The Spanish-Senegalese 'Raheem Sterling' is there for the picking

Keita Baldé Diao is a 19-year-old Spanish forward of Senegalese descent, who is currently plying his trade at Italian club, SS Lazio.  He was brought up through the Barcelona youth system, but was loaned out to Cornellá after the 2009-10 season due to disciplinary reasons.  Unfortunately it worked against Barça as Keita refused to return and was sold to Lazio.

Keita finally broke through to the first team last season and did not disappoint.  In limited action, he scored 5 goals and posted 3 assists, but he impressed most in his decisiveness.  For a 19-year-old and a forward in general, he posted a fairly low true turnover index per 90 minutes of 9.93, a decent 82.5% successful pass rate, and a 54% shot accuracy percentage, which would have been tops on Liverpool last season.

Here is a stat comparison from last season of Sterling and him:

	npg90	ap90	gc90	cc90	ccv	pass%	tti90	gopd
Keita	0.33	0.20	0.52	1.63	0.120	0.825	9.93	0.07
Sterling	0.36	0.20	0.57	2.06	0.097	0.817	12.1	0.22

Their numbers are eerily similar save chances created 90 (cc90), chance created value (ccv), and true turnover index 90 (tti90).  A tti90 below 10 at his age and position is simply unheard of and a ccv a full 20 points above what is considered the average shows he is efficient and unselfish.

Should we buy him though? Well, word is Lazio want £24m for him, that seems a bit high, but he does have the potential to make that price still seem like a bargain years from now.  To add a player of his pace and skill doesn't come around that often.  Here's a video with horrible music to judge for yourself:

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.

Liverpool 2, Dortmund 0: Thoughts at the break, panic on the streets of Merseyside

Victor Moses, Abel Xavier, Gabby Paletta, and Mark Gonalez, what do all these Liverpool legends have in common?  They scored on their LFC debut and their goals actually counted.  Iago Aspas scored in his first pre-season match and we all know where it went from there.  It was nice for Lovren to be gifted a set-piece goal on his debut, but at the end of the day, meaningless.  He has been impressive though.

When it's your first match for your new club, regardless if it's preseason or not, and you are shouting 'orders' at your new teammates, that's impressive.  Lovren brings a much-needed presence to the club, someone who is not afraid to take command and responsibility for his side's result.  Carragher had that fire as did Reina in his first few years at the club, last season it was only Gerrard and even he wavered from even a few seasons ago.

Coutinho has been our best player so far, that assist was class and Gerrard-esque.  It's good to see the Brazilian is paying attention to his captain's endless talents.  I can't really say the same for Sterling who has been wasteful to say the least.  He has to do better when he's one-on-one on the box.  Studge is being Studge, as long as he's healthy, he's a threat to score every match.

This is about as close to European football that a friendly can get.  I'm relatively confident this isn't Dortmund's best eleven, but they have been 'spritely'.  Their pace, quickness, and passing has been trying, but our defence, save Glen Johnson on two legs and not his ass, has shut down their every opportunity.  I'm hoping Kelly or me Uncle Joe comes on in the second half for our challenged fullback.

The rest of the side has been 'adequate' but going up 2-0 in the first fifteen minutes seemed to take a little off from both sides.  Since then, Dortmund seems less driven to score and Liverpool more content to take the result.  Hopefully it'll open up in the second half and we'll see another goal or two from Liverpool.  It would be especially nice to see Lambert find the back of the net.

Three 'lesser known' strikers who could help us win the Prem

Aritz Aduriz
Yes, Aduriz is 33 and has never played out of Spain, but I never claimed to be 'realistic' about these possible signings, they are 'wishful thinking' at best.  He is coming off a career year though, in fact, three of the last four seasons have been the best for the Bilbao striker.  His 16 goals and 8 assists last season means he created nearly a goal every 90 minutes and his chance created value of 0.258 is simply mind-bottling.

He does have a few negatives though, first and foremost he posted a ridiculously bad 61.5% pass success percentage last season.  It was a career low and most players usually improve their passing stats as they get older.  He also lack pace which should be no surprise considering his age, but we have Sturridge and Sterling so we don't necessarily need more speed.

