Football News: Liverpool Senior Squad Regulars - A Statistical Analysis: Part 2: Midfielders and Forwards
Image from: vodmochka.com
Jordan Henderson: Joined summer 2011
Age - 27
Positions - CM, RM, CDM
Transfer Fee - £15.9m
PL Appearances - 199 / All competitions - 268
PL Goals - 21 / All competitions - 24
PL Assists - 31 / All competitions - 40
Work rate: High
I will start this off with our Captain and longest serving player still currently at the club. He is one of the most under appreciated and underrated players to play for Liverpool along with Lucas Levia. Its hard to find a more professional level-headed leader, he is not the best player to ever grace the premier league and his work is largely the "dirty work" but he has been a solid performer at Liverpool for many years.
With 21 goals and 31 assists in 199 premier league games you could easily be mistaken for thinking he is coasting but this is not the case. Henderson brings a completely different style of play to Liverpool by controlling the tempo and flow of the game. Liverpool have very few players capable of doing this in the current squad. Having a player like Henderson adding control to the midfield could have changed the outcome of several games this season like the 3-3 vs Arsenal, 3-2 loss vs West Brom, 1-0 loss vs Swansea, the 2-2 vs Tottenham if he had stayed on for 90 minutes and most recently the 2-1 loss vs Utd.
Which brings me to my next point, injuries. Unfortunately for this lad he has a nasty little injury called Plantar Fasciitis which is basically a tear in the fibrous band of tissue reaching from your heel to your toes. These tissues support the muscles and arch of the foot. When they're over stretched, tiny tears can occur in their surface and can cause recurring issues as well as a lot of pain. On several occasions Henderson played through the pain and still gave his all for the team.
He has scored some important and flashy goals over the years and although people would want more, his role in the team is about controlling the middle of the park and holding things together. If he can slip in the occasional goal it should be considered a bonus.
It seems to be because of this that Henderson gets so much stick from the fans. I've seen people say outright abusive things about him because they don't understand his role in the team. He is not an overhyped "world class" deep-lying midfield maestro like Matic, Fernandinho or Kante but he is very important to Liverpool as we have no other player that can do what he does.
Overall grade: B
Georginio Wijnaldum: Joined summer 2016
Age - 27
Positions - CM, CAM
Transfer Fee - £24.3m
PL Appearances - / All competitions - 79
PL Goals - 7 / All competitions - 7
PL Assists - 10 / All competitions - 14
Work rate: High
In my opinion this was a strange purchase. I still to this day can't see why we bought this player as he plays a similar game to Lallana (who is arguably better) . He was also quite expensive at £24.3m so it makes no sense to add another attacking midfielder (to a team that doesn't really use attacking midfielders) unless they are going to significantly improve the squad. We now have Oxlade-Chamberlain and Woodburn too taking our total to 4 CAM's that rarely get employed in that position anyway.
Lallana had a decent season in 2016/ 17 with 7 goals and 8 assists in 31 premier league games and Wijnaldum matched this contribution with 6 goals and 9 assists in 36 games. Lallana has had a fairly injury-stricken season this year and so a place in the squad for Wijnaldum had seemingly opened up but he has not made the most of this opportunity with just 1 goal and 1 assist in 25 games. Now seems to be playing second fiddle to Oxlade now as a result.
Wijnaldum is no slouch and can put himself about in a game but very rarely makes a difference, the level of intensity that our games are being played at requires the whole squad to work as a unit. Because of this, players not 'pulling their own weight' are highlighted and Wijnaldum is one of several guilty of this. Not every player can be as good as our front 3 but you would expect them to at least offer some level of support.
Decent lad, works hard but he just isn't needed by our club. That being said, he seems to be liked by Klopp and gets picked more often than not. This is probably down to the injuries of Henderson and Lallana (who are both back now) and with Keita coming in the summer too, I can't see him getting as much time as he has been. If I had to choose a player to replace one of those 3 above due to injury, I would choose Ox or Woodburn before Wijnaldum.
Overall grade: C
James Milner: Joined summer 2013
Age - 32
Positions - CM, RM, LM, CDM, CAM, LB, RB, RW, LW, CF
Transfer Fee - Free Transfer
PL Appearances - / All competitions - 120
PL Goals - 13 / All competitions - 15
PL Assists - 16 / All competitions - 27
Work rate: Very High
Milner is a player who can do pretty much everything other than goalkeeping. He has been employed all over the midfield and on occasion has played forward roles and defensive roles. Last season he was our first choice Left Back for the majority of the year.
