Height (dis)advantage

There has been a lot of talk about how Liverpool can't play against a tall striker. The perfect example would be in the game against Aston Villa, where Christian Benteke made a wonderful performance. But, is this true? Can Liverpool really not win against a tall striker?

I decided to investigate this, this time thanking the Reddit Match Threads and Squawka. After searching the height, in metres, of the tallest forward we played against, I had to see if Liverpool won/drew/loss the game and put this information in a chart.

Disclaimer: Liverpool's home game against Stoke City on October 7th 2012 is not in the chart for aesthetic reasons. Because of Peter Crouch immense height (2.01 m) it would make the chart less readable; the game ended a 0-0 draw.

As you can see in this chart Liverpool has a win and a draw, against almost all opponent sizes. The only result that are not greatly distributed are the losses, the majority of them being against opponent whose size is 1.86 m (Dempsey & van Persie twice).

The results against the smallest heights are 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss. The results against the tallest heights (not including Stoke's draw) are 1 win and 1 draw.

A good way to measure if their is a significant difference in height between the results is the average.
The average of all the losses is 1.873 m, which is very close to the wins, 1.877 m. Then we have the average of all the draws, 1.894 m, but if we don't include Peter Crouch's outlier it would go down to 1.880 m.

Impossible

Then this means that on average we draw against the tallest attackers, and we (on average) lose against the smallest ones. Leaving all the winning against the middle teams.

Another way of measuring their significance is using a t-test. After analysing the data, it showed that the means of all three results are the same, with a p-value of 0.36 between the loss-draw, a 0.41 between win-draw and a 0.81 between win-loss.

What does this mean?

It's actually saying that there is statistically no difference between the results. Refuting the idea posted on the start of this article. Meaning Liverpool has no type of disadvantage and they could win all the games regardless of the opponent's height.

**Update**

If the same forwards start in the upcoming 13 league games (except Ba for Chelsea), we're going to play 4 teams that have attackers smaller that 1.86 m, 4 teams whose forwards are between 1.86-1.88 m and 5 teams with strikers taller than 1.88 m.

Distribution

By now we can see Rodgers' philosophy in Liverpool's way of playing. We have significantly increased possession and passes, tiring the opposition and giving them less time with the ball. We've also increased the pressure we put on other teams, which is the key to us having the ball 55% of the time. Without talking about the non-football related things he and Fenway Sports Group have also brought to the club.

This style of play has many strengths (as listed above) but alas it has some weakness as well. If you have been watching the games Liverpool have played this season you've seen how well Rodger's philosophy has been advancing. But you've also seen the apparent weakness this system has.

 

Liverpool F.C. crumble with pressure

Many fans (and some managers as well) have seen that every time Liverpool face a team that is willing to pressure them high up the pitch, they lose their composure and don't do well. This is because their style of play needs them to pass from the back, meaning the GK. This is why everyone was excited when we started playing like this, because it would take full advantage of Pepe's (La Masia trained) distribution.

Maybe that is the reason people are now counting how many passes Reina completes. For they say that when he makes more than 20, it's a probable win for Liverpool. So, after analysing the wonderful infographs made by "Oh You Beauty," one could infer that when Liverpool win Pepe Reina has completed 75% more passes than if they lose or draw.

Passing

On average Reina completes 11 passes in a draw, and 13 in a loss with the same attempts (19). But when Liverpool win Reina completes an astonishing 21 passes out of 27, a 78% pass completion.

What does this mean for the team?

First I have to say our stats when we lose and when we draw are almost the same, so the analysis are done with the average of both.

When Reina delivers that means Lucas and Gerrard (or their counterparts) get to see more of the ball. On average when we win Lucas and Gerrard both complete 70 passes. Lucas completing 31% and Gerrard 32% more than when we lose/draw.

This means they can distribute the ball better and their would be more ball movement. Tiring the opposition and leaving them with less possession, which is the game Rodgers is implementing.

Goalkeeper = Key

Now we can start to see how important the goalkeeper is for Brendan Rodgers and this team. He is not only a shot stopper, he is the first (most important?) domino in this game.

So Liverpool have to find a way to diminish the pressure put on by the other team so that the keeper can successfully pass the ball and make it go to the other side of the pitch.