Dario Cvitanich
Another Argentine striker, Cvitanich had a very impressive season the year before last with 19 goals and 2 assists in just 29 matches, giving him a goal created per 90 of 0.81 or 4 goals every 5 matches.  The Nice striker 'fell off the pace' last year only netting 8 times in 31 appearances, but may have regained his form with a brace today in the opening Ligue 1 match for Nice against Toulouse.  Cvitanich is a great finisher, especially outside of the box.  Here's a taste of what he could offer:

Stefan Kießling

Kießling is probably the best esoteric striker in Germany.  How can a player who has scored 84 goals and posted a 0.75 goals created per 90 min average in the past five seasons in the Bundesliga be so uncoveted?  He may only be 1.91 m (6'3"), but it's as if he's the Peter Crouch of German football.  His inconsistency may be one reason, the Lichtenfels native has been up and down his whole career, for example posting 25, 7, 16, 25, and 15 goals the past five seasons.  His passing is subpar as well with a career percentage of 69.1%.

The most impressive thing about Kießling is his magic skills, how he got this goal to be counted is still a revelation:

Is Gerrard's best season yet to come?

Statistically speaking, last season was our captain's most impressive.  He set career bests in assists per 90 minutes, chance created value, successful pass percentage, successful cross percentage, goal-to-shot ratio, true turnover index, and team goals scored while on pitch per 90 minutes (take a breath).  His next closest season was 2008-09, also the last time Liverpool finished second,  when he set career marks in goals scored per 90, goals created per 90, and goals-on-pitch-difference.  The common factor between those two campaigns was Gerrard's role in the side.

It seems to me, when Gerrard is not under pressure to create goals, he is at his finest.  He is not a natural goal scorer or finisher, he possesses the ability to do his part, but he lacks the touch and finesse of even a moderately good poacher.  The funny thing is, when he is allowed to do what he does best, roam between the boxes trying to control the tempo and ball movement, he creates goals anyhow.  His specialty is long passes and through balls, which is why we need another target for him other than Sturridge.  Sterling and Ibe have the pace to benefit, but aren't great finishers either.

No matter what, our captain has to show some discipline and continue to play the holding midfielder role.  He cannot get frustrated and try to force things like he has in the past, hopefully the maturity he has displayed the last couple of seasons will continue to strengthen.  Ever since Rodgers has arrived, Gerrard seems more content with his position and confident in his abilities as a world class passer.  One of the biggest mistakes Rafa Benitez made was playing Gerrard wherever he needed him because he knew Gerrard would be 'adequate' there.  I don't disagree with putting the team before the player, but not playing to your best player's strengths is borderline suicidal.

If he is allowed to be midfield maestro next season, he should post some of his best numbers ever.  With Can and Henderson there to be 'true' box-to-boxers, it should allow Gerrard to stay back and patiently control the match with or without the ball.  Our defence has to improve and that starts with the midfield.  Stevie-G has to recognize when a defender has gone too far forward and cover for them, a tongue-lashing would be nice as well, but sometimes throwing a 'different' player forward offsets the opponent and creates more good than bad.  Of course the most important number of all, that being the most points on the Prem table, is the only one Gerrard or any other Liverpool player should care about.

Is this free 'World Class' striker the solution?

It's getting to the point that almost any signing that can contribute more than Aspas did last season will have to do, but what if there were a proven, experienced striker still out there and he wouldn't cost Liverpool a dime?  Well, there is, and his name is Samuel Eto'o.

For those who think that the Cameroonian legend is past it, look no further than his production last season for Chelsea.  He may be 33, but he's still got the ability to post respectable numbers.  Here's his output from last season:

npg90	ap90	gc90	cc90	pass%	sacc%	shot%	tti90	gopd
0.62	0.14	0.76	1.53	0.761	0.441	0.153	11.3	0.02

He basically created three goals every four matches, not too bad for an 'old man', and he turned over the ball less than Sterling or Suarez.

Apparently he is currently in talks with Ajax, which is interesting because he allegedly was asking too high of wages from interested clubs.  Ajax is not going to pay him an exorbitant salary and LFC could easily pay him more.

