Told you so. So the first palpable thing to point out is that all the teams have played the same amount of games and funnily enough the same number of minutes.
So where are they in the table?
City are currently running riot in first place totalling nineteen points. Spurs are third on fourteen points, Chelsea are joint with Arsenal on thirteen points. And then Liverpool at the bottom of the pack sit seventh on twelve points.
You may have noticed I have missed out Manchester United and Burnley in-between those teams and with valid reasons. Manchester United wasn’t on the list of teams given to me and as for Burnley???I don’t think I need to say anymore. I may reluctantly have to bring Manchester United into the discussion, we’ll see.
So in order to gain some perspective on this it’s time to introduce the first significant graphic in which I have compared the goals scored, goals from inside the area, goals from outside the area and chances created.
So what does this graphic tell us. Well the obvious stuff really, City are smashing seven shades of shit out of the league so far and come out on top on every section. That of which Liverpool are currently tied at the top of???your guessed it chances created. Two words all Liverpool fans have learned to despise over the past few months.
Other notable occurrence is how close the rest of the other teams are. For all the doom and gloom surrounding Liverpool recently we are not exactly streets behind the rest of the teams.
And this isn’t a case of me looking at this through red tinted glasses, ok maybe a little bit but the stats are there for everyone to see. It’s a case of ifs, buts and to quote Beverly Knight a large dose of “shoulda, woulda, coulda“.
We all want Liverpool to be successful, we all want to snot teams three, four and five nil. But so far, besides Arsenal that hasn’t happened.
Personally I’m getting a bit worn-out with the “Something will click” spiel. Yes, we are creating chances, yes we have scored more than Arsenal and Chelsea and yes we can’t possibly carry on creating this many chances and not increase our goals to shot accuracy.
The million-dollar question is what is wrong with Liverpool and how do they fix it. Again this is easier said than done, but it could simply be a confidence issue. Which brings me back to my first point, of welcoming this international break. ???A change can be as good as a rest’ is a familiar saying we can all probably relate to. OK, being on thousands of pounds every week shouldn’t result in needing a change but these guys are only human. Let’s hope we come back after the break firing on all cylinders.
The other argument is Liverpool lack a twenty-thirty goal a season striker. And to some extent I agree. But on the flipside you’d expect half the chances we’ve had to go in the back of the net.
While I remember, I have another valid point if I do say so myself. I watched Match of the Day last week and Raheem Sterling is scoring tap ins, Raheem Sterling. The guy who couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat for us is now banging them in. Fair play to him, my point being we are not shite and there is always room for improvement. Have hope.
Time for the next graphic.
As you can see Liverpool are a close third in the total shots department, not sure if that’s a surprising statistic or not.
Last of course in shot accuracy. But not that far behind the others. The point being its fine margins that have cost us games and ultimately our defence. That’s another article which frankly I’ve neither the time or the patience for at the moment. Maybe next week when the Newcastle game is a distant memory and the gap between my working day and Liverpool’s next fixture is smaller than the gap Matip and Lovren left.
Rational head or not, reading these statistics have left me somewhat more optimistic than previous weeks. It’s far too easy to get caught up in a little bubble of Liverpool Football Club when you watch them week in, week out.
But once you stop and take note of the other teams, a little glimpse of reality and expectation kicks back in. Are we that far behind the others? No. Are we destined to miss out on fourth spot? No. Have we got one of the best attacks in the Premier League? YES!!
Excuse me for being a glass half full kind of guy but that’s just how I see it. That’s my opinion. I won’t be on Twitter shouting expletives of how shit Liverpool are or how all of a sudden Bobby Firmino is useless because he missed a penalty and hasn’t scored 12312431243 goals so far this season.
It would be great if Liverpool won every game 8-0, if our owners spent hundreds of million pounds every summer, if unicorns were real, if there was no war and Donald Trump was actually a social experiment and his Presidency was just a huge stunt to promote a new series of Punk’d.
Unfortunately, in the real world none of the previous will happen. We love football for its drama, for its talking points, debate and camaraderie with fellow football lovers. Not to be self-centred, potty mouthed keyboard warriors with a desire of instant success whilst our parents spoon feed us everything our needy desperate minds crave.
To end on a positive note, Everton are doing shite aren’t they.
Ross
