Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 12/13

Those stats are completely meaningless. Mediocre players like Mikel have brilliant passing accuracy stats. Swansea played in a style under rodgers that meant lots of one touch and two touch 10 and 15 yard passes. This racks up the passes completed stat up very quickly but doesn't tell you how many of them were actually forward or productive passes. The much maligned Charlie Adam looked like a world beater in Blackpool's midfield. How has that worked out?

Allen is nowhere near alonso's passing ability whatawaster. 15 million is simply crazy.

Here is some more statistics on Joe Allen compared with Lucas and the PL average.

Dan Kennett ‏@DanKennett

1/6 Why ‪#LFC‬ should sign Joe Allen. Some key metrics showing how Allen compares to Lucas and also the PL average for all midfielders

2/6 Successful Touches Per Match: JA 84, LL 75, PL 65 | Possession Regains Per Match: JA 8, LL 6.7, PL 5.5

3/6 Defensive Half Pass Accuracy: JA 0.948, LL 0.89, PL 0.892 | Successful Long Balls Per Match: JA 6.1, LL 4, PL 2.8

4/6 Successful Final Third Passes Per match: JA 13.3, LL 13.2, PL 11.7 | Final Third Completion: JA 0.836, LL 0.814, PL 0.722

5/6 To conclude: he's a definite multi-functional player. His performance as a destroyer/passer put him in the elite of EPL midfielders

6/6 Technique also very strong compared to peers and even his creativity is above PL average. No obvious weakness

Opr

G.K. wrote: »

But how often does he do that?

More often than Joe Allen.

shotamoose wrote: »

Great stuff, back to your moaning then.

You say that as if my moaning is unwarranted! Just three years ago we were in here talking about what we needed to do to push us over the line in the league and CL, and it wasn't ridiculous talk - we had every right to feel optimistic. Now here we are, with Brendan Rodgers as manager and Clint Dempsey / Joe ****ing Allen potentially our biggest summer acquisition. Everyone should be moaning!! This thread should be in absolute turmoil!

So many in here want some sort of nice, relaxed conversation where we discuss the finer elements of up and coming youth players at the club or what a nice man Joe Cole is. Bollocks to that. This club is becoming competitively irrelevant right now this minute in front of your eyes. Wake up and get mad! Your acceptance of what is happening now is a big step towards permanent acceptance of mediocrity and lowered expectations.

Yep, anyone waxing lyrical about key metrics really needs to jog on.

He forgot net spend and the system though. All five would have broken the internet.

Then why post those "metrics"? Why not just say "Rodgers knows him well, if he thinks he's worth 15 million" etc. etc. People are trying to argue that Column A means player B is worth X and its bonkers.

Kirby wrote: »

He forgot net spend and the system though. All five would have broken the internet.

I still don't think system deserves to be on this list

Petition to switch it with wheelbarrow.

Kirby wrote: »

Then why post those "metrics"? Why not just say "Rodgers knows him well, if he thinks he's worth 15 million" etc. etc. People are trying to argue that Column A means player B is worth X and its bonkers.

I was posting some stats in the thread which pertain to a player we might be signing. Not as a reason to sign him, you suggested that all on your own.

Opr

Kirby wrote: »

Allen is nowhere near alonso's passing ability crazy.

Who is?

djPSB wrote: »

Charlie Adam.

Type that again but this time with a straight face

Kirby wrote: »

I didn't suggest it. Everyone else does in their arguments. The Kennet twitter post itself was labelled "Why LFC should sign Joe Allen?"

This is getting silly. I'm not even sure what we are arguing about. I certainly don't want to sign players on the back of stats alone but they do add to the overall argument that he's a good player.

His price is probably on the high side but you won't find many young players his age as tactically developed who understand the midfield role in the way Joe Allen does. For instance Shelvey might actually be a more technically gifted footballer but he's miles behind Allen in terms of development. Shelvey looks completely clueless at times when watching him in the middle of the park. Granted he's a couple of years younger but it's more because Allen has been developed through youth teams with the playing style and tactical development at Swansea. Rodgers can't put a price on that kind of thing as he looks to embed a similar ideology into Liverpool. English academies up till now don't seem to produce many tactically aware players especially in the midfield role.

Players who understand the midfield role on the kind of tactical level that Allen seems to show tend to have that trait often overlooked as it was in Lucas for such a long time. It's only something you truly appreciate when you watch the likes of Gerrard struggle playing in that area because he was never coached properly as a kid yet he is one of the most technically gifted footballers ever.

He's overpriced but also it looks underrated by many. Rodgers has spent 15 years coaching youth football so you would like to think having worked with the lad he's probably best placed to judge. He clearly seems to rate the lad very highly.

Opr

Really looking forward to Saturday, Rogers has said all the right things so far now to see the way he implements them. On the transfer front the main feeling i have is underwhelmed, the players we are linked with might do a job and improve the team but there is no one that really excites me

Mr Alan wrote: »

Yes, I'd take Walcott for less than £10m

As someone posted sometime last week, we are in no position to be turning our nose up at Walcott.

However, considering he's already on 60k a week and is looking for 100k, I'd have my reservations.

Last year I thought he improved quite a bit at Arsenal, and after RVP I doubt anyone was involved directly in as many goals as he was. At 23 he could still improve, yet sometimes I'm not sure if the intelligence is there.

That said, his pace alone is something we are sadly lacking and would allow us to stretch teams and be a threat from the counter once again.