He would obviously just be around for a season, which may not appeal to him, but he's only needed to 'buy time' until Origi returns or another long term option is found.  I really don't see what we have to lose, if he ends up a failure, oh well, we got him on a free, if he makes a splash, he was a 'genius buy'.  Even if he repeats his output from last season, 9 goals and 2 assists in about fourteen-and-a-half matches worth of minutes, it'll be well worth sigining him up.

Is Gonzalo Higuaín worth more than Suárez?

We all know Ronaldo and Messi are the cream of the European football crop, but number three is up for grabs with Luis Suárez and Gonzalo Higuaín among the top candidates.  Most people believe the Uruguayan is the clear cut choice, but a closer look at their performance data may lead to a change of mind.

The fact is, Higuaín is the superior player when it comes to the numbers.  The Argentine is considered to be more of a 'poacher' while most believe Suárez is the more complete player, but the stats tell a different story.  Both players have benefited by playing most of their careers at 'big' clubs.  Ajax may not seem like as 'big' a club as it was 20 years ago, but it still attracts some of the best young talent in the world and was absolutely loaded the years El Conejo Loco played there.  His teammates included Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Jan Vertonghen, Urby Emanuelson, Thomas Vermaelen, Dennis Rommedahl, Maarten Stekelenburg, and Gregory van der Wiel among others.

Also, it could be argued that Suarez prospered from playing in a lesser league where his 'world class' talents allowed him to dominant his 'lesser' opponents while Higuain had to deal with the superior defences of La Liga.  Not to mention that the Eredivisie is an 'attacker's paradise' where players tend to rack up more impressive offensive stats than any other league in Europe.

Here are their accumulative stats since the 2006-07 seasons:

	npg90	ap90	gc90	cc90	ccv	pass%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90	gopd
Higuaín	0.73	0.31	1.09	1.38	0.23	0.808	0.518	0.449	12.27	0.11
Suárez	0.62	0.17	0.87	2.50	0.09	0.753	0.407	0.296	17.37	0.09

Higuaín takes almost every stat except chances created, but his chance created value is far superior.  In fact, one out of every four of his chances finds the back of the net while only one out of eleven for Suarez result in a goal.  That is one of the best ccvs I have ever seen and really sums up what Higuain is, efficient.  It's not that Suarez lacks in precision, but he fails in comparison to his Argentine counterpart.

The one thing Suarez does better, though is hard to quantify, is create chances for himself.  Though it doesn't really show self-created chances, the former Liverpool man has a successful dribble rate of 2.88 per 90 at 38% while the Napoli striker posts a 1.40 sdr90 at 47%.  Once again, Higuain is more efficient, though only completes half as many take-ons per ninety minutes.

To answer the question of this post though, no, I don't think Higuain is worth more than Suarez.  Numbers aren't everything and if you put the latter on the worst team in any league, I firmly believe he would make a bigger impact than the former.  Suarez doesn't need highly-skilled teammates to make a difference, but they obviously help.  Higuain is more efficient and can make a good team great, but I highly doubt he would be able to lead a team like Stoke to a Champions League spot.  He would make Liverpool more of a contender though, but £80m?  Messi is the only player worthy of that amount, but if we could somehow get Napoli to agree to half that, Rodgers would be crazy not to break the bank for him.

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. 

Liverpool 1, Man U 2: Five things learnt

1. Ander Herrera is rubbish.  How much did they pay for him? The only thing he did well is foul and was lucky not to get a yellow.  I thought he was some sort of pass master? Yeah...

2. Rooney still has no class.  He is the epitome of what United fans consider a 'scouser'.  To even act as if that was a legitimate goal is pathetic.  Then to rant and rave about the ball being played on by Ibe when he got 'hurt'.  Recovered pretty quickly from that, didn't he?  And lastly, the foul on Sterling... It's a friendly, a meaningless match, which brings me to my next point...

3.  United needed and wanted this match more than Liverpool.  When Rodgers took out Gerrard, he pretty much said, 'Who cares?'  We want to win real cups and trophies, not pseudo-Mickey Mouse titles.  United acted like their whole season depended on this match, well, considering they won't play outside of England until next summer, I guess it did.

