Brendan Rodgers return to his former club ended in a balanced 0-0 draw. Both teams played similarly controlled passing styles. Both also created a fair number of scoring chances, but neither displayed the ability to finish them. Liverpool will feel they were closest to three points at the end of the day. Raheem Sterling hit the woodwork and Jose Enrique had a goal narrowly called offside.
Ultimately, a draw is hardly an unfair result. The match was shockingly balanced, even for two teams using a similar system. Possession was split practically done the middle, with only half a percentage point favoring Liverpool. Swansea attempted 522 passes while Liverpool attempted 533. Furthermore, both teams completed these passes at 85% accuracy. Even the difference between scoring opportunities was neglible. Swansea created 11 chances to Liverpool’s 10.
Player Influence and Positioning
Both sides still bear the influence of Rodgers on their sleeves. Close passing was the focus for both sides, resulting in the absurdly parallel pass count. The midfield was dominated by a battle between the partnerships of Britton-Hernandez and Allen-Gerrard.
Angel Rangel was enormously influential on the right for Swansea. The overlapping partnership between Downing and Enrique looked threatening, but Rangel was adept at containing threats on his flank. The rightback had 7 interceptions and a perfect success rate for tackling. Opposite him, Davies also had a strong defensive game, but Rangel contributed far more in attack. The two most common pass combinations in the match were Rangel to Hernandez or De Guzman.
The dividing line in attack was each team’s ability to link attack to midfield. Liverpool’s line played higher, and managed to stuff Swansea’s attackers back into the congested midfield. Itay Shechter failed to be an influence on the match in the first half, making only 18 touches on the ball and failing to get a single shot off.
For Liverpool, Suarez continued to be adept at drifting into channels or deeper in midfield to find space. His constant movement is garnering a reputation for guile and lethality, and he was no less dangerous in this match. He had the highest number of shots and dribbles, as well as the most touches of any centrally attacking player.
The Swans attempted to remedy their impotence in the penalty area by substituting Shechter for Sung-Yueng Ki at halftime and pushing Michu higher. Michu was used as the focal point of attacking in the second half. Crosses were placed in to take advantage of his aerial ability, Â but the Spaniard only managed one shot on target within the penalty area.
Liverpool Width
Liverpool have shown a tendency to attack down the left flank far more than the right in previous games. This is in part due to Andre Wisdom taking up the rightback position. Wisdom is an adept defender, but does not yet look totally comfortable going forward.
In this match, their wing play was more balanced than normal. Wisdom was out due to injury, and Glen Johnson returned to his native rightback position. Johnson is far more attacking minded, and helped channel more attacks down the right. Indeed, he and Sterling on average occupied very similar positions. In the second half particularly, Johnson was an attacking threat cutting inside from the right flank. Liverpool’s best opportunity was a pass slipped through to Johnson drifting across the penalty area before timing a run onto a through ball behind Swansea’s line.
On the left, Stewart Downing took up a more defensive position as Rodger’s continues to convert the winger into a left back. Inversely, Jose Enrique was again used as the attacker on the left flank, as he was against Wigan. The result was that both players could attack and defend in tandem. Downing was free to overlap Enrique with the knowledge that the Spaniard could easily cover for him. As reflected in the influence chalkboard above, both players on average occupied similar space on the pitch.
NEXT PAGE:Â Chalkboards for attacking creativity of Gerrard & Hernandez. Also Ben Davies defensive performance & shots on target chalkboards. Click Here or click on page 2 below.
