Anfield Index

Have you ever looked at a team sheet, seen a player on it you didn’t rate, and think “S***, we’re in trouble now”? I know I have. Mind you, I think as LFC fans, cowering in terror at some of the names we hear announced on our team sheets has become pretty much an occupational hazard in recent seasons. We have been truly blessed as a club to have so many legends and great players (picking even a best 11 is horrendously difficult when you consider that you would only be able to pick two from Rush, Dalglish, Fowler, Keegan, Hunt, Toshack, Liddell, Owen, Torres, amongst others), but we’ve had our share of stinkers as well.

Liverpool FC have had an absolute storming match at Anfield Vs Manchester City. They have beaten the Champions League hopefuls by 3 goals to nil with a couple of special strikes from Andy Carroll. It is also the first time that Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez are starting at Anfield and what a night to grace Anfield. Please find the Full Time statistics below:

The first part of this two part series concentrated on defending and some shooting stats. In this second instalment we're going to be concentrating on the creative aspects of Glen Johson and Martin Kelly's play. We'll be covering passing, chances created, crossing and successful dribbles.

The longest myth going about Lucas, has been that he only plays the simple pass, and this is mainly sideways, or back-wards. This brief post is aimed to demonstrate he really doesn't, and I have taken 3 randomly selected games from this season which Lucas featured in to help explain.

Goals are everything in football, but i'm guessing you all know that already. What is interesting to look at though, is when the goals actually come - meaning at what point in the game are they scored. We hear all to often of teams who leave it late to win the game, often enough that is applied to Liverpool - but is there any truth in it??

Liverpool's defense has suffered some serious injury blows in the last few days. Daniel Agger has been ruled out for the rest of the season whilst both Glen Johnson and Martin Kelly will miss the majority of it as they're facing another three to four weeks out. We thought it was a good time to compare our fullbacks but this time with a twist. So in this two part series we're going to compare Glen Johnson with Martin Kelly and... Glen Johnson. Yes, you read that right. We'll be comparing Glen Johnson the left back to see how he's performed in this position since Kenny Dalglish arrived at the club against his performances at right back. Martin Kelly's introductory season in the Premier League which was bolstered by Kenny's arrival.

Player transfers were one of many things Liverpool managed poorly last summer, as Christian Purslow and Roy Hodgson oversaw some woeful signings and ludicrous sales. The arrivals of promising prospects Jonjo Shelvey and Danny Wilson were tied up by Rafa Benitez, who also sanctioned the signing of Bosman flop Milan Jovanovic. Following the Spaniards sacking, Hodgson and Purslow were active in the market themselves. Joe Cole and Fabio Aurelio were signed on free transfers, but in deals that will cost the club a lot of money in the long term; wages of approximately £90,000 per week for Cole and a two year deal for the injury prone Aurelio. The remaining signings were Paul Konchesky from Fulham for slightly more than £3m, Christian Poulsen from Juventus for £4.5m, Brad Jones from Middlesbrough for £2.3m and Raul Meireles from Porto for £10.7m. Leaving Liverpool was a raft of former Academy and Reserve Team players, the wantaway Yossi Benayoun, Albert Riera and Javier Mascherano, but also Alberto Aquilani, after just one season of adaptation in England and the promising Argentine international Emiliano Insua, both on loan.

In the 2006 January transfer window, Daniel Agger moved to Liverpool from Brondby for what was a club record fee for a defender, at £5.8m. Agger made his Liverpool debut that February against Birmingham City, a match which also saw the ‘second coming’ of Robbie Fowler. However, the Dane was limited to just 4 appearances for his new club that season due to injury.

Despite this seasons ups and downs there has been almost one constant in the side, Maxi Rodríguez. Our number 17 has featured in 24 of our 31 premier league matches, joint in 5th place with Glen Johnson for season appearances. But many people question why Maxi continues to be selected and feature so heavily in the side. To...

Welcome to another Match Day on anfieldindex.com, finally we have some stats to produce after a two week lay off since the excellent result at the Stadium Of Light. Please find below the first half statistics from the Liverpool FC game, at the Hawthorns, Vs West Bromwich Albion. We haven't provided any context to the...

The third, and final, instalment of our nostalgic look at the midfield trio of the 2008/2009 season will concentrate on their performance in the attacking third of the pitch. We'd expect Xabi Alonso to be ahead in the race for most creative central midfielder out of the three. Xabi's passing, whether it be a simple pass or a long ball, was always of the highest quality. We'll look at how much of his passing helped in creating chances for Liverpool FC in the season 2008/2009 and how his midfield partners did in comparison.