4. Liverpool collapsed too easily, this can't happen in matches that actually count.  After the first goal, they looked like a bunch of 12-year-olds thrown on the pitch together yesterday.  It's as if they forgot all their training and how to work together.  As for the goals, what was Mignolet thinking on the first one?  He committed way too much to his right and left more of the goal exposed.  It was clear Rooney wasn't going to get a powerful shot in.  The second and third goals were deflections, so not much he can do there.  United were lucky with both of them.

5. One pass does not make a match, Glen Johnson.  An absolute horrid performance from the right back, despite setting Sterling for the penalty.  He turned over the ball nearly every other time.

5b. We need another striker, stat.  Lambert can not play up front by himself and he's looking more and more like a bad signing, but I'll hold back judgement until the season starts.  Sturridge would have made a big difference as United could not contain the pace of Sterling and Ibe as it was...

5c.  Speaking of those two, they made mince meat of the United defenders, who got a lot of favors from the ref, but the bottom line is the ball has to go in the back of the net or the performance is wasted.  Jordan Henderson probably made the dribble of the match though, nutmegging and overpowering Luke Shaw to get free in the box, too bad his cross found Sterling on the other side of the box.

5d. Ashley Young is slow.  When Kolo Toure out-paces you to the ball, you need to go play in Italy.

Liverpool 1, United 0 HT: Welcome to the Prem, Ander Herrera

This match is about as close to a real Premiership battle as you can get in the pre-season.  Just ask Ander Herrera, who looks completely out of his league, committing foul after foul, and should've received a yellow card for his donkey performance so far.  Speaking of fouls, some of these calls are mind-bottling.  Especially the foul called on Sterling I believe in favor of Phil Jones.  Are you kidding me?  How did little ole Sterling foul the ogre?

As for the penalty that was called, it was suspect to say the least, but the penalty that wasn't called later negates it.  Sterling took on three defenders, got taken down from behind while still in possession of the ball in the box, and that's not a penalty?  Just adds to the horrible calls throughout and makes it feel like more of a Liverpool-United Prem match with the Mancs getting the mystery calls.  That goal kick called for United when it clearly goes off Sterling-beaten Smalling was just laughable.

As for individual performance, Coutinho and Sterling have been outstanding.  Some of the dribbling by Coutinho has been Suarez-esque and Raheem is just being himself.  I really wish he would take a more 'straight at the opponent' approach at times, a la Messi, sometimes when he hesitates it appears to work against him.  Gerrard and Kelly have played well also.

No one has played particularly bad, well, Johnson made that brilliant pass to Sterling to win the penalty, but that positive memory is fading fast as he continues to be useless since.  Sakho is giving me a cardiac arrest, why does he feel the need to go forward all the time?  Stay back, son, and play some defense.

It appeared early on, United was playing a Chelsea-like 'play back and wait for Liverpool to make a mistake strategy', but what it really was they were waiting to forge a massive counter attack forward and it was about the only time they've been 'scary'.  Clearances from Sakho and Skrtel saved the day, but Chicharito should have put the ball in the back of the net.

Okay, onwards and upwards to the second half...

The five signings Liverpool missed out on this year

There were quite a few gems for taking at the beginning of the transfer window, unfortunately most of the young, talented future stars have been taken.

1. Alfred Finnbogason, 25, Real Sociedad
Real upgraded from Griezmann when they picked up the Icelandic striker from SC Heerenveen.  He lead all scorers in the Eredivisie last season with 29 goals and also added 10 assists from 57 chances created.  The season before he scored 24 times.  He doesn't have all the physical attributes to out-muscle or speed past his opponents and relies on positional instinct and clinical finishing to score.

2. Dušan Tadić, 25, Southampton
Another Eredivisie product, Tadić lead the Dutch league in assists with 14 and chances created with 133.  He also scored 16 goals.  Southampton got him for £11m, considerably less for what we paid for the player he replaced.  I wrote about him here.

3. Yann M'Vila, 24, Inter Milan
One of the best defensive midfielder prospects under the age of 25 in Europe, M'Vila has found himself on loan in Italy for the next year.  He'll probably use that time to impress a future suitor and there will be aplenty.  His physical prowess, passing ability, and defensive instincts allow him to dominate matches in Serie A, especially considering he is not the fastest of players.  He also has an eye for attack, in his last season with Rennes, the 2012-13 season, he created 43 chances and posted an impressive 7.7 successful long balls per 90 at a 67.7% rate.

