#not me giving a full napoli match analysis

[walkonwalkonwithhopeinyourheart]

Post-Match Day Thread: Chelsea 1 - 1 Liverpool via /r/LiverpoolFC

Post-Match Day Thread: Chelsea 1 - 1 Liverpool

I wasn't going to do this one because I thought I would miss most of the game. As it turns out I did get to see it all and I'm hungover enough that this is going to be a nice little distraction.

Chelsea 1 - 1 Liverpool

Player Ratings

Player WS SofaScore TAW This is Anfield Liverpool Echo Average Notes Alisson 7.1 7.3 7.0 8.0 8.0 7.5 Alexander-Arnold 6.7 6.9 7.0 5.0 7.0 6.5 Gomez 6.5 6.8 8.0 8.0 8.0 7.5 van Dijk 7.4 7.6 7.0 9.0 7.0 7.6 Robertson 6.3 6.7 7.0 6.0 6.0 6.4 Wijnaldum 6.1 6.5 8.0 6.5 8.0 7.0 Henderson 6.3 6.9 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.2 78' sub off Milner 6.5 7.4 7.0 6.0 6.0 6.6 86' sub off Salah 6.8 7.3 8.0 5.0 6.0 6.6 66' sub off Firmino 6.9 7.2 9.0 6.5 7.0 7.3 Mané 6.4 6.8 7.0 6.0 6.0 6.4 Starting XI avg 6.6 7.0 7.4 6.5 6.8 6.9 Shaqiri 6.4 6.5 - 7.0 6.0 6.5 66' sub on Keita 6.6 6.9 - 8.0 - 7.2 78' sub on Sturridge 7.1 7.4 10.0 9.0 10.0 8.7 86' sub on​

I think this is the first time that a sub has been our man of the match, particularly where he only played about 5 minutes. Beyond that Alisson and van Dijk both had very good performances whilst Henderson is the lowest scorer.

Links Post-Match Thread - credit /u/hesaycisse/ Match Thread - credit /u/hesaycisse Pre-Match Thread - credit /u/hesaycisse

Shout out to /u/hesaycisse for making my life easier.

Title Race

As of time of writing Chelsea haven't played. I'll go back and update this when they have.

Pos Team GP Won Drawn Lost GF GA GD Points 1 Manchester City 7 6 1 0 21 3 18 19 2 Liverpool 7 6 1 0 15 3 12 19 3 Chelsea 7 5 2 0 15 5 10 17 4 Tottenham Hotspur 7 5 0 2 14 7 7 15 5 Arsenal 7 5 0 2 14 9 5 15 6 Watford 7 4 1 2 11 8 3 13

Christ do City score a lot of goals. 21 is tied-third for the most goals scored for the last 10 champions. That being said, they've played some absolute shite so far. We slip down to second for the first time this season but maintain that unbeaten record. A result against City and we go clear. Bring on next week.

On to the comparisons. The chart below displays the cumulative points totals over the four games:

https://i.imgur.com/5555ca9.png

No longer 100% perfect :( but we're still well ahead of the curve.

The next graph is for goals scored, with Leicester (15/16) in dark blue and Manchester City (17/18) in light blue being our lower and upper figures.

https://i.imgur.com/aveBDbB.png

We drop away from the average again but still no real problems. We've scored in every game so far and we're averaging more than a goal a game so that's all good.

The final graph is goals conceded. Manchester United are both used for comparisons, with 08/09 (upper) and 12/13 (lower) seasons.

https://i.imgur.com/0EHhtQO.png

Despite conceding we're still really good at defence.

I've filled out the spreadsheet a bit more so if you want to have a look it's below:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1D7aM5g9Pqhnt2y58BdFUc4xTp3epreMhKMlpEVgQOdY/edit?usp=sharing

Goals Analysis

I'm changing up the format a little bit. Let me know if you like it, or have any other suggestions.

