It is a lot more than mere understatement to label Liverpool’s start as dreadful. Not even out of August and already, Rafa’s boys have lost the same number of games they did during all of last year’s campaign. A tricky away defeat at Spurs is certainly forgiveable, but at home to Aston Villa, there really aren’t many excuses. Especially when the corresponding fixture saw a five nil romp for the Reds.
With Xabi Alonso taking flight to Madrid and the introduction of Glen Johnson at right back, the shape of Benitez’s XI and, resultantly, the space allowed for each individual player was therefore altered, in comparison to the previous match-up with Villa, last March. It is interesting to look at these two games for clues as to what went wrong on at Anfield on Monday night:
Alonso v Lucas Distribution
This first chalkboard, comparing the passing of Alonso to Lucas’ on Monday night, clearly illustrates the marked difference in the two players. Alonso made almost twice the amount of passes (with far greater variety to his distribution), dropping back further to link play between defence and attack and creating more space in the middle of the park for the likes of Stevie G to operate in. Lucas’main contribution to the game was to gift Villa the lead, ensuring the introduction of Alberto Aquilani to first team matters is seen more and more as a matter of urgency.
Glen Johnson: Too Attack-Minded?
The second chalkboard compares Glen Johnson’s passing last Monday to that of Alvaro Arbeloa in the right back position last season. Bought more for his attacking abilities, Johnson played much of the game almost as a right winger, making the majority of his passes wide on the right in Villa’s half, whereas Arbeloa last season- although getting forward on occasion- made much fewer passes due to Liverpool’s play being dictated through the centre.
Despite his team’s ills, Johnson has made an impressive start to the season, yet there is an argument that by playing so far forward, Liverpool lose some of their defensive solidity. Against a team with Villa’s speed up front, the Reds were resultantly more susceptible to counter attacks. A look at this chalkboard, showing the number of interceptions each of them made, is rather more telling. Arbeloa broke up Villa’s play an impressive 8 times last season, whereas Johnson on Monday? None. Yup. Not once.
Shots at Goal
The final chalkboard is a look at Liverpool’s shots at goal in both fixtures. Monday night’s game saw them have a lot more attempts on goal than last March, but take a look at where much of the shots came from; it shows a slight air of desperation about the Reds’ play. Whereas last season the shots were mainly concentrated well inside the box or just outside the box and central, Liverpool let fly from range too many times, an indication that the final killer ball was lacking and the team had ran out of ideas.
Interestingly, from an FPL point of view, the current line-up and tactics would suggest that Dirk Kuyt (9.5) is a possible alternative to Steven Gerrard (12.5). Last season, Gerrard had 6 attempts and 3 goals, Kuyt had 1 attempt and 1 goal. This time around, Gerrard again had 6 attempts, but they were not as central or as close to Villa’s goal, whereas Kuyt had 4 attempts, all of them well inside the penalty box.
With the afore-mentioned Glen Johnson creating the width on the right, Kuyt can make his way into the centre with far more regularity than last season. Perhaps, though, when Aquilani is fit and well, the Reds will revert back to the machine (and style of play) they were at the tail end of last season; it is clear they operate far more efficiently with an intelligent passer dictating play from the centre of the field, and results already show how a player of Alonso’s influence is integral to the Red’s success. In the meantime, on-pitch results and FPL decisions for us managers will continue to be unexpectedly clouded.