Liverpool are looking to boost their attacking lineup by adding two of the hottest talents on Spanish soil, Bojan Krkić and Sergio Canales. Canales warded off any attempts to get him on loan in January, but patience is running thin.'Its been a tough year', admits Canales. For someone who should be starting games at this age, he is waiting in the wings for his turn. With the wealth of talent in Madrid, it doesn't look like the attacking midfielder stands a chance of replacing Kaka or Ozil in the first team. Damien Comolli, now the Director of Football at Liverpool FC, rates him highly from his days at Racing Santander.

If there has been one criticism levelled at Andy Carroll more than any other since he burst onto the scene in 2008, it is that his aerial threat is where his ability begins and ends. As one disgruntled Geordie put it on Twitter, “That's his only trick though ....He's just a Geordie John Carew”....

“We’ve got the only Brazilian that can’t play football!” “It’s clear that he’s not going to make it.” “Not Liverpool class.” “We’re not going to win a title with him in the squad!” “Would he get into our rivals teams? No.” Are just some of the comments I’ve heard or read. Others can’t be written down…

Suarez and Carroll. Two signings, for the price of one (well, almost). For weeks, we have waited to see them play together. They have been talked up as the latest little and large combo, many of which we have seen over the years. Due to injury, and ineligability, we have been unable to see this partnership in all it's glory. But against Sunderland, we finally got to see them both, from the start.

It was late Thursday night, that the brilliant Tony Barrett, was reporting that Chelsea had made a bid, and we had rejected it. I was sat in work, with a copy of the Times printing another trusted article, while my colleagues had copies of The S*n, Daily Fail, and every other made up story going. I was brushing it under the carpet. We rejected Chelsea's bid, we move on, right? We have been in this situation before, haven't we?

In this instalment we're going to discuss tackling, possession duels, interceptions, blocks and fouls conceded or won. As you know this is going to fit right into Javier Mascherano's. You'd not expect this one to be close at all and expect Mascherano to be far and away the better tackler out of the three.

The first instalment of this feature was a success so we are going to make it into a regular feature every time Liverpool win in the Premier League. The latest game was yesterday's win at the Stadium of Light against, a struggling, Sunderland. Immediately after the game a lot of supporters, myself included, put the win down to a bit of lady luck that went our way after half an hour of the first half. On second thoughts I'd like to change my mind and put it down to a mixture of lady luck, which every team requires, and some very good performances in the Liverpool team.

Ive never written a blog before on anything, all I normally write are reviews for Hotels and Restaurants on trip Advisor and process documents for work.

A superb win for Liverpool FC, which totally hinged on the decision midway through the first half when Liverpool were awarded a penalty. The decision for the penalty was an incorrect one and this changed the whole game. However we are thankful for the decision especially after we've been on the wrong end of decisions in the past (See the unforgettable beach ball goal last year).

"We've got the best midfield in the world!" is what reverberated in Anfield and mainly on the Kop in the heights of Rafael Benitez's reign at Anfield. The song mentioned Xabi Alonso, Momo Sissoko, Gerrard and Mascheranoooooooooo! We loved that song, we loved that midfield quartet. Since then we've undergone a total transformation in midfield, no longer does it have the passing range of Alonso or the terrier like tackling of Mascherano or Sissoko.

Since Alonso's big money departure to join Spanish giants Real Madrid, we have never quite come to terms with his loss. Many actually believe this has caused our decline over the last few seasons.

This sunday, Liverpool go head to head to head with Steve Bruce (the manager) for the 16th time in the Premier League and the 20th time overall. Over the years it has been notoriously difficult for the reds to take all 3 points away from these games, in fact, it has only ever happened...

It's close to two weeks since the victory against Manchester United and we've, once again, done a full circle of emotion. Ecstasy of beating our rivals to dejection of crashing out of Europa. However we still think there are ten reasons to be positive:

Liverpool FC Vs SC Braga Our basic stats at half time are attached below for all to view. We'll add more context later but as we're providing these statistics on the go we cannot add any at the moment! Basic Stats from Braga (H) in Europa League   Player Stats

SamSports looks at Lucas Leiva's performances earlier this season, during the Roy Hodgson era. How has he done? Why should his performances be classed as impressive? Where can he improve? All those questions answered in this article.

A statistical look at Steven Gerrard's ups and downs over the last three Premier League seasons.

Last updated: 5th April 2011 Another update to this article for you all as it's received such good feedback. A week makes a massive difference in football and as you can see, from the stats below. Darren Bent has been the main beneficiary thanks to his two goals, against the bitter blues of Merseyside, this weekend. He further improved his stats because the two goals were his only shots in the game therefore improving his accuracy as well as minutes per goal ratio.

Part One of a detailed look at the depth of young talent at Liverpool FC, initially looking at Goalkeepers & Defenders.

The Under-18’s prepared for their FA Youth Cup showdown with Manchester United in the best possible way, coming back from a goal down to hit Blackburn for five.