Hazard 25' 1-0 https://streamja.com/ZvQ6 https://i.imgur.com/QstZIri.jpg Chelsea win the ball back after we commit men forward on the left. Mané has pushed right up and has Wijnaldum supporting. Salah on the other side is also pushed quite high. This leaves a big space on our right. It's not an immediate concern, but it is where the problem comes from. https://i.imgur.com/PKyIBKu.png Luiz has a clear pass directly to Hazard who is unmarked. This is an issue. https://i.imgur.com/2U4by8P.png Trent goes to close Hazard down but doesn't get near enough to really affect anything. For me Salah should be charging back to cover the space that's left. https://i.imgur.com/QdU98WW.png Instead Salah actually stops. He should be able to see the danger here, there's a simple pass through the middle of the pitch and Hazard is making the run onto it. https://i.imgur.com/308S7QH.png Chelsea actually make an extra pass. Trent compounds his original error by bending his run towards the centre. I don't really understand what he's trying to do here - he originally looks like he's going to track Hazard (and i think Trent has the pace to beat him), but instead is... trying to block the pass? Covering the middle? I have no idea. It's a very strange decision. https://i.imgur.com/QCQCDU5.png I don't think there's really anything Gomez can do to stop Hazard's shot. Alisson is left in the worst possible position - Hazard could go high near post or go across him. That's why he doesn't really dive to his left. This is a goal that a very good team can score but we (Trent) certainly helped them.

Sturridge 89' 1-1 https://streamja.com/dkan https://i.imgur.com/aivCXWo.png Let's be honest, there's not much you can analyse about this absolute banger. However, I am kind of interested in how disciplined Chelsea's shape is. They're very much set up in their 4-3-3 (Moses is somewhere on the right wing) and we're having to change our shape to get through them. https://i.imgur.com/Yy9kJGi.png It's a stunning goal because there's literally nothing on. Kepa is central, tall, in a good position to save most shots. Sturridge's only option is to go for the top bin. It's an absolute perfect shot that loops over the keeper. What a goal.

Thoughts

Line Up

I predicted the team correctly! I think the midfield three is probably the best for keeping the bigger teams at arm's length. Wijnaldum in particular does such a good job of disrupting the opposition.

Sadio Mané and Mo Salah

I made a post in the match thread along similar lines, but I am really confused by Klopp's substitutions of Salah over Mané. Salah hasn't been scoring at the rates towards the end of last season but he's still very much involved in the attacking build up. Meanwhile, Mané has been sloppy going forward and for me is not doing enough. Yet, he's the one staying on in games, he's getting the League Cup games etc. It's strange to me.

How Important is This?

A point away at a top 3 rival (see what I did there) is always going to be important. Last season we were bad against the top six, particularly away from home, so it's pleasing to see that we've already gotten 4 points from two games. We need to back this result up with 3 points against City though.

Napoli

Back to the Champions League and what I think is a really intriguing encounter. Napoli aren't the classic Italian defensive team but, they are the pot 4 seed in our group (edit: nope, they're pot 2. Maybe I'm still a little drunk...) and we should be beating them. I can see a couple of changes for this one.

Alisson; Clyne, Gomez, Matip, Robertson; Milner, Fabinho, Keita; Salah, Sturridge, Shaqiri

I can see one of the full backs being changed and I don't want to see Moreno ever again so Clyne comes in for Trent. Matip gives VVD the game off, though it could quite easily be Lovren if he's fit enough. Fabinho might be more suited to European football at this point, but a tricky away might be too far for him. Keita can replace either of Henderson or Milner. Shariqi and Sturridge come in for Firmino and one of Mané or Salah, and as mentioned above I think Mané's been getting away with one so far.

Our next fixture is against Napoli in the Champion's League. The match kicks off on the 3rd of October at 20:00PM(BST)/15:00PM(ET).

Submitted September 30, 2018 at 01:57PM by voliton via reddit https://ift.tt/2RcxuLh