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Reina compared to Rivals | Liverpool Defence Opta Stat Analysis

Following the debacle that was the defeat to Wigan, Liverpool fans have started to point their finger at a new target: Pepe Reina. A few of them saying: he’s not been making as many saves or doesn’t look as though he’s trying or he can’t save penalties anymore. Liverpool’s slump shouldn’t rest solely on the shoulders of Pepe Reina and hopefully the statistics will help show this.

We’re going to compare Pepe Reina to goalkeepers from the teams above Liverpool in the table with whatever data we can find from the EPLIndex Stats Centre. First, let’s look at their save averages for the season and compare it to their current form (current form usually calculated by using data from last six games). The save % is calculated by dividing the number of saves by the total number of shots on target conceded by the team. The graph below shows the results.

The graph above shows that Pepe Reina’s save average has dropped. Reina is sitting pretty at 71.1% of shots on target saved behind only Joe Hart and De Gea for the season so far but his form in the last six is alarming with it dipping by over 10% and now sitting at 60.9% of shots on target saved. All keepers improved this figure apart from Reina and Friedel which clearly shows which sides are struggling for form in the league at the moment.

David De Gea is topping the shot stoppers in the last six games saving 82.1% of shots on target and Joe Hart is a close second on 78.9%. Petr Cech and Szczesney have improved over the last six games just like De Gea has. Krul also improves but very slightly. Both Pepe and Brad fall behind Krul with the massive drops in the % of shots on target saved.

Can all of this be attributed on the goalkeeper’s form? We don’t think so but we’ll talk some more about this on page 2.

Let’s take a quick look at how this has affected their goals conceded statistics:

Pepe Reina and Brad Friedel are conceding goals every 54 minutes in their last six games and this average is way below the season average of 87.1 minutes for Pepe and 77.14 minutes for Brad. There, obviously, is a direct correlation with the decrease in percentage of shots on target saved and it shows here.

Joe Hart’s stats are surprising as he only improved his percentage slightly but he’s conceding a goal every 2 games if you go by his last six games although his season average is also far and away the best of the top seven. De Gea’s stats also show improvement here as well as Cech & Szczesney – the latter really improving his numbers above from conceding a goal every 69 mins to now 108 minutes in his last six.

It’s Krul that is the worst off here – already averaging 63.66 mins per goal conceded he has dropped further in the last six games to concede a goal every 49.09 mins, that’s almost two goals per game.

Next Page: Blame Game – can the blame rest solely on the shoulders of Pepe Reina?

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