In 2008/09, having found myself frustrated with the lack of information relating to how goals are scored – and specifically, who contributed to the creation beyond the final two touches – I came up with the concept of Goal Involvement, which looked beyond the simple assist; going back to the point in a move when it turned from mere possession into intent.

Assists remained in their standard form, but were now termed the Primary Assist, with other key contributions described as Secondary Assists. And while it remains a subjective measure, each assist was awarded a value between 1 and 5, in order to rate contributions. After all, presuming they can actually kick a ball and wouldn’t panic, almost anyone could roll a ball two yards for someone to lash at an indirect free-kick, but not many could jink past three defenders and put the ball at the feet of the goalscorer a yard from goal; and yet both would be classed equally as ‘assists’ under the normal process.

This year, subscriber Chris Dillon picked up the baton and  looked at the 76 goals Liverpool scored, to see who played a part in each. Chris also makes comparisons between the Hodgson and Dalglish halves of the season.

I’ve also added some further observations on the results, and a whole new section towards the end in relation to our season of two halves.

This post is for Subscribers only.

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