He is our most individually decorated player with 2 Premier League medals, 1 Fa Cup medal, and 1 League Cup medal. Salah is closest to this record with 1 Premier League medal and 1 League Cup medal. Milner has also been involved in 49 Champions league and Europa League matches for various clubs and currently sits as the Champions League top assister this season on 7 assists.
Experience is a boost to any squad and it's something Milner has an abundance of. For a free transfer he has served the club quite well, unfortunately his career is coming to an end due to age but you wouldn't think it with the amount of ground he covers in a game.
With players like Henderson, Lallana, Firmino, Mane, Can, Robertson and Oxlade, Liverpool is filled with players working at a high rate and putting in an exhausting shift but none more than Milner. The thing holding this player back is a serious lack of end product. Running around the pitch for 90 minutes chasing the ball like a terrier is all well and good but when he gets the ball he very rarely makes the right decision as to what to do with it.
One of Milner's better stats is his penalty record which is all the more impressive due to Liverpool's amazingly high standard of penalty takers over the years.
Liverpool Premier league penalty taker stats:
Steven Gerrard - 56 taken / 48 Scored / 8 Missed / 85.7% Conversion rate
Robbie Fowler - 19 taken / 17 Scored / 2 Missed / 80% Conversion rate
James Milner - 15 taken / 12 Scored / 3 Missed / 80% Conversion rate
Dirk Kuyt - 12 taken / 10 Scored / 2 Missed / 83.3% Conversion rate
Michael Owen - 11 taken / 10 Scored / 1 Missed / 90.9% Conversion rate
Overall grade: C
Adam Lallana: Joined summer 2014
Age - 29
Positions - LM, RM, CAM
Transfer Fee - £27.4m
PL Appearances - 98 / All competitions - 137
PL Goals - 16 / All competitions - 21
PL Assists - 17 / All competitions - 20
Work rate: Very High
Lallana was another purchase raising a few questions, at the time he was bought our midfield consisted of Gerrard, Coutinho, Lucas, Henderson, Allen, Assaidi, and Moses with Sterling and Ibe also coming up through the academy. We also purchased Can and Markovic in the same window and it seemed like spending another £31m on yet another midfielder was unnecessary.
However, as time went on and players left the club his influence became more and more essential to the squad and he established himself as a first team player quite quickly. He is a very skilful dribbler and quite often uses his natural dribbling ability to pass players, seemingly the 'Cruyff Turn' being a frequently utilised skill move. As well as this he is another hard-working player, constantly chasing down lost causes and hassling defenders. One of my favourite goals by Lallana was when he scored by charging down a goalkeeper and deflecting the ball into the net from a failed attempt at a back pass and clearance back up the field.
He played a large part in helping Southampton win back to back promotions from League One to the premier league in 10/ 11 and 11/ 12 averaging a combined 20 goals/ assists each season and continued this form into the premier league. His best season for Liverpool was 16/ 17 with 8 goals and 7 assists scoring some pretty important goals, like the 5th goal vs Norwich in stoppage time that ended 5-4 to Liverpool.
Unfortunately, this season he has been hampered by injury and has only managed 10 appearances in all competitions. He is back in the fold now but there is a question on how long this will last. With Coutinho gone, we could really use a playmaker of his calibre.
Overall grade: B
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: Joined summer 2017
Age - 24
Positions - CM, RM, LM
Transfer Fee - £33.6m
PL Appearances - 27 / All competitions - 34
PL Goals - 3 / All competitions - 4
PL Assists - 5 / All competitions - 6
Work rate: High
"The Ox" seems to have hit the ground running at Liverpool so far. He has only played a handful of games this season but he already looks leaps and bounds ahead of the player that left Arsenal. He was quite pricey and quite often opposition fans like to remind us of the fact that we spent so much money on an "Average English Player" but credit to Alex where it is due, he is starting to prove people wrong. If so, what a spot that would have been by Klopp, there is a long way to go but the potential is definitely there.
