Last season we won 25, drew 11 and lost 2. If half of those draws had been wins and the other half defeats, we would have won the League. We haven’t drawn at all yet this season so it is a nonsense to dismiss our title chances purely on the basis of the number of defeats after 8 games.
The other common “expert” analysis of Liverpool is that our midfield lacks creativity. ‘Liverpool fan’, Andy Gray described Lucas and Mascherano as “destructive” players who are unlikely to play a sweeping 40-yard pass or slip a ball down the channels. The Mirror’s Oliver Holt meanwhile, saw fit to write an article slating our lack of creativity from midfield and, again, claiming we miss Alonso.
Both make valid although hardly astute points. Of course we miss Alonso. He was our most creative central midfield player and it's pretty obvious that if Rafa selects Mascherano and Lucas in the same team, there will be a lack of creativity. However, these "experts" seem to overlook the fact that Rafa has signed a creative midfielder to replace Alonso. At a cost of £20m, Aquilani was bought to play in the first team. When fit, Rafa surely intends to play Aquilani plus one of Lucas and Mascherano in the bigger games. Unfortunately for us, Aquilani was injured when signed and hasn't yet recovered. It's fair to question the wisdom of signing a player to fill a key position who was likely to miss the first quarter of the season. Ultimately, we will only be able to judge that decision at the end of the season when we will know if Aquilani was (a) any good and (b) able to play often enough to make any difference. If Rafa was hoping that other players could do enough to keep us in the title race in the meantime, it looks as though he was wrong so Aquilani will have to have an unbelievably good impact to really justify Rafa's gamble.
I believe that the biggest problem with this Liverpool team, and the reason they won't win the Premiership, is the overall lack of goal-scorers. Torres and Gerrard are exceptional players and, fitness permitting, will both net 20+ goals this season. Kuyt and Benayoun are capable of chipping in with 10-15 goals each. Babel and Riera can get up to 10 each. Beyond that, there are not many goals in this Liverpool squad. Of Liverpool's back four at Chelsea, Skrtel and Insua have never scored while Carragher averages less than one goal every 100 games.
In midfield, Mascherano and Lucas have scored just two Premiership goals between them in over two seasons. That meant 5 players out of the 10 outfield players who started yesterday's match were highly unlikely to trouble Chelsea's defence. It is those players who must improve their goal returns if we are to have any chance of challenging for the title in this or any season.
Being effectively defensively isn't enough (not that our defensive players have been effective this season). The likes of Terry, Gallas, Carvalho, Ferdinand and Vidic all chip in with goals for their teams and even defensive midfielders like Claude Makelele and Owen Hargreaves have netted for their teams in recent title-winning campaigns.
Below are the numbers of goals scored by midfielders and defenders for the last five champions:
2004-05...........2005-06............2006-07...........2007-08...........2008-09
Chelsea...........Chelsea............Man Ure..........Man Ure...........Man Ure
Midfield..........Midfield..........Midfield..........Midfield..........Midfield
Lampard – 13..Lampard – 16. Ronaldo - 17...Ronaldo - 31....Ronaldo - 18
J. Cole – 8.......J. Cole – 8.......Scholes – 6.....Nani - 3............Carrick - 4
Robben – 7......Robben – 6.....Park - 5...........Giggs - 3..........Fletcher - 2
Duff – 6............Duff – 3...........Giggs - 4.........Hargreaves - 2.Giggs - 2
Tiago – 4.........Geremi – 2......Carrick - 3.......Carrick - 2........Macheda - 2
Makelele – 1....Essien – 2.......Fletcher - 3......Scholes - 1......Park - 2
................................................Richardson – 1.Park - 1..........Scholes - 2
................................................Eagles - 1................................Gibson - 1
.................................................................................................Nani - 1
TOTAL – 39....TOTAL - 37....TOTAL - 40.......TOTAL - 43.......TOTAL - 33
Defence.........Defence.........Defence.........Defence..........Defence
Terry – 3.........Gallas - 5.........O'Shea - 4.......Ferdinand - 2...Vidic - 4
Gallas – 2........Terry - 4...........Vidic - 3...........Brown - 1.........Brown - 1
Carvalho – 1....Del Horno – 1..Ferdinand - 1...Vidic - 1...........Rafael - 1
........................Carvalho - 1.....Silvestre - 1
.................................................Evra - 1
TOTAL – 6......TOTAL – 11.....TOTAL – 10.....TOTAL – 4.....TOTAL – 6
In the same seasons, Liverpool's records are as follows:
2004-05:
Midfielders (21) - Luis Garcia (9), Gerrard (7), Alonso (2), Biscan (2), Kewell (1)
Defenders (9) - Riise (6*), Hyypia (2), Finnan (1)
* Also often played and scored from midfield
2005-06:
Midfielders (23) - Gerrard (10), Luis Garcia (6), Alonso (3), Kewell (2), Zenden (2)
Defenders (2) - Riise (1), Hyypia (1)
2006-07:
Midfielders (18) - Gerrard (7), Alonso (4), Luis Garcia (3), Gonzalez (2), Pennant (1), Kewell (1)
Defenders (8) - Agger (3), Hyypia (2), Carragher (1), Riise (1), Arbeloa (1)
2007-08:
Midfielders (25) - Gerrard (11), Babel (4), Benayoun (4), Alonso (2), Pennant (2), Sissoko (1), Mascherano (1)
Defenders (2) - Hyypia (1), Aurelio (1)
2008-09:
Midfielders (35) - Gerrard (16), Benayoun (8), Alonso (4**), Babel (3), Riera (3), Lucas (1)
Defenders (7) - Aurelio (2), Carragher (1***), Agger (1), Arbeloa (1), Hyypia (1), Dossena (1)
** Alonso's goal at Chelsea was later credited as an own goal by the Premiership but was recorded as Alonso's in the club's official records
*** Carragher's goal at Middlesbrough was later credited as an own goal by the Premiership but was recorded as Carragher's in the club's official records
Only last season - the only season in which we competed for the title - did we get enough goals from midfield but that stat is debatable given Gerrard was predominantly playing in a forward's role. It is also notable that two of the most regular scoring defenders, Hyypia and Riise are no longer at the club. For that reason, we need Agger back in the team as soon as possible while the likes of Skrtel, Insua, Mascherano and Lucas have to improve their goal returns or we will continue to be overreliant on Torres and Gerrard to win us matches.
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