I thought we'd done this recently but it must have been in another thread (Hendo's I guess).
Sky have just written an article - they must read 6CM - concerning the lack of creativity from Gini & Hendo. Some interesting stats, though they do say we have a wide selection of good midfielders that can offer something different depending on the opposition and situation we find ourselves in.
Our top Chance Creators from Open Play (not sure how 'Chances' are defined and I'm sure it's contentious but anyway it's the same across all PL teams) :
Our most defensive midfielder is also far FAR and away our most creative, astonishingly so.
[xtable]
{tbody}
{tr}
{td}Alexander-Arnold{/td}
{td}21{/td}
{td}900{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Mane{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}788{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Fabinho{/td}
{td}13{/td}
{td}900{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Robertson{/td}
{td}13{/td}
{td}826{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Firmino{/td}
{td}12{/td}
{td}834{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Salah{/td}
{td}12{/td}
{td}792{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
They are followed by :
Milner 4 (from 239 mins)
Ox 2 (227)
Hendo 2 (575)
Gini 1 (840)
Lallana 0 (30 mins), Shaq 0 (11 mins) and Keita 0 (8 mins) obviously need more time to properly evaluate.
And to quote Sky"
Henderson's passing accuracy of 72.7 per cent in the opposition half suggests wastefulness in possession without a cutting edge, while centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip have advanced the ball into the final third more times than Henderson or Wijnaldum this season.
To counter that argument though :
No team has a better defensive record in the Premier League this season than Liverpool - and that owes plenty to the control Henderson, Wijnaldum and Fabinho bring to the middle of the pitch. That control was absent in Belgium, with Fabinho unable to cover Genk's attacks on his own.
Control vs creativity. That is the billing for this battle for midfield minutes at Anfield. But football isn't that simple - and Liverpool have a variety - and many - tests coming up.
There's more, however:
Ahead of their clash with Tottenham, Klopp said his Liverpool side were facing their 'hardest period', and their Carabao Cup tie with Arsenal on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports, kicks off a run of at least 16 games in 65 days through to their home match with Sheffield United on January 2.
The real challenge for Klopp will be ensuring that the combination of control and creativity are at the right levels. That Liverpool have the incision of players such as Oxlade-Chamberlain when they come up against mean defences and that they have the security of Henderson and Wijnaldum when opponents have the tools to hurt them.
There's not much wrong with that article IMHO, we all know it's an issue and it reduces our forwards' effectiveness. The question is going to be integration, the how and the when and will it improve us or lead to a drop off in performances.
There is no way we can continue with Klopp's current preferred midfield with that log-jam of games to get through and then there'll be the CL and FAC to add to the fixture congestion after that.
Sky have just written an article - they must read 6CM - concerning the lack of creativity from Gini & Hendo. Some interesting stats, though they do say we have a wide selection of good midfielders that can offer something different depending on the opposition and situation we find ourselves in.
Our top Chance Creators from Open Play (not sure how 'Chances' are defined and I'm sure it's contentious but anyway it's the same across all PL teams) :
Our most defensive midfielder is also far FAR and away our most creative, astonishingly so.
[xtable]
{tbody}
{tr}
{td}Alexander-Arnold{/td}
{td}21{/td}
{td}900{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Mane{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}788{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Fabinho{/td}
{td}13{/td}
{td}900{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Robertson{/td}
{td}13{/td}
{td}826{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Firmino{/td}
{td}12{/td}
{td}834{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Salah{/td}
{td}12{/td}
{td}792{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
They are followed by :
Milner 4 (from 239 mins)
Ox 2 (227)
Hendo 2 (575)
Gini 1 (840)
Lallana 0 (30 mins), Shaq 0 (11 mins) and Keita 0 (8 mins) obviously need more time to properly evaluate.
And to quote Sky"
Henderson's passing accuracy of 72.7 per cent in the opposition half suggests wastefulness in possession without a cutting edge, while centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip have advanced the ball into the final third more times than Henderson or Wijnaldum this season.
To counter that argument though :
No team has a better defensive record in the Premier League this season than Liverpool - and that owes plenty to the control Henderson, Wijnaldum and Fabinho bring to the middle of the pitch. That control was absent in Belgium, with Fabinho unable to cover Genk's attacks on his own.
Control vs creativity. That is the billing for this battle for midfield minutes at Anfield. But football isn't that simple - and Liverpool have a variety - and many - tests coming up.
There's more, however:
Ahead of their clash with Tottenham, Klopp said his Liverpool side were facing their 'hardest period', and their Carabao Cup tie with Arsenal on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports, kicks off a run of at least 16 games in 65 days through to their home match with Sheffield United on January 2.
The real challenge for Klopp will be ensuring that the combination of control and creativity are at the right levels. That Liverpool have the incision of players such as Oxlade-Chamberlain when they come up against mean defences and that they have the security of Henderson and Wijnaldum when opponents have the tools to hurt them.
There's not much wrong with that article IMHO, we all know it's an issue and it reduces our forwards' effectiveness. The question is going to be integration, the how and the when and will it improve us or lead to a drop off in performances.
There is no way we can continue with Klopp's current preferred midfield with that log-jam of games to get through and then there'll be the CL and FAC to add to the fixture congestion after that.
