By Chris Rowland.
This week has seen a TTT (and Dan Kennett!) name check in The Independent, an appearance by Ollie Holt on The Anfield Wrap podcast, and plenty of bizarre news items. But it’s been dominated by infinite variations of story that refuses to die, the Suarez case. Starting with our own Glen Johnson, finally saying what many on TTT thought (and posted) about Handshake-gate.
But first, the Indy bit:
Liverpool do happen to be blessed with supporters whose statistical analysis provides a lucid interpretation of where the club’s strengths and weaknesses lie, accessible through the Tomkins Times website. It is one such analyst, Dan Kennett, who has provided the essential data on “clear chances” created and converted, leaving Liverpool with fewer goals scored as a club this season than Van Persie has all on his own. Creating them isn’t too much a problem – one every 40 minutes – but the conversion percentages are something from which Dalglish will want to avert his gaze. Liverpool convert 27 per cent, against a Premier League average of 38 per cent. Luis Suarez, still with only six goals to his name this season, converts a clear chance every 76 minutes and his 24 per cent conversion rate makes him less than half as potent as Edin Dzeko, Javier Hernandez or Demba Ba in those potentially pivotal moments. He perhaps resembles Carlos Tevez in the way he fights through games, but he needs a calm space to construct the kind of scoring record – 81 goals in 110 Eredivisie games – which left Ajax resigned to his departure months before he left for Merseyside.
Paul is getting over the fact that Dan’s name was the one used in the article, with a combination of counselling and heavy medication. [It’s all reflected glory, Chris! – PT]
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