Appearance statistics show why Liverpool’s season has been so underwhelming.
We’re one-third the way through the Premier League season and Liverpool fans hoping the post-Suarez incarnation of Brendan Rodgers’ team could pick up where they left off before the Uruguayan’s departure have been sorely disappointed.
Yes, they sit proudly at the top of the league table page on Sky Sports News, the only problem being that it is page two. Reasons for the decline are many, but LFC blogger Andrew Beasley has put together a table of the minutes played by members of the squad that in its own way highlights many of the issues facing the Anfield club.
Up date to earlier chart – #LFC appearance/minutes played data for all comps in 2014/15 pic.twitter.com/bWX3ITwkgA
— Andrew Beasley (@BassTunedToRed) November 30, 2014
– Aside from goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, the highest totals belong to the two players most in need of protection from overuse, Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling. Fresh off his first major summer tournament, Sterling has already racked up 1,586 minutes, only being rested for a Capital One Cup tie at Swansea at the end of October.
Still a week shy of his 20th birthday, that workload is in addition to 336 minutes on the field in five England internationals. The ridiculous over-reaction to Sterling’s sensible remarks regarding his fatigue earlier in the season probably means the player will not make the same complaint again, yet his usage needs to be monitored better to ensure he remains Liverpool’s biggest weapon both later this season and in the future.
– Gerrard is at the other end of the spectrum. The 34-year-old captain has not featured in the Capital One Cup, but started and often struggled through 90 minutes in each of Liverpool’s other 13 matches to start the season. Rodgers appears to finally either have accepted that his skipper can’t play three games in a week or convinced Gerrard of that fact in recent weeks, given his absence from the starting line-ups in Madrid and at the weekend against Stoke. The club talisman must be used more selectively, and releasing him from the pressure of completing a full 90 minutes every time out can only help him make the most of whatever gas he has left in the tank.
– Third in the list of outfield players is Dejan Lovren at 1,442, illustrating Rodgers’ belief that the big Croat could play his way back into form when he clearly has been in need of some time out of the side. Kolo Toure at least is dependable in that he provides the no-nonsense attitude to defending that Lovren has been lacking and he probably deserves to have been given more than the 481 minutes thus far. In truth, Rodgers would more likely wished to have been able to call on Frenchman Mamadou Sakho, but he has not played in more than two months with a thigh problem.
– New signings Adam Lallana, Lazar Markovic and Emre Can have combined to play only 1,747 minutes, barely more than Sterling alone. Can has looked promising in midfield and should probably have managed more than just 369 minutes, while Serb winger Markovic has been a major disappointment in the 531 he has clocked up.
The sparing use of both players, though, can be hidden behind the blankets of youth and the culture shock of a new life, yet at 26 there are no such excuses for a under-utilising a proven performer like Lallana. The former Southampton man has shown flashes of his talent but it’s fair to say Liverpool fans would have been disappointed if you told them their marquee addition would be on the field less than half the time. Saturday’s line-up told you all you need to know about Rodgers’ current level of faith in his new signings – for a must-win game only Rickie Lambert made the starting eleven.
– Down at the bottom of the chart sits Daniel Sturridge on just 270 minutes. Limited to just three games before suffering a hamstring injury on international duty, the England forward has been struck by a series of setbacks that mean he will likely stay on that figure until the New Year. Without him, any hope of replacing the goals of Suarez disappear, and a rapier-like attack has been blunted to the point that after scoring 101 goals last season is on pace for just 47 this time around.
Liverpool play eight times this month, including league games against Manchester United and Arsenal and a win-or-bust Champions League tie against Basle. With those games ahead, it will be interesting to see how Rodgers allocates his resources tonight against Leicester.
