Liverpool's Scoring And Defending Is Showing Progress
After the Reds bagged their second 3-0 win in a row against Sunderland tonight, I thought I'd have a look at how their attacking and defensive records compare to seasons past in the Premier League.
The good news is, that even after a difficult first half to the season, they are looking good.
Liverpool have scored 1.62 goals per game so far this season, which is slightly ahead of the club's total Premier League record of 1.60, and better than every season since 2008/09. Indeed, the Reds have only topped this tally in eight of the previous twenty seasons.
Similarly, they've only failed to score in 19% of their games so far, a record which has only been bettered by the club in six previous Premier League seasons, and is comfortably better than their average performance of 23.6%.
Scoring three-or-more goals in 28.6% of their matches is a decent return too. Only once in the past eleven seasons have the Reds done this more frequently (and no prizes for guessing that this was in 2008/09), and it is well clear of Liverpool's average of 23.5%
At the other end things aren't so clear-cut, but there are still grounds for optimism.
The main issue is the frequency with which the team have conceded two-or-more goals. This has happened in ten games already, which equates to 47.6% of the total, and is the worst defensive performance in this regard by Liverpool in the Premier League era.
However, the team has also recorded eight clean sheets this season, and only one team in the Premier League (Stoke City) currently has more.
Not only that, but with shutouts managed in 38.1% of the games, it means that Liverpool are outperforming their record in half of the previous twenty seasons; no mean feat considering how often they are letting in two-or-more at present.
So there's still work to be done, but Brendan Rodgers would be justified in thinking that his project just might be on the right track.
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