4. Kelechi Iheanacho, 17, Man City
If you watched Liverpool's preseason 'victory' over Man City at Yankee Stadium July 30, you may have noticed Iheanacho, He the only City player to convert a penalty.  Iheanacho introduced himself to the world at U17 World Cup, where he put in a performance for the ages.  He scored 6 goals and assisted on 5 more, a 1.77 goal created per 90 average might I add, to lead Nigeria to the title and winning the Golden Ball in the process.  He added the 2013 CAF Most Promising Player of the Year award to his cabinet as well.

5. Álvaro Morata, 21, Juventus
Morata's abilities and potential have been well-documented elsewhere and though I think he'll be a goal-scoring machine at the Turin club, don't expect much else.  Does it matter though?  The former Real Madrid starlet has Golden Boot potential, last season he averaged a goal every 90 minutes played and his above-Serie A-average pace should lead him to a very fruitful Juventus career.  His physical attributes alone would leave one to believe he may one day be successful in the Prem as well.

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.

Balotelli is an over-rated narcissistic cancer

By no means should Liverpool waste their time with Mario Balotelli.  The Italian striker may be one of the most talented in Europe, but he is all about one thing, himself.  Before being sold in the January 2013 window, he had basically already cost Man City a chance of repeating as Premier league champions.  If his lackluster, half-assed efforts on the pitch weren't enough, it paled in comparison to his whiny, childish, and distracting behavior off.

When 'Super' Mario desires to make a difference on the pitch, he can be, at times, unstoppable, but when he could care less, he's not very good at hiding it.  At the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Man City fined him for his less than stellar disciplinary record from the previous year, which Balotelli refuted and threatened to take to a PL tribunal.  He eventually paid the fine, but it looks as if he got his revenge in the most classless manner.  Before his transfer to A.C. Milan, he had scored one goal in 14 appearances for City, let's look at his stats from then, the previous year, and the rest of his season in Serie A:

year	club	npg90	gc90	sacc%	shot%	gopd
2012-13	AC Milan	0.47	0.94	51.9	15.6	0.36
2012-13	Man City	0.15	0.15	17.6	2.9	-0.38
2011-12	Man City	0.68	0.95	39.0	15.9	-0.33

Looks like all of sudden Balotelli found his goal-scoring touch again.  In fact, in the first half of the season at City, less than one out of five of his shots were toward goal, but once he got to magical Milan land, half his shots became on-target.  He also had nearly a full goal swing with his goals-on-pitch difference.  I can't say I'm surprised considering his character.

Balotelli turns it on when he wants to and that's just unacceptable.  He doesn't care about the badge on his chest, all he wants is to be exalted and praised.  He has had problems with every club he has played for and now apparently is upset with Inzaghi and the Milan manager's training tactics. He is not a team player by any means, in fact, in the past five seasons he has received 39 cards and dished out just 12 assists.  Even if he averaged a non-penalty goal per match, which he doesn't, he's not worth the trouble.  We'd be replacing Suarez with a player of half the ability and ten times the trouble.

For those who think he would help us win the Premiership, you're wrong.  City would have won with or without him in 2011-12.  When he was on the pitch, they were a third of the team when he wasn't, hence the -0.33 goals on pitch difference that season.  They certainly didn't need him last season either.

Matchday One: trends vs Southampton

In the past 20 seasons, Liverpool is 10-7-3 on opening day, 4-2-1 at home.  The Reds have scored 29 goals overall, but only 8 at home, allowed 20 overall, though only 5 as hosts.  At Anfield, they've won 1-0 three times & 2-1 once. Against opponents that finished lower on the Prem table than them the previous season, they are 10-2-7 overall and undefeated at home, 4-1-0.