He was employed as a right sided player for most of his career at Arsenal making only 17 appearances out of 198 as a central midfielder with 3 goals and 3 assists yet he only managed 10 goals and 19 assists in 111 games as a right midfielder/ winger. For Liverpool he has already managed 3 goals and 4 assists in just 10 games as a central midfielder and 1 goal and 1 assist as a right midfielder so it's pretty clear to see why he favours a more central role.
As time goes on we will see how well he does at Liverpool, he is just hitting the average peak age and hopefully his game will improve more and more over the next few years. There is a fair bit of competition for a place in the squad with Henderson and Keita as likely starters in midfield when fit and Salah, Mane and Firmino up front. That leaves just 1 place as it stands not taking into account additional incomings and outgoings in the summer.
Overall grade: B
Emre Can: Joined summer 2014
Age - 24
Positions - CM, CDM, CB
Transfer Fee - £10.6m
PL Appearances - 114 / All competitions - 156
PL Goals - 10 / All competitions - 14
PL Assists - 7 / All competitions - 12
Work rate: High
Emre Can was bought in by Rogers in 2014 for a relatively cheap price from Leverkusen and has since gone on to become a regular starter for Liverpool. He is big, commanding and skilful with the ball at his feet. He often takes the ball forward on penetrating runs pulling defenders out of position and creating space for others to run into.
Unfortunately for Liverpool he has chosen not to renew his contract and is instead looking to move elsewhere on a free transfer. This is a double blow for Liverpool as we are not only losing a player who is coming into the best years of his career but we are also missing out on what could easily be £30 - £40m worth of player in the current market.
The one thing that we can say in his favour is that he is still giving 100% for the club every game and although he and the club will part ways come the summer, he will be missed as he is a great character. There have been a lot of brilliant goals scored by Liverpool but this guy scored possibly the best goal I have ever seen in the game vs Watford at the end of last season.
He has also been quite inconsistent often trying too much and losing possession. He either has a brilliant game or a fairly bad one, as I mentioned before he is coming into the best years of his career and so inconsistency is something that can be ironed out but he is not quite there yet. Thankfully with the addition of Keita in the summer we already have a replacement coming in who might be even better.
Overall grade: B
Lazar Markovic: Joined summer 2014
Age - 23
Positions - RW, LW
Transfer Fee - £22.4m
PL Appearances - 19 / All competitions - 34
PL Goals - 2 / All competitions - 3
PL Assists - 1 / All competitions - 1
Work rate: Average
There have been very few players who's contracts have been handled as poorly as this one at Liverpool. Lazar was bought from Benfica for £22.4m then loaned to Fenerbache in august 2015 after just 34 games in all competitions for Liverpool. He was then loaned to Sporting in August 2016, then loaned to Hull in January 2017 and again was loaned to Anderlecht in January 2018. He has not played a game for Liverpool's senior squad since 02/ 05/ 2015.
There is a lot of different theories as to why this is but the one that seems to be most accurate is his attitude and desire in training. It's clear that neither Klopp or Rogers rated the player good enough for a place in the squad and so he has spent the majority of his time at Liverpool on loan where he is has also struggled to impress making only 49 appearances for 4 different clubs in 4 years. He has only made one 20-minute appearance for Anderlecht so far this season.
Not every young promising player will turn out to be a success and Liverpool have seen their fair share of this but Lazar's career at Liverpool is one to forget. He is not the worst player to play for Liverpool so it seems strange that his presence resembles that of a ghost at the feast but it is very unlikely he will find his way back into the squad and is probably going to be sold as soon as a buyer can be found (which should have happened already) .
Overall grade: E
Daniel Sturridge: Joined January 2013
Age - 28
Positions - RW, LW, CF, ST
Transfer Fee - £13.4m
PL Appearances - 98 / All competitions - 133
PL Goals - 49 / All competitions - 64
PL Assists - 20 / All competitions - 24
Work rate: Average
Oh Sturridge, what a player he could have been. I can't imagine many people thought that he would turn out to be one of the best strikers in the premier league when signed from Chelsea but he hit the ground running at Liverpool and established himself as a first team player straight away with 10 goals and 5 assists in 14 premier league games on his debut season. He continued this form into the next season in 2013/ 14 with 22 goals and 9 assists matching the record set by Torres (27 games) for the fastest Liverpool player to reach 20 goals in a season. This was the case until it was beaten by Salah this season.
