Practice makes perfect: Liverpool and the Europa League

Practice makes perfect, practice makes perfect.

And boy, didn’t Thursday night prove Liverpool need practice? Liverpool in simple terms, were very lucky to get a win. At times, it looked liked a draw was an injustice to Gomel.

The game reinforced how much work is to be done at Anfield.

Anyone you speak to about Liverpool, they will always use one particular word to describe Rodgers and The Reds. The word people continuously use is ‘time’.

Time.

Liverpool need time to adapt to their new game. And Rodgers needs time to build a framework, a structure and a methodology for the Liverpool boys to adapt to this new passing game.

But, as always, the Europa League is perceived by many as a drain, a headache and ultimately a worthless cup. To some clubs that maybe to true, but for Liverpool the cons are outweighed by the pros.

The reality is simple for Liverpool. If they are to quickly instil this passing game at Anfield, they will need practice. And with many things in life, whether it’s learning how to drive, or to play pool or to even have sexy time, you need practice to be good at it. The Europa League offers games in abundance for Liverpool to practice, perfect and polish off their new system.

The Europa will teach Liverpool so much about the side and be an indicator of their development. The competition will allow Liverpool’s style to be tested by teams of different approaches, quality and environments. In some respects, the variation in opponents will help Rodgers find weaknesses and strengths in the philosophy and his players.

Furthermore, with the Europa League having so many games, it will allow Rodgers to shuffle his pack, learn more about his players, explore the mentality of them and fully assess how strong the depth of his squad is.

And look, passing football demands the most fluid, coherent and cohesive teams. And at the moment Liverpool aren’t any of those things.

But by playing two games a week, it will offer Liverpool the chance to work on becoming more fluent and more cohesive.

It’s simple, the way for a team to become more fluid is by developing an understanding. And the way to develop an understanding is by playing different teams and testing yourself.

It’s an equation Liverpool have to fulfil if they want to be successful under Rodgers. The Europa League probably will make the Liverpool players tired, it probably will effect their Champions League pursuit. But it’s far more important the Liverpool players are fully immersed into the system so that the players play in a fluent, fluid and functional passing side.

As at the end of the day, if Liverpool have a fixed identity, it will make the team far more united and harder to break down. And when a team have a fixed concentrated identity, success tends to follow.

Thursday night proved Liverpool have stacks of work to do. Liverpool need practice. The Europa League offers that in abundance. It’s up to the Liverpool players to take up the chance.

Why I got it so wrong over Mikel Arteta’s move to Arsenal

On deadline day of Summer 2011, I wasn’t sitting at home eagerly watching Sky Sports News till the transfer window slammed shut,  (which is something I dreamed of doing.) Instead, I was in the middle east, on my dad’s BlackBerry, constantly refreshing the BBC Sports website looking to see which clubs had made some dramatic last minute business. 

I inevitably stumbled across the news that Mikel Arteta was on the verge of joining Arsenal.

I chuckled to myself and instantly thought, ‘oh no, Arsene has lost the plot, he’s only gone out and spent £10million on a 29 year old.’

But by the end of the season, it seemed if anything, I had lost the plot for even thinking Arteta would be a bad buy for Arsenal. 

When I arrived home from my holiday, I got back on Twitter, one of the first things I tweeted was something along the lines of Arteta is a panic buy. No one really disagreed with me, no one tweeted me in disdain arguing that he was a good buy. 

If I wrote the exact same tweet now, Arsenal fans and fans from different clubs would openly disagree with me and they would have every right to. 

Mikel Arteta has been an absolute revelation for Arsenal. 

The first time I got the chance to watch Arteta was when Arsenal was defeated at Ewood park by Blackburn. Indeed, Arsenal may have lost that game, but my eyes were fixated on the new Arsenal number 8. 

He was brilliant. 

During this defeat, especially in the first half, Arteta kept the ball fantastically and moved the ball with great ease and simplicity. But what impressed me the most about his performance that day was his positioning, movement and decision making. The Spaniard continuously picked the perfect moments to support Arsenal’s attacks, and defensively, he wise and experienced enough to stay back and control the game in the quarter back position for Arsenal. 

But that wasn’t all, in a physical affair at Ewood Park, Arteta did enforce his presence onto the game. He won every single one of this tackles in that fixture and by the end of the season, he had won 82% of his tackles. A very impressive feat. 

As the season wore on, Mikel Arteta looked even more comfortable in the Arsenal set up. It was as if he’d been at the club since a young age. 

