Midseason Stats Review 2009-10

For the third successive year, I figured I’d do a midseason comparison to previous league campaigns. This ought to temper the good feelings after yesterday’s match. I’m running late; the totals don’t include yesterday’s win at Villa, just the first 19 games. Which, as you may remember, haven’t been that stellar.

Obviously, it doesn’t look good. Almost every single total is inferior to the previous three half-seasons. We’ve all seen Liverpool’s failings, repeatedly. But yesterday’s match marked an improvement in the worst categories: goals against, clean sheets, and away form. Here’s hoping it means 2010 will be better than 2009.

Happy New Year.

Points total after 19 games:
09/10: 30
08/09: 42
07/08: 37
06/07: 34

Results over 19 games:
09/10: 9 wins, 3 draws, 7 losses
08/09: 12 wins, 6 draws, 1 loss
07/08: 10 wins, 7 draws, 2 losses
06/07: 10 wins, 4 draws, 5 losses

League position after 19 games:
09/10: 7th
08/09: 1st
07/08: 4th
06/07: 3rd

# of points behind 1st place:
09/10: -12
08/09: +1
07/08: -10, with a game in hand
06/07: -13

Goals scored after 19 games:
09/10: 36
08/09: 30
07/08: 33
06/07: 28

Goals against after 19 games:
09/10: 25
08/09: 12
07/08: 12
06/07: 15

Home Goals:
09/10: 26
08/09: 16
07/08: 20
06/07: 20

Away Goals:
09/10: 10
08/09: 14
07/08: 13
06/07: 8

Goal scorers:
09/10: Torres 11; Benayoun, Gerrard, Kuyt 5; Ngog 4; Babel, Johnson 2; Skrtel 1
08/09: Gerrard 6; Keane, Kuyt, Torres 5; Alonso, Riera 2; Arbeloa, Benayoun, Babel, Carragher 1
07/08: Torres 9; Gerrard 7; Babel, Kuyt, Voronin 3; Alonso, Benayoun 2; Hyypia, Sissoko 1
06/07: Kuyt 6; Bellamy 5; Alonso, Gerrard 3; Crouch, Garcia, Gonzalez 2; Agger, Carragher, Fowler, Riise 1

Clean Sheets:
09/10: 6
08/09: 11
07/08: 10
06/07: 10

# of games Liverpool failed to score in:
09/10: 4 [Chelsea (a), Sunderland (a), Blackburn (a), Pompey (a)]
08/09: 4 [Villa (a), Stoke (h), Fulham (h), West Ham (h)]
07/08: 5 [Pompey (a), Birmingham (h), Blackburn (a), United (h), City (a)]
06/07: 7 [Everton (a), Chelsea (a), Bolton (a), United (a), Arsenal (a), Boro (a), Portsmouth (h)]

Away form:
09/10: 3 wins, 1 draw, 5 losses; 10 points out of 27
08/09: 6 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss; 20 points out of 27
07/08: 6 wins, 3 draws, 1 loss; 21 points out of 30
06/07: 2 wins, 2 draws, 5 losses; 8 points out of 27

Home form:
09/10: 6 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses; 20 points out of 30
08/09: 6 wins, 4 draws; 22 points out of 30
07/08: 4 wins, 4 draws, 1 loss; 16 points out of 27
06/07: 8 wins, 2 draws; 26 points out of 30

Good
• The first half of this season saw the highest goals scored total under Benitez. We can thank the wins over Stoke, Burnley, and Hull for that, but there have also been fewer nil-nil draws.
• A half-fit Torres has even more goals than at this time in 07/08, where he broke the debut season scoring record for a foreign player.
• This season’s had the joint-fewest zero-goal games, only four, tied with last year. And all of them have come away from Anfield. At least Liverpool got rid of those insipid home draws. Oh right, they were replaced with losses. Never mind.

Bad and Ugly
• Well, pretty much everything else. Being six places lower in the table than last year, 12 points behind the leaders and with the fewest wins in the last four seasons, probably isn’t a good thing.
• Most important, as said above, are the goals against and clean sheets. Liverpool’s let in more than double last season’s pace. Yikes. Double and triple yikes.
• Also, the away form, which is the worst in three seasons. Five losses – to Spurs, Chelsea, Sunderland, Fulham, and Portsmouth – are more than twice what Liverpool had all season last year.