Match Thread : Liverpool v Chelsea

[LFC-DPG]

top scorer this season is salah alongside firmino of all players 7.

Issues everywhere

Yep it’s a problem

Shots

1. Manchester City - 335
2. Liverpool - 314
3. Arsenal - 308

Shots on target

1. Manchester City - 117
2. Tottenham Hotspur - 114
3. Liverpool - 113

Goals

1. Manchester City - 53
2. Arsenal - 45
3. Tottenham Hotspur - 39
4. Brighton & Hove Albion - 37
5. Liverpool - 34

Big chances missed

1. Liverpool - 44
2. Manchester City - 37

[CCTV]

Yep it’s a problem

Shots

1. Manchester City - 335
2. Liverpool - 314
3. Arsenal - 308

Shots on target

1. Manchester City - 117
2. Tottenham Hotspur - 114
3. Liverpool - 113

Goals

1. Manchester City - 53
2. Arsenal - 45
3. Tottenham Hotspur - 39
4. Brighton & Hove Albion - 37
5. Liverpool - 34

Big chances missed

1. Liverpool - 44
2. Manchester City - 37

It's interesting

On goal difference to points
Manu +7 GD 39 Points (12 Wins 5 Losses)
LFC +9 GD 29 Points (8 Wins 6 Losses - one game in hand)

If you adjust for our 9-0 win as an outlier, the goal difference/scoring is much worse.
-6 say reflecting a normal big win of 3-0, instead of 9-0.
Played 19
Scored 28
Goal.difference +3
Or
wipe 9 off our goals scored and knock off a game
Played 18
Scored 25
Goal difference 0

The big win against Bournemouth skews our goal difference. Hopefully we make it count at the end of the season.

[dicko1969]

I was looking at the epl top scorers too today.

Not the stats like the last few years.
Salah 7
Nunez 5

Assists
Robbo 5

Shocking , many players above them in both lists.

As I say the only real highlights this season.

1. Charity Shield
2. 9-0
3. Beating City
4. Bajcetic

That's all tbh.
It's been a slog of a season.

[dicko1969]

A few games , even before a ball kicked .
I have thought we'll lose that.
V man u
V Brighton too.

Just not a right feeling at the club.

[Insidious]

It's been a slog of a season.

No denying it. Been difficult.

A number of problems. Counterintuitively, by having a lot of problems, there are a lot of fixes.

Looking at some of the problems -

- Firmino out
- Jota out
- Diaz out
- Núñez time disrupted with suspension and an injury
- Van Dijk out
- Adjusting to life without Mane
- Salah's indifferent form
- Trent's form up and down
- Matip's indifferent form
- Fabinho's dreadful form
- Henderson's reducing athletic capacity
- Missing chances
- Gakpo getting integrated
- Elliott developing with the inconsistency that comes with young lads
- Lack of legs in midfield
- Midfielders too high and wide for much of the season
- Sloppy concessions of possession leaving us vulnerable to counters
- Conceding first too often
- Playing poorly for the opening 15 minutes of many games
- Question marks in some line-ups

There's absolutely no way we can fix all of those at once, nor wave a Magic Wand and improve a bunch of it at a time. However we can absolutely improve in SOME areas, such as compactness in midfield to protect the defence.

I am hoping that March-May will be easier than January/February on account of getting attacking players back to help with options and rotation. With that in mind, I have my fingers crossed that we can do well enough in some of the upcoming League games (Wolves, Everton, Newcastle) to keep the distance between us and 4th from getting too out-of-hand before reeling it in - but it's undeniably a very big ask.

[dicko1969]

Thinking about chelsea and their shenanigans.
They have taken huge risks, signing players on 6 or 8 year contracts. And so on.
Huge implications.