Liverpool didn’t actually play very well at the weekend. They passed the ball 10% less against Burnley than in the game against Stoke City, the other convincing win at Anfield this season. The first goal didn’t feel like an inevitability when it came and even at half time the talk in the bowels of the Main Stand was the importance of the next goal. The reds didn’t move the ball about quickly enough to draw Burnley out or to unsettle their well-organised defence. And as you can see from this, the reds had a lot of possession in front of the Burnley defence:

Passes in the Burnley half

But didn’t often get in behind:

passes around the penalty box

In conducting the analysis, I was expecting to find that Benayoun was allowed to play so well because Johnson didn’t get forward so much and that the Burnley left back didn’t play particularly well – both were perceptions on the today from my (slightly restricted) view. Neither appears to be the case. Johnson’s involvement was not obviously different from his performance against Bolton – although he didn’t play quite so many crucial balls into the box. It was simply an exceptional performance from Yossi who was intimately involved in most of the good things that took place.

Benayoun’s pitch map is worth producing because it gives an impression of just how much he contributed. It looks more akin to Lucas or Gerrard:

by Guardian Chalkboards

Gerrard’s role

There has been some postmatch discussion about impact of Gerrard playing in a different role. I disagree with Andy Gray’s analysis. Gerrard is not more effective “arriving late” or “coming from deep” – or if he is, he wasn’t yesterday. He passed the ball almost the same number of times against Burnley as against Bolton (although that means he was proportionately more involved). The difference is that fewer of these passes helped penetrate the Burnley defence. So Gerrard may have provided a better balance to the team but he wasn’t obviously a greater threat.

by Guardian Chalkboards

Related posts:

1. Liverpool v Hull City post match analysis
2. West Ham v Liverpool post match analysis
3. Liverpool reserves v Sunderland reserves post match analysis