There is no getting away from this being our worst period at Anfield in a long, long time. With this you expect that questions may be asked but it is the sheer lack of balance which infuriates me. Go and review any of the recent stories and there is not even a mention of the worst injury crisis at Anfield in a long, long time. Funny how those two things have both happened at the same time isn't it?
So I headed off into my excel spreadsheets and the Liverpool website to attempt to make a comparison between this season and last. At this point last season we had amassed 37 points. Which would, this season, see us joint top with Chelsea. Then you look at this season's 24 points leaving us sitting a lowly 7th and creating questions about whether we will even qualify for fourth.
So I decided to review our injuries by implementing a points system. I was going to use Paul Tomkins' relative transfer system but that would then exclude the home grown talent. So I've come up with a simple points system which provides points based on a player's quality as follows:
5 Points - Star Players / Big Money Signings / Courted by Other Top Teams
Alonso, Aquilani, Gerrard, Johnson, Keane, Mascherano, Reina, Torres
3 Points - 1st XI Choice / Solid Player
Agger, Arbeloa, Aurelio, Benayoun, Carragher, Hyypia, Kuyt, Lucas, Pennant, Riera
2 Points - 'Bargain Bin' Signing / Failed to Impress / 2nd XI Choice
Babel, Degen, Dossena, Kyrgiakos, Voronin
1 Point - Youngster
Ayala, Insua, Plessis, Ngog, Spearing
If you're wondering why I have gone from 5 points down to 3, 2 and 1. This is not to skew the figures but to simply recognise the world class players who can make a real difference in any team.
I then sat down and worked out what I consider the top XI currently at Rafa's disposal (when all fit) and calculated their points total:
Reina (5), Aurelio (3), Carragher(3), Agger (3), Johnson (5), Kuyt (3), Mascherano (5), Aquilani (5), Riera (3), Gerrard (5) and Torres (5) - Total of 45 points.
From there I take it you can guess the rest. I trawled back through the starting XI's for the first 16 games of the 2008/9 and 2009/10 seasons and calculated as a % of the total put out for each match day (I'll refer to the % as 'team quality' herein). Hoping they would show the impact of this season's injuries and whether there is any correlation to our points total.
In 2008/9 up to this point of the season our 37 points had been provided from a team with an average team quality of 91.1%. The distribution of the team quality (in 5% increments) being:
95-100%: 3
90-95%: 8
85-90%: 2
80-85%: 3
<80%: 0
So for two thirds of the games the team was running at over 90% team quality and overall never fell below 80%.
Looking then at 2009/10 and our 24 points the team quality provides a very different picture with an average of 85% but then a distribution which tells how traumatic this season's team quality has been affected:
95-100%: 0
90-95%: 4
85-90%: 7
80-85%: 1
75-80%: 3
70-75%: 1
The difference this season is clear. Rafa has not been able to field a 95%+ team once and only 1 in four games have been played with over 90%, compared to 2 out of three last season.The majority of this season so far has been played with a quality of less than 90% and four games at less than 80%.
In the previous season Rafa's team quality fell below 90% for 5 games compared to 12 out of 16 games this season. 3/4 of the games at less than the average from last season.
A couple of other interesting facts:
- The only games we have lost over both seasons when we've had a team quality of over 90% have been to 'top 6 sides' (Tottenham, Villa, Chelsea and Arsenal).
- Across both seasons we never once won one of our four games with a team quality of less than 80%. Despite three of these games being against 'lesser' opposition (Sunderland, Fulham and Birmingham).
Injuries aren't the only problem at Anfield and we're all aware of that. One of the reasons why our percentages have dropped so badly this season is because our squad is so painfully thin. There have also been form problems with some players, especially early on. Form problems with absolute key players I might add (Carragher, Gerrard and Mascherano).
The injuries though are the main cause of our current dilemma, of that I'm sure. This isn't a case of rolling out excuses because of blind faith. It is simply asking people to sit up and acknowledge the injury problems we have had. If you want to criticise that's fine but provide a balanced argument first. On hang on..... that won't work for your agenda or sell your grubby wares, will it?