I’ll be honest with you, I tried to look at the flaws of Mikel Arteta and indeed, there were some. But they were outweighed immensely by his strengths, such as his majestic passing, his fantastic ball retention and his ability to create within confined spaces and time. 

It became perfectly clear to me,  Mikel Arteta was the engine of Arsenal. He was on the one linked all the departments on the pitch for Arsenal, he ultimately became the heart of Arsenal. Everything went through him. He was the one who made Arsenal tick. 

The stats tell you this too. 

Last season, Mikel Atreta passed over 2200 times with a pass accuracy of 91% for Arsenal. He also made 2023 accurate passes, no Arsenal player made more accurate passes than him. It’s a real testament to his passing abilities. It also demonstrates how the Spaniard is at the core of Arsenal’s passing game. In fact,  Mikel Arteta averaged the most passes in the whole of the Premier League last season. He made 76.9 passes per game, within the space of a few months Arteta became indispensable to Arsenal’s midfield. He brought stability, composure and fluidity to the side.

Arteta became like fuel to Arsenal. Without him Arsenal often stalled, stuttered and laboured through games without him. Last season, without Arteta, Arsenal won 6, lost 6 and drew 4. Furthermore, to make it even clearer on how Arsenal stuttered, the Gunners only one once in the Premier League when the former Everton man didn’t play. 

Arsenal depended on Mikel Arteta. They depended on his passing, positioning and ball retention. But perhaps most crucially, other Arsenal player’s success hinged on him.

One of the best things about Arteta is his ability to bring out the best In the players around him. That’s what fantastic players can do, they can use their abilities to make other players better.

No player benefited more by the signing of Mikel Arteta than Alex Song.

Prior to Arteta’s arrival, some viewed Song as a limited defensive midfielder, while others even argued his best position was as a centre back. But now almost everyone agrees he is a central midfielder.

Last season, Alex Song managed a sensational 11 assists in the Premier League. Mikel Arteta’s fantastic positioning and reading of the game allowed Song the licence to roam forward and be something of a creative force for Arsenal. In the season before the Spaniard’s arrival, Song assisted just 3 times, creating 32 chances. While with Arteta joining, the Cameroonian has managed to create 45 chances. 

Indeed, when Mikel Arteta joined, I thought he was coming in as a direct replacement for Cesc Fabregas. I was wrong, wrong, wrong. 

Arteta has not joined to be a replacement for Fabregas. Arsene Wenger has simply changed the style of his midfield make up. Now Arsenal are far more fluid, organised and perhaps one could agrue, they are even more unified. As everyone in the centre for Arsenal are playing in dual roles. 

Take this for example, Mikel Arteta created 60 chances, with 19 of those chances coming from set pieces last season. He created more chances than Walcott, Gervinho and Song. In fact, the only player who he hasn’t created more than Arteta is Robin Van Persie. 

I often ponder to myself, if Mikel Arteta was an English footballer, would everyone be raving about him? Or perhaps would Everton demanded double to what Arsenal offered for him in the summer of 2011.

Probably. 

But regardless of this, the true reality glistens like a star. 

Arteta may not be in the ilk of Nasri or Fabregas. Arteta may not be one of those typical Arsenal signings where they make a huge profit on him. But in his own way he is a glorious footballer. Arteta is the man has poured a new lease of life into this Arsenal side. Arteta is the man who has added balance, composure and desire to this Arsenal side.

Arteta is the man who has got Arsenal ticking for glory the club crave for.

Brendan Rodgers: The man who needs time, lots of it..

Out with the old, in with the new.

In a nutshell, that’s what Liverpool have done.

Liverpool have appointed an untried, young and modern manager and of course, the reality is, Brendan Rodgers is a risk. A huge risk.

But like most of FSG’s appointments in recent times, they leave the Liverpool fans experiencing two extremes. Some have called Liverpool’s decision to appoint Rodgers as shrewd. While others have labelled it an avoidable short-sighted catastrophe given more pedigreed managers such as Rafa Benitez and Andre Villas-Boas were knocking about.

Common sense will tell you Rodgers, with better technically gifted players at Liverpool will be able to implement and succeed with his way of playing the beautiful game.

But with the same token, the players play the managers game. Not the manager. The Liverpool players must buy into Rodgers ways of doing things and the way he wants to play.

I think this could be one of the hardest challenges Rodgers faces at Liverpool. We’ve got to remember, Rodgers was brought in to replace King Kenny Dalglish. A man who was not only idolised by the players, but his rapport with the players was clearly very strong too.

