Not actually surprised them coming so low. Juventus with their madhouse transfer attempts at creating the next galacticos screwed their defensive midfield up , i wouldnt be surprised if rabiot is showing similar stats to locatelli.
I suspect its no coincidence that fabinho spent time in Monaco as well. Maybe liverpool need to take a better look as to how the coaching and transfer setup is there in monaco.
Why? Every man and his dog is looking at ours.
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I remember posts on the old place wanting us to copy Southampton and Newcastle. How far we fell.
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Stat Analysis - Centre Forward
Statistical Comparison Player(s)
- Roberto Firmino
- Diogo Jota
Firmino and Jota are remarkably similar players from a statistical perspective - which supports my idea that we have statistical ideals we target rather than stylistic similarities.
The three initial filters I applied based on Firmino and Jota were npxG+xA (non penalty expected goals + expected assists), Shot Creating Actions and Presses Per Game.
After the initial filter the top 25 players were sorted by 10 categories in my “deep dive”.
Here is the top 25 accoridng to my rankings. The number in brackets is their total score.
25 - Victor Osimhen, Napoli (452)
24 - Erling Haaland, Borussia Dortmund (537)
23 - Neal Maupay, Brighton (562)
22 - Georginio Rutter, Hoffenheim (587)
21 - Ferran Torres, Barcelona (589)
20 - Tammy Abraham, Roma (593)
19 - Kylian Mbappe, PSG (605)
18 - Richarlison, Everton (610)
17 - Omar Marmoush, Stuttgart (632)
16 - Jonathan David, Lille (642)
15 - Jarrod Bowen, West Ham (644)
14 - Kai Havertz, Chelsea (648)
13 - Lautauro Martinez, Inter Milan (657)
12 - Gabriel Jesus, Man City (701)
11 - Emmanuel Dennis, Watford (704)
10 - Jonathan Burkhadt, Mainz (722)
9 - Amine Gouiri, Nice (740)
8 - Odsonne Edouard, Crystal Palace (742)
7 - Breel Embolo, Monchengladbach (764)
6 - Martin Terrier, Rennes (767)
5 - Giacomo Raspadori, Sassuolo (772)
4 - Christian Pulisic, Chelsea (794)
3 - Phil Foden, Man City (863)
2 - Christopher Nkunku, RB Leipzig (900)
1 - Lucas Paqueta, Lyon (902)
Once again not all of these are natural centre forwards but it is a projection based on their current statistics. That’s also an important thing to notice when we discuss Mbappe and Haaland. Their ranking here will shock many but this is because they are being compared to our style - Jota and Firmino.
In the case of Haaland and Mbappe they were let down in their rankins due to several factors… Haaland is very poor in possession, especially when making passes under pressure where he ranks in the lowest 20th percentile. He also had extremely low pressing statistics.
Mbappe’s possession stats and goalscoring is basically off the charts impressive but his defending from the front is abysmal. To say there is a lack of pressing is to put it mildly. He ranks in the bottom 5% of all attackers in Europe for presses per game and has a lowly 39th percentile in successful presses. Ultimately this isn’t even tactical, it’s a choice by Mbappe to be that disinterested in defending. It’s nowhere near good enough for Liverpool.
Liverpool player rankings…
1 - Roberto Firmino (921)
5 - Diogo Jota (841)
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I’m sure we tried to sign him but couldn’t get a work permit.
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Centre forward is such a hard one to work out for us as we’re basically had Bobby for 6/7 years and then everyone else that has played there for us recently has either been a very different type of player or someone filling in the role. Origi is more a traditional forward type, Salah and Mane are wide forwards that have fulfilled the role but in a different way. Even Jota, who did play centrally for Wolves a decent amount, played as part of a two with Jimenez very much the main attacking threat.
It’s almost as if you need a strikers category and a forwards category. The likes of Haaland and Martinez would be in the former with Foden, Pulisic etc in the latter.
@Sweeting out of interest where does Minamino come on this or does he not have enough game time to feature?
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CF’s would be one of the easier positions imo to fill. We might not get a Firmino but we can get players who can give an alternate.
Interesting thing is that Jota was mainly brought to provide a backup to Mane before being transitioned into the central role.
I’d like to see how players who are often compared with Bobby rate… Players like Thorgan Hazard & Thomas Muller
Mane’s been great as the centre forward in the last 2 games. If it’s something he can do long term that’s a way we could keep Mane, Diaz and Jota all happy.
Not great news for Firmino, though.
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Jota was used in all 3 positions so far, we can say that only Mane did that so far under Klopp. Long term, we’ll see how it plays out. Who mostly plays where.
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Unless Klopp would go to a 4-4-2 (the 4-2-2-2) or a 4-2-3-1 formation as even a backup , I don’t see where Bobby can be used with some regularity
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The only draw back I’ve seen so far is his touch sometimes let’s him down, but saying that Bobby has gone through a spell of losing possession in midfield a fair bit also.
Diaz Mane Salah is pretty tasty though, Diaz arriving appears to have made Mr Sadio up his game.
I do like Jota from the left, he does get a bit lost when central, so even Jota Mane Salah is a very viable line up.
As you say… Bobby does seem the odd one out at present.
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Minamino only has stats for playing as a winger so he’ll be in the stat analysis for them when I finish it.
Foden and Pulisic have apparently played sufficient games at CF this season that they had stats for those positions. I knew Foden would, he often plays that False 9 role, I was surprised Pulisic was there though.
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I hope no Man Utd official sees this , even this scouting is 100x better than the shit their scouts pull up
And then when they get their scouting right, they have to get their selection right. And then when they get their selection right, they have to get their coaching right.
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Yeh, I actually saw a hint of a smile on his face, at full time.
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Just seen someone say Jude Bellingham is the best midfielder in the world. Not sure what anyone is meant to do with this information but I felt the urge to share.
The hype around this kid is insane.
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He’s good but not that good.
He would be a great addition though 
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Best midfielder in the world called Jude.
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