I remember earlier in the summer talking about the reasoning behind the signings of Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing. According to statistics, Henderson and Adam were two of the leading chance creators last season while Downing was one of the leading assist makers. There is no doubt that our transfer policy was focused on finding players who can create opportunities for shots on goal.
So far the policy seems to have worked and who could say the Reds haven’t created bundles of chances so far this season? The big problem for us however has been converting those chances into goals. Manchester United have scored 18, Manchester City have scored 15 while Liverpool have only put 6 into the back of the net in 4 league games. 6 in four is not bad but with the chances created we should perhaps have a lot more.
I don’t think it can be denied that if we had converted one more chance in the first half against Sunderland, and had put away 2 of the 20 shots on goal we had against Stoke on Saturday, we would be sitting pretty at the top of the league on 12 points alongside both Man United and Man City. There is no doubt that this is the biggest difference between us and those teams at the top of the league at the moment, and the question becomes how we address the issue.
As I said at the beginning of the article, the likes of Henderson and Adam are chance creators, and although both players have scored one goal already this season, it would be safe to say that both players could have had a fair few more, especially Henderson.
In other areas, Stewart Downing has been unlucky not to score, while Luis Suarez has been excellent in all round play but has been wasteful in front of goal, despite his 3 goals.
In addition, we do need contributions from the defenders too and while Martin Skrtel has scored one already, and we must capitalise more on the dangerous set pieces provided by Charlie Adam.
Continue reading to page 2 of post
patience man, we basically have a new team…..well be banging them in soon.
Because we never bought goal scorers!It’s that simple…
U call that lazy boy who could nt carry his own back park only 2 beat up hiz younger brother 2 do so a striker.he iz 2 slugish 4 my likening he iz 1 of those voronin.
Carroll does seem a little lack luster at the moment but you can see flashes of why we bought him sometimes as a team you get these spells where is doesn’t go for you and sometimes it goes all your way (manchester). Now is the time to have this spell and building the team as after these first few months dropping points will be more costly. Lets just hope it’s growing pains that will get better with time 🙂 just not too much I hope.
Do you believe in fate?? When it’s not your day, it’s just not your day. LFC has been playing better with each game. Unfortunately,….sigh..It just wasn’t our day when we played Stoke city.
We have not scored enough b’cos our players don’t attack the box enough. Andy Carroll is supposed to be the goal poacher but he looks like a very lazy player. Like an immobile giant. This season the chances were there but the players were not. In the Stoke game, they packed the defence with 6 – 7 players in the box but we had only 2-3 players there.
People slate Torres but you have to admit he performed in the Red shirt better than Carroll. People can say that these players are different, and have their own attributes, but the fact is Carroll was bought as a direct replacement for Torres. We desperately need a off-the-last-defender striker to support Suarez. Suarez cannot do everything by himself. He cannot put in a pass and then be in the same position to receive the pass, its not possible. It is also not possible for Carroll to play with him because he will just slow him down. Carroll is the type of player that will sit in the box and get on the end of things and be scrappy. Hes not about finesse but strength. Bellamy can probably be the right piece to the attack although hes getting old. Kuyt is a hardworker but I think he would do better in Henderson’s position where he can drift into the box when he spots open space. Henderson and Carroll. Two liabilities that just need to go back to the basics. We bought Henderson for vision, but he hasn’t showed it when he has the ball; just makes a safe back or side pass. Carroll is supposed to be harassing defenders and making an impact in the box, but all he does is run around like a clueless dinosaur. Downing has been amazing, he gets the ball and knows what he wants to do with no hesitation in his play and that is to attack. Enrique has been really reliable in the back and is a real bull. Does anyone see what i’m seeing? Carroll and Henderson, they are struggling. I see it in thier faces that they can’t handle the pressure and are low on confidence in themselves. They are not looking comfortable at all.
Your analysis is spot on. What perhaps hurts the most with Henderson is that his play seems to let him down at critical moments. Carrol on the other hand has been felt to be ‘missing’ on the pitch.
You dnt pay 20mn n 35mn for developing players, u pay them for the finished article.. Look at Mata n Aguero (both in their early twenties). We aren’t Man city or Chelsea to pay tht kinda money, nor I hope we wud even if we had tht kinda money! It only makes sense if we recoup more than wht we paid, n can anybody honestly see these 2 being sold at a profit? I really hope thts the case! Oh, n Carroll is as strong as a horse, the problem being the horse is always trotting, n not galloping like a race horse intent on winning! The only gud thing abt Carroll being a misfit at 35mn is Torres being another misfit at 50mn… but atleast hez showing signs of being alive n kicking nw!
the answer is really simple. we are let down by our finishing. we lack good finishers to kill games, we used to have meireles. regulars like jamie, agger, lucas, skrtel, are blasting balls over the bar, hardly showing any sign of improvement over the past years, unlike our rivals, even their defenders are chipping in with a decent goal tally. adam, henderson, downing, they’ve only shown they look good going fwd, but not their finishing. i don’t want to mention carroll. we can’t depend on suarez all the time, who is easily frustrated, lose concentration due to his emotions. we’ve seen our ball possession improve, but the team will also need to improve on their shooting skills, sharpness and instinct.
relax, its not every year that you see those kind of goal statistics in the first four games from teams like man utd! liverpool is still playing well, but their finishing is just letting them down a bit. however, that can be fixed at their training sessions over the season, because shooting shouldn’t be a hard concept of the game to improve on with the calibre they possess. in my opinion, finishing can be turned into a short term problem through exta attention to it in training. don’t forget that stoke city parked a bus infront of their goal, so it only made the task more difficult. it was just an off day for the reds despite their dominance
I thinks everyone needs to clam down a bit. Its still early days so the goal count at this stage doesn’t mean anything. The main thing is that they are now playing free-flowing, attacking football which is a vast improvement on this stage last season.
Secondly, I think the return of our super captain is going to make a massive difference. Henderson needs to take his place on the bench and watch from the master.
Carroll will only get better as time goes on. Remember how people slated Crouch when he first played for us? Well Carroll is a much better player than he ever was and he did alright in the end, didn’t he?