COMPARISON. It is in the very fabric of football to compare things. How does one player compare to another? How does one team compare to another? And how does one season compare to another?
In fact, competition is always about comparison. When teams measure themselves against each other the result provides the answer as to which team is superior. The rest in between is a mixture of conjecture and analysis. So 12 months on I wondered how we compared to last season.
After reading a highly enjoyable statistic that we have had 39 points after 27 games for the last 3 seasons, I decided to do my own examination as to how we measure against last season’s performance.
I am not as keen on the ‘after this many games we had this many points last season’ as a valid form of analysis. It’s all well and good having the same number of points but if the remaining fixtures are Man Utd, Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea, Tottenham and Everton away, well the current points tally doesn’t really make a genuine comparison.
So I have looked at the like for like results for LFC this season against the same opposition last season and there are some very interesting results. Of course, I have had to manipulate the results slightly as the same teams don’t compete in the Premier League every year. So, I have swapped the bottom 3 from last season with the newly promoted sides.
|
Season 2012/2013 |
Season 2011/2012 |
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| Team | Home | Away | Team | Home | Away | ||
| Arsenal | 0:2 | 2:2 | Arsenal | 1:2 | 0:2 | ||
| Aston Villa | 1:3 | Aston Villa | 1:1 | 0:2 | |||
| Chelsea | 1:1 | Chelsea | 4:1 | 1:2 | |||
| Everton | 2:2 | Everton | 3:0 | 0:2 | |||
| Fulham | 4:0 | Fulham | 0:1 | 1:0 | |||
| Man City | 2:2 | 2:2 | Man City | 1:1 | 3:0 | ||
| Man Utd | 1:2 | 2:1 | Man Utd | 1:1 | 2:1 | ||
| Newcastle | 1:1 | Newcastle | 3:1 | 2:0 | |||
| Norwich | 5:0 | 2:5 | Norwich | 1:1 | 0:3 | ||
| QPR | 0:3 | QPR | 1:0 | 3:2 | |||
| Reading | 1:0 | Bolton | 3:1 | 3:1 | |||
| Southampton | 1:0 | Blackburn | 1:1 | 2:3 | |||
| Stoke | 0:0 | 3:1 | Stoke | 0:0 | 1:0 | ||
| Sunderland | 3:0 | 1:1 | Sunderland | 1:1 | 1:0 | ||
| Swansea | 5:0 | 0:0 | Swansea | 0:0 | 1:0 | ||
| Tottenham | 2:1 | Tottenham | 0:0 | 4:0 | |||
| WBA | 0:2 | 3:0 | WBA | 0:1 | 0:2 | ||
| West Ham | 2:3 | Wolves | 2:1 | 0:0 | |||
| Wigan | 3:0 | Wigan | 1:2 | 0:3 | |||
| – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Goals scored | 27 | 22 | 49 | 14 | 14 | 28 | |
| Goals conceded | 12 | 22 | 34 | 14 | 16 | 30 | |
| Points taken | 24 | 15 | 39 | 14 | 16 | 30 | |
Reading, as Champions of the Championship (yes, that does sound ridiculous!) have switched places with Bolton, Southampton replace Blackburn’s results and West Ham take the place of Wolves.
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It is fair to say that by looking at the same 27 matches from last season and comparing them to this season there is a startling result. Liverpool have amassed 9 more points against the same opposition this season than they did last season. In the 27 games last season Liverpool took 30 points compared to the 39 points Liverpool have taken this season. Interestingly, we have secured 14 points at home and 16 points away against the teams we have played this season. This season has seen us almost equal the away performance with 15 points being harvested; which means that 10 additional points have been plundered at home.
It was acknowledged last season that home form had not been good enough and Brendan Rodgers has clearly wasted no time in addressing that problem so far this season.
Liverpool’s defence has appeared to be a problem this time round and indeed Rodgers’ charges have conceded 4 more goals against the same opposition. However, that is counteracted by the staggering 21 more goals Liverpool have managed this season in the same fixtures. Given how much fans have pined for extra firepower this season (until Sturridge arrived) that fact is truly remarkable.
The improvement across these games means that Rodgers’ reds have amassed an extra 0.33 points per game in these fixtures. If the same improvement holds out until the end of the season Liverpool will finish with 64-65 points some 12 or 13 points improvement on last season’s performance. So while our final league position could well be very similar to last seasons, our points haul would actually be much closer to Champions League standard.
If Liverpool repeat their results of last season, then they will finish with 61 points. While this is hardly a ground breaking haul, it is an improvement nonetheless.
So while it may well seem that the team is performing at a similar level to last season, it must be said that Rodger’s has actually brought an improvement to results, especially given we have already scored more goals than we managed in all of last season.
Rodgers may have his work cut out to convince fans that he’s the right man for the job but if he can make another improvement in results next season, he could well silence some detractors.
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You only have to look at how much Swansea have improved since Rodgers left , to understand what an error it was hiring him
Rubbish manager = Rubbish season = BR OUT !!!!!!!!!!!!
Shame on anyone wanting LFC to keep a useless manager like Rodgers . Shame on u
All I’m going to say is “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. Builing takes time, and if you look at how the bubblegum chewing rednose dude started at the scum then we should have every reason to believe that Rodgers will come good. Whether FSG is in it for the money I dont care, they are businesmen after all. So lets support the manager in charge, and help the team, thats what they need. They dont need us supporters to bash them left right and centre.
That is söooooooooooo stupid.
Because one club has patience with a manager . By your example – every club who had patience will gain success
No. Stupid stupid stupid
Anyway Ferguson was experienced and was proven.
Rodgers is a no mark , with NO history of success.
Really stupif
It’s really amazingly stupid Theo . Don’t you think every club would do what utd did ‘have patience’ , if it could work ?
For every Ferguson , I can name 100 souness’s where the club stayed patient and achieved NO success.
Stupid example
ok Mesmeric.
Liverpool is still scoring more points per game this season than we did last season, and the season is far from over. So how can this be the worst season in 56 years without it being finished?
With the addition of Sturridge we finally have a proper goalhunting striker.
Yeah, Swansea have improved on their form from last season, but so has Liverpool. And if you deduct the horrid start of the season in the first 5 games, Liverpool has been raking in 4th most points of all the teams in the league.
How would you see Liverpool rebuild otherwise? FSG is never going to shell out 200 million in the summer window, and I highly doubt Liverpool could even attract any spectacular managers.
So put a sock in it and give the man some time, he’s been manager for what 6 months and you want to fire him?
+
For all you people * over our recent purchases, players also sometimes need time to adapt.