Rodgers first challenge is to get his players onside. But it could be relatively straight forward for him. Top footballers want to play beautiful football, so players may buy into his way of doing things.

But the players wont suddenly play like Swansea, time is needed.

Brendan Rodgers is a modern manager at a club looking to make its way in the modern world of football.

But modern world of football often demands instant success. Patience has no virtue in the footballing world no more.

Liverpool must give Brendan Rodgers time. He needs patience. His football philosophy is very hard to implement, especially in the fast paced Premier League.

However there is hope for Rodgers, the club have shown over the past two seasons they can knock the ball about just as good as anyone.

Look at Torres last goal for Liverpool (against Wolves, Liverpool made 21 passes before scoring the goal)

But doing this week in, week out is another matter. Rodgers states again and again in his press conference that his team won’t play in his image instantly. The players need to adapt to Rodgers vision of the game and have a full understanding of their role in the system. It could take months or even years.

What’s interesting is Rodgers says he failed at Reading as he ‘changed too much too quickly’ in terms of Reading’s style. The Northern Irish manager is fully aware that he will have to be patient, he will have to be methodological in his changes and he has deal and manage with the high expectations while he is forming his brand of football onto Liverpool.

Rodgers himself admits, ‘There will be some additions to improve and improve our way of playing as well.’ It can’t be stressed how crucial Brendan Rodgers signings are. They have got to be more successful than the last batch of Dalglish signings. (Some may think that’s not much of a challenge, as Dalglish’s new imports were dour.) But as Rodgers states, it’s important he makes the right signings so he can imprint his identity more smoothly and effectively onto the club.

Brendan Rodgers passed his first test in being Liverpool manager. He successfully dealt with the press in an astute manner.

Rodgers said he would ‘fight for his life’ for the supporters and stated, he was ‘blessed’ in getting the Liverpool job. Even Liverpool fans who were entirely unsure on Rodgers abilities felt like they had a man who is just as determined as them to be successful again. Rodgers later on admitted, ‘We might not be ready for the title now but the process begins today.’ The new manager’s ambition and desire to be successful has already won over quite number of critics and Liverpool supporters.

But the reality in football is, as much as Rodgers has won over some fans through his words, he can win and lose fans a lot more on the pitch.

Brendan Rodgers needs two things early on in his reign at Liverpool. He needs time and a chance to be successful. All through history, football has proved, give a relatively unknown manager, ambitious manager a chance and he will succeed. Prior to moving to Liverpool, Bill Shankly had never won a trophy as a manager of a football club. But when he moved to Anfield he was given the chance and he paid the club and its fans back in abundance. The same could be said about Arsene Wenger, Jurgen Klopp and Rafa Benitez. These are all managers who had not achieved a great deal prior to their big club moves.

The Liverpool faithful need to know it wont be easy especially in the first year of the Rodgers era. There certainly will be growing pains, but the fans must grit their teeth and continue to support the team and the manager. Liverpool have to build success from the roots upwards.

As much as the fans need to give Rodgers the time, the owners do too. With the club in mid-table obscurity and not in the glory land of the Champions League, it of course will have a significant effect on the commercial appeal of the club.

The owners must give Rodgers at least three years to build his team. Liverpool can’t attract the superstars of today’s current football world. They must create and develop their own ones, through stability and giving Rodgers the time and the chance.

Liverpool, as a collective identity must fight through the rain in order to enjoy the sunshine, or in other words, the club needs to remember, at the end of every storm there is a golden sky.

Swansea – The team who represent the beautiful game beautifully

Swansea have exceeded many people’s expectations. The team have won over the hearts of a growing number of football fans who love the Premier League. When Swansea were promoted, many questioned whether the Welsh side could apply their neat passing game to England’s elite league.

Seventeen games into their Premier League season, the team have managed to maintain their passing strategy to fantastic effect.

The evidence backs up just how effective their passing system has been in England’s top flight.

Firstly, the team have a possession record which is joint third best in the Premier League. The team average possession of 56% in each game which is a stat shared with Chelsea. Not only this, Swansea have a possession record which is better than, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham. This is outstanding. The Swans have pitted their wits in England’s highest league and yet they can still retain the ball. The players, managers and coaches deserve huge praise for their mental strength and belief in their way of playing. After all, some teams in the Premier League, have often discarded their philosophy because of the pressure the opponents are putting them under on the pitch.