At the end of the 2013/ 14 season his club record stood at 36 goals and 14 assists over 49 games in all competitions which is an outstanding record. This was helped largely by the brilliance of Suarez but you can't take anything away from the ability this guy showed. Then came the injuries.
Since signing for Liverpool Daniel has suffered more than 15 different injuries and has spent 567 days unavailable for selection missing 99 games in total. If you think about it, he has been at the club just over 5 years and in that time he has spent nearly a third of it injured (31%) .
Time and time again fans were willing Sturridge to come back into the squad strong and start knocking them in like he was in 2013/ 14 but it just wasn't to be. Now, sadly, his time at Liverpool seems to be coming to an end and he was loaned to West Brom where once again he picked up an injury after just 3 games.
Overall grade: C
Danny Ings: Joined summer 2015
Age - 25
Positions - CF, ST
Transfer Fee - £7.4m
PL Appearances - 9 / All competitions - 18
PL Goals - 2 / All competitions - 3
PL Assists - 1 / All competitions - 1
Work rate: High
Danny Ings is another unfortunate player suffering from lengthy injuries. He has hardly played enough games for Liverpool to be judged fairly but due to the length of time spent at the club I wanted to include him anyway.
In 2013/ 14 he helped spearhead Burnley's attack leading them to promotion to the premier league with 20 goals and 7 assists in 40 games. And with another 11 goals and 4 assists in their first season in the premier league it was clear to see why this player was sought after by many clubs.
After his move to Liverpool he suffered a Cruciate Ligament Rupture to his left knee on 15/ 10/ 2015 keeping him out of the squad for 210 days. He returned to action on 15/ 5/ 2016 and began to slowly rehabilitate himself back into fitness with the U21's. On 26/ 10/ 2016 he suffered serious cartilage damage, this time to his right knee which required an operation, keeping him out of the squad for a further 288 days. In total he missed 85 games over 2 and a half seasons.
Thankfully this seems to be behind him now and he is back in the fold looking sharper and sharper every game. He still needs a goal to get him off the mark and I don't think anyone in the squad deserves it more. He showed brilliant determination and patience to come back from these injuries and at 25 his career is far from over, surely this is his time to show everyone what he can do at the top level.
Overall grade: C
Divock Origi: Joined summer 2014
Age - 22
Positions - RW, LW, CF, ST
Transfer Fee - £11.2m
PL Appearances - 51 / All competitions - 77
PL Goals - 12 / All competitions - 21
PL Assists - 5 / All competitions - 7
Work rate: Average
Origi seems to be one for the future at Liverpool, when signed from FC Lille in 2014 he was immediately loaned back for the season. He arrived at the start of the 2015/ 16 season and made a fairly decent start to life at Liverpool with 10 goals and 3 assists over 32 games in all competitions. In 2016/ 17 he was given more game time playing 43 games in total with another 11 goals and 4 assists.
However, with the blistering form of Mane, Firmino, Coutinho and the addition of Salah, there was little chance he would get game time and in a bid to avoid halting his progression he was loaned to Wolfsburg at the start of the 2017/ 18 season. Sadly his time at Wolfsburg has not been as successful as he would have hoped with just 5 goals and 1 assist in 26 games.
With Firmino, Ings, and Solanke still at the club, and Sturridge on loan, our forward options are plenty so players would have to be moved on and Origi's form would have to dramatically increase for him to be considered for the first team. It's very unlikely that he would take Firmino's position unless through injury so I can't see him wanting to stay at the club and sit on the bench and that's if he was second choice, which I don't think he would be.
Overall grade: C
Roberto Firmino: Joined summer 2013
Age - 26
Positions - CAM, CF, ST
Transfer Fee - £36.7m
PL Appearances - / All competitions - 131
PL Goals - 34 / All competitions - 45
PL Assists - 25 / All competitions - 35
Work rate: Very High
The first of the 'magnificent trio' is probably the most important player we have. He is underrated in the premier league (which is a good thing) and his contribution to the squad has been essential to our resurgence as one of the best teams in England.
He came to Liverpool off the back of 2 brilliant seasons in the Bundesliga with Hoffenheim with 16 goals and 12 assists in 2013/ 14 and 7 goals and 10 assists in 2014/ 15.
