining to increase.

- Gerrard has proclaimed that his best form is just around the corner as pain in his toe has subsided. I really don't understand why he was playing with pain for England or our club otherwise. In fact, it's pretty obvious he should have left the limping Three Lions to the wolves since he got no credit for his solid performances against Israel and Russia. Then again, we're talking about the English press who are more superficial than Victoria Beckham.

- By the way, if you didn't know, Danny Guthrie scored a goal for Bolton yesterday. It was the first strike for the 20-year-old midfielder with the club in which he is on loan and proved crucial as the Wanderers beat Fulham, 2-1, in League Cup action. As soon as I can find a video of it, I'll either link or show. Cheers.

Graham Poll: Crouch targeted at World Cup

Former International and England referee Graham Poll has revealed that officials at last year's World Cup were told to keep a close watch on the Three Lions' Peter Crouch. He claims that they went as far as watching England warm-up matches so they would know what to look for, emphasizing the way the lanky striker uses his arms. A biased against an English player in the World Cup in Germany? Crazy.

A player being targeted by refs seems a serious subject to me, yet I've seen very little about it in the media. I know the German, Italian, and most other non-English European media will ignore any subject regarding discrimination against England and an English player, but if there is any truth to this, something should be done. Maybe England should just resort to the corrupt and cheating tactics of their European competitors, as it looks like that's the only way they're going to get a 'fair' deal in international competition.