Southampton is 6-9-5 in their past 20 opening day fixtures, 4-5-1 on the road. They've scored 20 goals, 10 on the road, allowed 30, 15 as visitors.  The Saints have either allowed multiple goals or shut-out their opponents away from St. Mary's, drawing 0-0 against West Brom in 2003 and beating Coventry 1-0 in 1999.  They've drawn 2-2 three times, twice against Derby County.  Overall, they are 2-3-6 against opponents that finished higher on the table the previous season, 1-1-3 away from home.

Liverpool is 13-6-7 head-to-head against Southampton overall in the past 20 seasons.  They've met just once before in week one with Liverpool winning 2-1 at St. Mary's in 1998.  Liverpool leads the series, 7-3-3 at Anfield, though the Saints won there last season, 1-0.  Jamie Carragher scored one of his four career league goals against Southampton in a 7-1 drubbing of the Saints in January 1999.

The previous season second-place finisher is 16-3-1 at home versus the previous season eighth-place finisher.  The only time the lower finishing club has beaten the higher is in 1997, when Wimbledon beat Newcastle, 3-1.  Only once in the past 20 seasons have the second place finisher from the previous season hosted the previous season eighth-place finisher in the opening week, in 2008 when Chelsea beat Pompey, 4-0.

The demise of Southampton has been well over-exaggerated, they have added Dušan Tadić, who I've written about before, and Graziano Pellè, who finished second in goals scored in the Eredivisie last season.  They are probably upgrades of Lallana and Lambert and Lovren's spot will most likely be filled by Maya Yoshida or Jos Hooiveld.  Even losing Schneiderlin, if it happens, won't be that much of a loss with James Ward-Prose getting more pitch time.  As long as they have Fonte, Davis, Wanyama, Cork, and Ward-Prowse, they are going to be hard to score against, and Gaston Ramirez, who was more efficient than Lallana last year, will finally get the chance to prove his worth.

Liverpool 2, Man City 2: A 'Sterling' performance

It is only the preseason, but that second half was some entertaining football.  I had to go and praise Coates in the first half, only to have him let me down in the second.  The Uruguayan defender couldn't really do much more save 'take out' Jovetic on the first goal and risk penalty.  Had Gerrard not deflected the ball into the Montenegrin's grasp, Mignolet would have probably scooped up the attempt.  It did slightly expose what became very apparent on the second goal, Coates needs to get stronger.  If he allows forwards to out-muscle him like the Man City forward did on his second score, he'll never make it in the Premiership.

As for the rest of the side, Sterling was the absolute game-changer.  If there ever was a sign of his world class potential, it was his very apparent ability to make his teammates look so much better, especially Henderson, who was having a rubbish bin match before our Raheem came on.  Not to take anything away from Henderson's brilliant finish, but it was Sterling's pass to Sturridge that set up the goal.  Beginning with an excellent set-up for Jack Robinson, which should have produced a better attempt on goal, Sterling provided chance after chance, terrorizing Man City down the left side of the pitch.

Sterling allowed a change in style of play, from a long-ball, centralized approach in the first half, to a possession-based, bring the ball up the flanks in the second.  Well, I should say bring it up the left flank that is, hardly anybody was on the right save Glen Johnson, who did himself no favors when it comes to his critics.  Even when he made a positive contribution, which was rare in itself, he would sure enough mangle it.

Lucas and Can were bright spots as well.  Lucas, in his cameo appearance, neutralized Touré,  provided the brilliant assist to Sterling on the equalizer, and scored the winning penalty.  He provided a sense of 'calm' the team needed to get back into the match.  Can was simply a beast, roaming around central midfield causing havoc for City and making smart possession-based passes.  His style of play is very similar to the box-to-box midfielder prototype that is Yaya Touré, if he can reach those heights, we'll have many years of success to come.

By the way, when did Micah Richards become such a school girl princess?  Before the match, I would have gladly had him come to Liverpool, but his wincing and whining, particularly after being man-handled by Can, has provided second thoughts.  He did more complaining than positive contributing, which is something we don't need.

Also what was going on with the pitch?  I realize it was played on a baseball field, but had this match been scheduled for the Prem or European football, it would have probably been abandoned due to horrendous conditions.  I don't know if the grass was too long or just the wrong kind, but especially in the first half, proper ball movement took an extra effort, which could have lead to a muscle strain or hamstring pull.  The stability in the 'infield' area was also questionable with a few players slipping, maybe that's why Liverpool avoided that side of the pitch in the second half.