In all competitions with Hoffenheim and Liverpool he has averaged a combined 20 goals/ assists every season since 2013/ 14, including this season in which he is already on 13 goals and 7 assists after 29 games. He also has 7 goals and 4 assists in the champions league after just 8 games making him joint 3rd top scorer and joint 2nd top assister.
His favoured position is as a CF behind a striker but this season has been employed as sole striker. Although he is not seen as an "out and out 20 goal a season striker" he certainly plays the part well. But one of his main qualities is the constant harrying of the opposition causing havoc in defence and midfield, winning the ball back high up the pitch and starting an attack.
Liverpool Midfielder/ Forward tackles: 2017/ 18 PL season
Can - 67 tackles
Firmino - 58 tackles
Henderson - 38 tackles
Milner - 50 tackles
Oxlade - 30 tackles
Mane - 22 tackles
Wijnaldum - 19 tackles
Salah - 5 tackles
He is at the centre of every attack and is a constant threat whether it's in Midfield, on the wing or in the box. He is a brilliant passer and finisher and has dribbling skills worthy of any Brazillian Player. The void left when Suarez moved on seemed impossible to fill but credit to Klopp, he has certainly bought in a fitting replacement (minus all the aggro) .
Overall grade: A
Sadio Mane: Joined summer 2016
Age - 25
Positions - LW, RW, ST
Transfer Fee - £36.8m
PL Appearances - 49 / All competitions - 61
PL Goals - 21 / All competitions - 27
PL Assists - 11 / All competitions - 15
Work rate: High
The second of the 'magnificent trio' has had a slightly worse season compared to last year but he is in no way any less effective in attack than the other two. He missed 8 games through injury and 1 quite harsh straight red card but is starting to get back the devastating ability he showed last season.
He has 8 goals and 5 assists in 21 premier league games and 6 goals and 2 assists in 8 champions league games so far this season, netting a hattrick against Porto. This is still a pretty good record for a player who has only made 31 appearances in all competitions this season.
There is an argument that he should be played in his favoured position which is on the right wing as opposed to the left wing and there are stats to back this up.
Games as a LW - 28 / 11 goals / 7 assists
Games as a RW - 32 / 16 goals / 8 assists
However, the question is, do you move Salah who is having such a good season to accommodate Mane who is still pretty sufficient as a LW? I wouldn't.
Overall grade: A
Mohamed Salah: Joined summer 2017
Age - 25
Positions - RW, LW, ST
Transfer Fee - £37.6m
PL Appearances - 29 / All competitions - 40
PL Goals - 24 / All competitions - 32
PL Assists - 9 / All competitions - 11
Work rate: High
The Third of the trio is the newest and most deadly addition it seems. What a debut season, he had a brief stint with Chelsea back in 2013 - 2015 but I doubt that anyone would have expected he was going to be a contender for the golden boot this season. With Aguero and Kane both injured it is even more likely that he will get it now. He may even go one better and etch his name into premier league history as the highest goal-scorer over 38 games. When you consider the players he is up against it makes it all the more impressive.
List of current highest goal-scorers:
31 goals/ 38 games - Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers 1995/ 96)
31 goals/ 38 games - Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United 2007/ 08)
31 goals/ 38 games - Luis Suarez (Liverpool 2013/ 14)
24 Goals/ 29 games - Mohamed Salah (Liverpool 2017/ 18)
8 goals in 9 games? I think that is within his reach, especially considering the run of games we have left and how lower table opposition go all out in the last few weeks to try and snatch as many points as possible. For the league's best counterattacking team this SHOULD work in our favour.
He has already broken 2 records this season, being the fastest Liverpool player to score 20 premier league goals and is now the player who has scored the most left footed goals in a season with a total of 21 so far.
There is a lot of speculation about a transfer to Real Madrid at the end of the season and people's opinions are pretty divided. We shouldn't be letting our best players go anywhere for any price however, there is nothing to say that Salah will continue this form next season so the massively overinflated price that Real would be willing to pay could be off the table by this time next year.
In my personal opinion I would go with the former, we are not in need of huge amounts of money, but we are in need of good players. Mane and Salah are 25 and Firmino is 26 so there is a good 4 or 5 years of what could be the best attacking line-up of any squad if these 3 are managed correctly.
Overall grade: A
Written by Josh Gilbert March 16 2018 17:30:18