There is more glorious evidence of the effectiveness of Swansea’s philosophy. So far, Swansea have the third best passing accuracy in the whole of the Premier League. The Swans of passing accuracy of 86.5%, Chelsea shade Swansea in second place by 0.30%. It’s pretty incredible. Swansea have a better passing accuracy than the league champions Manchester United and arguably, ‘the best passing side’ in England Arsenal.

What makes this more incredible is that Swansea are a newly promoted side and many of their players have not played Premier League football before. Not only this, the Premier League is played at an incredibly high tempo most of the time, yet Swansea have managed to keep a cool head and maintain their accuracy. It shows Swansea’s system was built for the Premier League and the highest levels. After all, the philosophy is evidently working. The team are passing more accurately than far more established Premier League sides.

However, Swansea need to be praised for effectively executing their philosophy. After all, its one thing to attempt to play attractive keep -ball football and it’s another to actually be able to do it. Swansea to their credit have managed to implement it. Most clubs, pay multi millions in players, coaches and managers in the dream of playing like Swansea. But very shrewdly, Swansea have managed to be able to execute it without having the most technically gifted players in the world.

The Swans compensate the lack of sheer technical excellence in the side through working incredibly hard. A clear example of this is the defensive work of Swansea’s wingers. Although their system demands the wingers to be on-top of their game offensively, Swansea’s wingers, Nathan Dyer and Wayne Routledge track back ferociously to win the ball. Against Newcastle, Routledge made 5 tackles, four were successful. Collectively Swansea are hungry and motivated to succeed in the Premier League. This has been an underlying reason as to why the team’s system has been so impressive.

Furthermore, this determination to win the ball back has made Swansea so hard to be break down. So far, the Swans have conceded 21 goals. This is a decent record for a newly promoted side. It’s better than the other two promoted sides, Norwich (31 goals conceded) and QPR. (31) This solid defensive record also links very closely to Swansea’s ball retention ability. After all, the opposition struggle to get the ball back from The Swans, let alone get a chance on goal.

There is evidence of Swansea’s solid defensive record. Swansea have the best defensive home record in the Premier League. After 8 home games, the team have only conceded 2 goals. This is nothing short of outstanding. Swansea’s home record is as solid as any established Premier League side. It’s almost unheard of that a promoted side can have such a sturdy defence at home. Most promoted sides often make woeful defensive lapses. But this has not been the case with Swansea. The team look competent, solid and cohesive as a collective unit.

But the simple maths will tell you 18 out of 20 of Swansea’s goals have been conceded on the road. The team are clearly not as strong on the road as they are at home. On the road, Swansea struggle to restrict the amount of chances the opposition create. This has been a leading factor as to why the team have struggled to win a single game on the road.

At the moment, the team are seriously craving players with Premier League experience.

The lack of experience has cost Swansea points on the road. For example their away game at Wolves. For most of the game Swansea were two up and in control, but when the momentum was with opposition, the Swans crumbled and surrendered their two goal lead. If the team had more Premier League experience it would lead to the team feeling more assured and restricting the team falling deeper into their own half, thus asking for the opposition to attack Swansea.

Another reason why Swansea have been so poor on the road is because the team have struggled to create sufficient chances. This season, Swansea have created 151 chances, which is the 4^th worst in the Premier League. What makes this statistic worse for Swansea is the team normally spend most of the game in possession of the ball. But even when dominating possession, the team struggle to consistently penetrate the final third of the pitch.

However, over time, the team will create more chances per game. After all, as the team’s philosophy develops and the teams coherence grows, the Swan’s tentative mindset will transform into confidence. But this confidence will take a massive boost if Swansea manage to bring in more technically gifted attacking players. Swansea are missing someone who can create something out of nothing. Yes, Mark Gower has been fantastic in the middle. But if the Swans are to create more chances, more creative players are needed within the side.

This struggle to create chances explains why Swansea have not scored enough goals this season. Swansea have scored 16 goals this season, which is the second worst in the league. However, if Swansea could create more chances, the goals which will eventually flow in. But the Swans have also been guilty of missing clear cut chances. Take Swansea’s game at home to Man United. The likes of Scot Sinclair missed guilt edged chances which perhaps cost the club at least a point in that game.

Besides this, Swansea have been a great addition to the Premier League. The team have been a joy to watch and look completely at home in England’s highest division. Indeed, the team may not have taken the Premier League by storm. But the Swans have made a lasting first impression on many.

Long may the Swansea revolution continue.

Statistics from EPL Index. (Stats taken on 22/12/11)