Ultimately, this was a meaningless preseason match, despite what Guinness and Fox wants us to believe.  If Sterling can perform this well through-out the season, we'll be contenders until the end.  If Coates can play like he did in the first half, we have another option at centre back.  One thing I'm certain of, as they have both shown it the last two seasons, Henderson and Allen can play much better than they did, but Lambert and Sturridge will have to produce goals for us to have a chance at the title.

Coates, Coates, the killer... Liverpool vs Man City: First half thoughts

First and foremost, the pitch is a joke.  It looks dodgy and the way the ball is moving and players are sliding, especially in the baseball 'infield area', it doesn't look very fun to play on.  Also, is it just me or does the pitch seem small, which is why seemingly 'normal' cross field passes are going out of bounds with frequency.  Now on to our players' performances.

Sebastián Coates is putting on a pre-season tour that may just make it all right to sell Agger to Barcelona, and he's appeared to save his best for this match so far.  He's dispossessed Dzeko and Jovetic with embarrassing ease and his shut-down coverage in the box along with some tricky clearances have all but neutralized any real City chances.  For the first time, at least in a long time, he's shown the competency and ability to wear the Liverpool shirt.

No one else has been that outstanding, but Coutinho has made some brilliant runs.  Had he found Sturridge on that run where he took on three City players with his brilliant Brazilian wizardry, world class sweat would have been oozing from his veins.  A far reached foot by a City defender saved that from possibly being the match highlight.

Toure and Kelly have played well also, though they have had their 'frantic' moments.  Every time Kolo clears the ball, I cringe a little, he just seems so unsure of what he's doing out there.  Kelly has had his hands full with Kolarev and though I wouldn't say he's winning the battle, he's certainly holding his own.

Gerrard has been solid, two plays come to mind.  First, we he did that immediate through-ball on a rebound supposedly to Sturridge, he had that look on his face as if he thought, 'Man, Torres or Suarez would have saw that coming.' Work with him, Stevie, he's all we got right now.  Also that ankle-breaking direction-changing dribble in the middle of his own third on Kolarev was simply brilliant, Allen Iverson would be proud.

As for the poor performances, Allen has been bottom, he seems so out-of-place and may be having his worst passing match ever, Hendo hasn't been much better.  Every time either of them try to .make something happen' they create a turnover.  Lambert has been okay, at best, but he needs to be better at creating chances for others and exert less energy doing so.  Would not be surprise to see him on the bench in the second half.  Speaking of which...

Yer havin' a Laugh-ezzi: 29-year-old forward simply overrated

Ezequiel Lavezzi is like a fine wine, he's gotten better with age, but is he good enough to help Liverpool win?  He doesn't score many goals, he has more than his fair share of turnovers, and he's an average passer at best, though he does make his passes count.  Over the past five seasons, he has a 2.03 chances created per 90 and a chance created value of 10.67%, both above average numbers in any league.

Ironic enough, the thing he does best was the about the only thing he hasn't consistently improved upon each season.  Last season he posted career percentage highs in pass completion (79.25%), shot accuracy (53.19%), and shot on target rate (19.15%).  Unfortunately, he set a career low in assists with zero and a chance created value also of zero, despite a 1.73 chance created per 90.  His turnover rate of 12.8 was a career low, but it's still not great and at 29, how many seasons does he have left in him?  We don't need another Rickie Lambert.

What is really alarming is that he has never posted a positive goals on pitch difference for any club any season, meaning he has never been a consistent contributor (or game changer) for a positive overall result.  In fact, his worst gopd season came last year, when he posted a -0.31 despite playing for the Ligue 1 champions.

There's really nothing Lavezzi does great, he's just an all-round good second striker.  He's not a 'big' signing, despite the hype and I get the feeling Rodgers would have to drastically overpay for him, a luxury we can't afford now that we've added Lovren and Origi at exorbitant prices.  He doesn't have the pace to compete in the Prem anymore, if he ever truly did, and there's really nothing in his past that indicates he's suddenly going to be a world beater.  Personally, I think Liverpool should pass and try to get Reus, Shaquiri, or Kruse.

