Difficult to improve on near perfection...but...LFC's assist stats tell a tale:
Assists from the back line....25 (TAA 12, AR 11, VvD 2)
Assists from mids...............10 (JM 4, JH 3, Fab 2, NK 1)
Truly remarkable how LFC's L & R Backs are asked to push forward and deliver important crosses and still defend on the back line with Best in the PL efficiency.
This dependence on the back line to generate offense is far from ideal.
When compared to MNC, the contrast in each team's ability to retain possession is striking. LFC leans on their back line and I'd love to see a time of possession stat for this group if such a stat exists.
MNC relies on their mids to retain possession.
MNC's ability to retain possession much closer to the goal presents their strikers with substantially more goal scoring opportunities. The strength of their mids allows this.
LFC has work to do.
MNC +1500 passes
MNC +76 shots
MNC +34 shots on target
I have hope Ox plus a more settled Fab and Keita will provide more of a threat up the middle next year which in turn frees up the front 3 for uneven fast breaks. LFC's mids need to be better delivering the ball
Over a 38 game season those stats look quite silly really.
The 1,500 passes works out to roughly 40 more per match.
The 76 shots equals 2 more than us per game.
The 34 shots on target is less than 1 more than us per game.
But that's taking into account that they are equally spread out over the 38 games.
I bet there are a few freak matches where city had 8/900 passes and about 30 shots on goal.
In fact against Huddersfield earlier in the season they had 32 shots at goal with 14 on target.
Then against Cardiff they had 21 shots with 10 on target and 799 passes.
Then against Brighton they had 28 shots, 8 on target and 850 passes. They won that game 2-0 haha
Against West Ham they had 20 shots, 7 on target and 780 passes and again despite their dominance they won 1-0 courtesy of an aguero pen.
A couple more results like that probably makes it a lot closer over the course of the season.
Edit: also they scored a few more goals than us in the league but it's not like they were scoring 2 every game they had a lot of 1 - 0 wins and a few stat padding 5 and 6 goal maulings of relegation fodder.
In fact their form over the last few games was pretty bad when you look at it needing cm over the line goals and a once in a lifetime strike from someone who hadn't scored all season.
« Last Edit: May 21, 2019 10:36:23 am by LFCSTEVE1984 »
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