Liverpool Build Up Play 2014-15

A small analysis on the player’s goal influence in this 2014-15 Liverpool season using the Opta Stats goals build up. Opta stats for Liverpool can be found here.

Liverpool have scored 19 Premier League goals. 4 Capital one cup goals and 4 Champions League goals this season. I’ve compiled the total passes each player has played leading up to the goals. I’ve further split them into three categories for the passes in defensive, middle and attacking third of the pitch.

A typical Opta goals build up looks like this.

(Henderson goal vs West Brom)

These represent the position of the players while in possession of the ball and their action with the ball. Off the ball movement cannot be viewed in these (that would have been a huge asset if available). I used these to provide an analysis on the impact (no of passes) of the players leading to a goal..

The players with most no of passes leading to a goal are Gerrard and Henderson with 13 passes each. Gerrard played 46% of those passes form defensive third and only 1 pass from the attacking third. This isn’t a surprise considering his new deep role in the team.

Henderson provided 61.5% (8 passes) of his total 13 passes from the middle third, while Coutinho has 62.5% (5 passes) of his total 8 passes played from middle third. The combination of Lovren Skrtel and Mignolet provided 26 passes together in the defensive third, which is 23 % of the total passes played.

Moreno, with his high attacking position on the pitch, helped with 4 passes, 2 passes each from middle and attacking third and none in defensive third (indicating his attacking influence high up the pitch).

(Individual player passes leading to Liverpool goals)

Sterling tops the final third passes with 66.7% of his 12 passes. The Wing backs (Johnson, Enrique, Manquillo, Moreno) have contributed with 14 passes combined.

The highest passing sequence leading to a goal was against Chelsea when Emre Can scored his first goal for Liverpool. A total of 24 passes was played between 10 players for the goal.