Emre Can: Better than Gerrard at 20?

At first I was a bit skeptical of the seemingly endless praise for Emre Can, then I started to research his stats and watch his videos.  The kid is a beast and not only reminds me of a reckless 20-year-old Steven Gerrard, but he actually appears more advanced.

They have many similarities, Gerrard from that stage and Emre Can now.  Both are good on the ball, though I would give the edge to Can, each are creative passers, especially of the long ball, and both are solid tacklers, though Gerrard was seemingly a bit more committal, which can be a good or bad.  The one thing Can has and will have a hard time emulating is Gerrard's passion and, oddly enough, his discipline.

I thought Gerrard was a bit feisty at that age, but Can collected three-fold cards last season.  Maybe that's because Can played in Germany and Gerrard was a good ole boy in the EPL, but three-fold is three-fold.  I honestly thought Gerrard collected more cards.

I just hope Can tries to learn as much as he can from our fearless leader before he's set to take his place. Here's some eye candy from our future and our past:

Liverpool vs Man City: A look at the stats

Let's take a look at some key statistics from last season:

(league rank in parenthesis)             LFC                       MCFC
overall possession %                     55.8 (5)                   57.6 (2)
pass success %                             84.5 (4)                   86.1 (1)
chances created                             488 (3)                    533 (1)
shots conceded pg                        12.8 (8)                     9.5 (1)
shots OT pg                                   6.8 (1)                     6.3 (2)
fouled pg                                      10.8 (6)                     8.9 (20)
offsides pg                                     2.1 (9)                     1.6 (19)
open play goals                              55 (3)                       66 (1)
counter attack goals                         9 (1)                        5 (2)
set piece goals                                26 (1)                      20 (2)
crosses pg                                      17 (20)                    23 (6)
through ball pg                                5 (1)                         3 (4)
long balls pg                                   56 (18)                    55 (20)
short passes pg                              469 (4)                    502 (3)
possession in own half %                 29 (13)                    23 (1)
possession in opp half %                 28 (11)                    31 (1)

Clearly some of these are obvious: you keep the ball more (possession %), you make better decisions on the ball (pass success %), you create more chances, you don't allow your opponent many chances, and you keep the ball out of your own half, you've got a better chance to win more games.

What surprised me the most was LFC's attack efficiency, they scored more with less opportunity.  They had a goal per chance opportunity of 4.83 compared to Man City at 5.22.  Against the run of play which factors in possession pct per match, Liverpool is even more impressive since their possession pct was not as high (8.66 compared to 9.06).

Which leaves the white elephant in the room, defense.  Liverpool was not bad defensively, they were just merely average while Man City was very good (though not excellent).  The problem in statistically analyzing defensive performance is that it is nearly impossible to quantify things such as 'forced back pass' or 'passing lane reduction'.  These things limit opportunities of an opponent to score, but unless you watch every match and keep statistics yourself, which neither I nor no one I know has the time to do so, it's just not going to happen.  Plus there are judgement calls.

One thing I find interesting is how little opponent passing pct really matters, even in the attacking third.  According to StatsBomb, through April 21st, Man City was allowing a pass success rate of 81.5% overall and 68.2% in the final third, while LFC were superior in both at 79.2% and 66.7%.  The problem being that direction of pass is not being considered, Man City may be forcing their opponents to make back and horizontal passes by cutting off passing lanes/opportunities.

The bottom line is Man City were the best at preventing opponents from scoring chances, which unfortunately we can only validate by shots conceded per match, and though Liverpool were more efficient offensively, they created less chances for themselves overall (even though it lead to just one more goal overall).

Some observations that I think separated the two sides are lack of discipline by Liverpool defenders, especially Skrtel and Sakho, and not having a true defensive midfielder on the pitch a lot of the time. It also doesn't help that MCFC just has better defensive midfielders in Fernandinho and Javi Garcia with Yaya Toure occasionally deputized.  One of these problems may have been resolved with the addition of Emre Can, but he is closer to a box-to-box than a defensive midfielder and the lack of discipline has to be addressed by the coaching staff or else look for those who will listen.
                  