A German 'Ace' not named Reus worthy of consideration

Max Kruse is one of those rare footballers who does a lot of things well that the average fan fails to recognize.  He doesn't score a lot of goals, he doesn't even get that many assists, and in fact, he's a fairly average passer.  So what does he do that makes stat junkies like myself drool?  He's simply amazing on the ball and extraordinary with specialized passing.

He spent last season at Borussia Möchengladbach and the season prior at FC Freiburg, his impact on each was profound, but I'll get to that in a bit.  First a look at his stats from both years:

	cc90	ccv	cr90	cr%	lb90	lb%	tb%	sdr90	sdr%
13-14	2.93	9.2	1.97	44.9	3.91	84	53.9	3.88	67.4
12-13	2.85	8.6	1.28	20.5	3.03	79.2	72.2	2.84	60.8

Nearly three chances created per 90, a successful cross rate rivaled by no one in the Prem and only the well-esteemed Ricardo Rodriguez bettered in the Bundesliga, 3-4 long balls per 90 at an 80+ percent completion rate, and successful dribble stats that only the likes of Ribery, Firmino, Draxler, and Gotze equaled.  Pretty impressive company for a relative unknown, but those aren't the only things that make Kruse an attractive transfer target.

The year before he transferred to Freiburg from St. Pauli, the Black Forest club finished 12th.  Kruse led them to a fifth place finish and a Europa league spot, four points shy of Champions League football.  It was their second-highest finish in the Bundesliga ever and only the third time they had reached the Europa/UEFA Cup.  Last season, after he left for Borussia Möchengladbach, Freiburg dropped to 14th.

Prior to joining his current club, Gladbach finished 8th, scored 45 goals, and tallied 47 points.  Last season they finished 6th, scored 59 goals, and earned 55 points.  Much of their success was due to Kruse and his partner up front, Raffael.  The bottom line is, he wills his side to win and his uncanny style mesmerizes and befuddles opposition players and coaches.  I honestly think he would be a great addition to Liverpool, just imagine he, Gerrard, Sturridge, Coutinho, and Sterling passing the ball about the pitch like they were playing against a bunch of ice cream truck clowns.

Do desperate times call for Christian Benteke?

Last summer, Christian Benteke was one of the most sought after strikers in the Prem.  Chelsea and Tottenham both made approaches to Villa for his services, but apparently were turned away by a ridiculous £25m transfer fee.  Turns out the London clubs played it smart as the Belgian striker endured a injury-riddled sophomore slump in the Prem.  Injuries to his hip and knee as well as a ruptured Achilles tendon limited his pitch time to just 24 starts and 2 substitutes.  He also further exposed his biggest weaknesses, passing and ball control.

Last season and the season before, Benteke posted true turnover index 90s of 22.2 and 20.7, primarily due to poor passing.  Those are some of, if not the, worst numbers I have ever seen.  The fact that he declined in his second season from his first is even more alarming.  His passing is even less impressive, going from a dismal 64.89% is inaugural season to an abysmal 60.73% last year.  At least he isn't passing backwards for percentage sake, posting 46.7% two seasons ago and an improved 45.5% in his second season.  Maybe he should do a little more back-passing to save from turning over the ball.

He did make some positive contributions though.  For a player who isn't a great passer, he does create chances, nearly two every 90 minutes last season and 1.69 the previous.  His non-penalty goal scoring rate of 0.44 every 90 minutes and 0.64 goal created per 90 the last two seasons combined aren't unimpressive either.  Probably the oddest stat is his long balls per 90 of 1.19 at a 72.4% success rate, for a forward-lying player he's pretty good at finding others at far lengths.

So should Benteke even be considered an option? Well, the negatives are apparent, though I think his passing would improve on a more talented side and one that plays a less negative-style of football.  The turnovers may have something to do with him being 23-years-old, but the fact he showed no improvement from first to second season is worrisome.  He is also coming off a very serious injury, but apparently his recovery is going well. I seem to making excuses to sign him, so I'll stop there.  He should have to be a bargain basement deal or even a free to be considered at any point, or we really are that desperate.