Matthew Cain's blog

There’s been a lot of speculation about Javier Mascherano’s contribution to the Liverpool team this season. His performances have attracted criticism when the team has struggled. Kopites have gone from singing about the “best midfield in the world” to reading about Benitez’s struggles to keep it together. I wanted to examine his contribution in more detail to understand what’s really been going on.

Some fans wonder if Mascherano’s head has been turned by the interest expressed by Barcelona. That may be true, but is not reason enough. Xabi Alonso started playing better when he knew he was leaving. Others have observed the pressure of becoming captain of a struggling Argentina side. Lionel Messi’s performances have suffered because of the national team’s travails, according to Guillem Balague. Although Mascherano himself suggests that the extra experience is useful.

All of this might be true. But on top of it, I think he’s been playing a very different role for the team.

1. Less tackling, more passing

His performances against Bolton Wanderers this season, compared with similar games last season, he was playing much more like Xabi Alonso: passing the ball, being at the hub of the team but tackling less like Alonso. Against Aston Villa this season, he passed the ball 78 times successfully (18% of the whole team’s passing) compared with 53 times against Villa last season (13% of the whole team’s passing).

The graph below shows the number of successful passes Mascherano made this season, compared with the games against the same teams last season. It really gives you a sense of his changing role:

However, as a result he has been tackling far less, although the statistics can’t demonstrate whether he’s been pressurising players on the ball, my perception is that this aspect of his game has decreased as well:

2. More offensive responsibilities

My perception is that Macherano’s passing has gone forward more than in the past when it would be back to a centreback, to help Liverpool clear their lines, or sideways to a better passer. This season he’s been taking more responsibility for setting up attacks. Against West Ham last season, almost two thirds of all his passes went to a defender. In the same game this season just one in five passes went to a defender.

3. The team finding a better balance

After the first few games of this season, I was concerned that the team wasn’t missing Xabi Alonso so much as missing Javier Mascherano. As a team Liverpool have made a surprisingly similar number of passes (3336 this season up 10% on last) and tackles (350 this season up 1% on last season) this season (when Mascherano has played), compared to the same games last season. But Mascherano’s key contribution last season was tackles, and he was now more of a playmaker playing slightly higher up the pitch and providing less cover to the defence.

However, in recent games Mascherano has been playing more like Liverpool fans have come to expect: passing the ball slightly less and tackling a bit more. I don’t know whether that’s about his instructions or a general improvement in his game. He may have dropped slightly deeper and perhaps he trusts Lucas with more responsibility.

This graph shows quite clearly the reduced number of passes, and increased number of tackles as the Premiership season has gone on. I added the equivalent games last season so that you can see that some of this change is about the opponents Liverpool have faced rather than just a change in his role in the team.

Knowing what we do about Benitez’s forward-thinking and love of strategy, perhaps the alteration in Mascherano’s role in part of preparing for the arrival of Alberto Aquilani, as Steven Gerrard also drops deeper into midfield. Only time will tell. But an effective Javier Mascherano is critical to Liverpool being hard to beat and moving the ball quickly in midfield.

* all statistics from The Guardian’s chalkboards and manually calculated by me. If you spot a mistake, do let me know.

Related posts:

1. Bolton v Liverpool post match analysis
2. West Ham v Liverpool post match analysis
3. Liverpool v Hull City post match analysis
4. Liverpool 5 – Leicester City 1 FA Youth Cup: not good enough
5. Liverpool v Wolves FA Youth Cup analysis

Tags: analysis, Javier Mascherano, Liverpool

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Liverpool FC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.