Adam Lallana is not even worth £15m

Again, like Lambert,  I like Lallana, but not for £15m... maybe £8m.  Apparently Southampton now want upwards of £25m, that's just laughable.  There are many other players out there that are just as good, if not better, that we can get for that much or less and honestly, do we really need another midfielder right now?  We have Suso back, who is only 20, and I think Jordon Ibe at least deserves a chance.

If they are going to spend £20m+ for an attacking midfielder, it should be for a young, talented, and somewhat proven player like Xherdan Shaqiri, Lazar Markovic, or even a forward/winger like Cristian Tello (who won't cost as much btw).  Lallana is 26 and he'll need to improve as much next season as he did the last, if he's even worth £15m.  I just don't see that happening, especially with all the competition at Anfield.

An interesting read: Xherdan Shaqiri vs Adam Lallana

Assessing Rickie Lambert

When I first heard we had spent £4m for Rickie Lee Lambert, I almost lost my shit.  Really?  Really, Mr. Rodgers?  What happened to our no spending for players over 23?  Not only that, but Rickie Lee Lambert, 32 year old striker who has spent a total of 2 seasons in top flight football?  It sounds crazy, but... it just might work.

He obviously won't be a starter, and if he does, we'll be in a world of shit to begin with.  I can see him being beneficial as a late match spark, as he provides a different approach then Sturridge or Suarez, and he'll also get starts in lesser cup matches, which should prove beneficial to his stat padding.

Listen, I don't dislike Lambert, I just think he's a poor man's Dirk Kuyt.  Might as well bring him back, if you're going to go that route.

Just a glimpse of Maxi

Dirk Kuyt scored the winning goal, Javier Mascherano was a beast, Daniel Agger re-introduced himself to the footballing world, and Steven Gerrard was, well, Stevie-G, but the player who I thought put in the most important performance today was Maxi Rodriguez. If Liverpool are to finish in the top four, it's clear they are going to need a creative spark from somewhere and Maxi showed against Everton he's more than capable of filling that role.

Like Xabi before him, Rodriguez' passing prowess went unnoticed as the pundits, press, and fellow bloggers praised the performances of the aforementioned (as well as Carra and Insua, who both played well too I might add). In fact, I have yet to read anywhere about how Maxi's brilliant bloop pass to N'Gog set up the corner that lead to the game-winning goal. It was just one of about five that raised my eye brows. Not to mention, the Argentine showed a toughness that quite frankly before today, I felt he failed to possess.

The next big question is whether or not Rafa will try to integrate Maxi into a more central midfield position where he can utilize his skills with greater area to operate. He primarily played on the left today (a bit odd considering we got that Riera fella) and though he has the ability to play out wide, I personally think it's a waste of talent. Regardless, it was a promising performance and as he becomes more familiar and comfortable with his teammates and his role with the team, more great things are bound to come.

(By the way, I will not be updating this blog regularly but only sporadically due to other commitments. Sorry, that's just the way it is, but I greatly appreciate all those who read it. Cheers.)

Steven Gerrard is the new crack

Watch this video all the way through and you'll see what I mean...

Spurs 2, Liverpool 1: Absolutely pathetic

Not really that bad, but... well, you know... First, Babel is not a winger. When the fuck is Benitez going to wake up and realize this? Benayoun should have started, this isn't rocket science. Being an avid defender of Benitez is really making me look bad and having Ryan 'I have no clue how to the pass the ball despite having four defenders on me' Babel play wing is not helping.

Torres needs to stop being a little bitch, This is the Premiership, stop falling down when one of your hairs get out of place. Jesus Christ, yes, your a great player, but when the hell are you going to stop using your ability to deceive and start utilizing your strength to man-handle defenders? This is English football for fuck's sake.

I have beef with Carra as well, but I know when I'm walking on thin ice. What the fuck, dude? I know you love all things Liverpool, but when the fuck are going to learn to trust Skrtel? The guy hardly fucks up as it is, and we don't need you breaking his jaw on really bad decisions to go for the ball.

A bad start nonetheless even though Reina once again proved he's one of the best keepers in the world. Glen Johnson was outstanding as well, not to mention Lucas showing he's grown some balls. We need six points in the next two no matter what and fuck that FSC fucker who said that was our 'whole squad'. Really you dipshit England and Newcastle reject? Where was Riera, Agger, or Aquilani? Not to mention Martin Kelly is the next Steven Gerrard, Fuck off, you douche.