Visualized: Liverpool 0-2 Newcastle

Previous Match Infographics: Swansea (h), Bordeaux (h), City (a), Crystal Palace (h), Rubin Kazan (a), Chelsea (a), Southampton (h), Rubin Kazan (h), Tottenham (a), Everton (a), FC Sion (h), Aston Villa (h), Norwich (h), Bordeaux (a), Manchester United (a), West Ham (h), Arsenal (a), Bournemouth (h), Stoke (a)

As always, match data from Stats Zone, except shot location from Squawka and average player position from ESPN FC.



Yesterday saw Liverpool's worst shooting performance since Klopp became manager. 10 shots are the joint-fewest, along with last week's narrow 1-0 win over Swansea; 10% shooting accuracy is Liverpool's lowest since the 0-3 loss to West Ham back in September. Only Liverpool's match at Tottenham – the other match when Liverpool failed to score, and Klopp's first game in charge – saw fewer Danger Zone shots and a higher percentage of outside-the-box shots.

And it happened against a Newcastle side that averaged 16.93 shots allowed, 5.71 shots on-target allowed, and 2.14 goals conceded through its first 14 league matches. Only Sunderland and Stoke took fewer shots against Newcastle, nine each, but neither side conceded a Newcastle goal. No Premiership side allows more shots per match than Newcastle, no Premiership side concedes more goals than Newcastle (joint-worst along with Bournemouth).

Needless to say, the majority of blame will fall on Liverpool's £32.5m focal point.

• Liverpool Goals per 90 with Benteke as starter: 1.12 (403 minutes)
• Liverpool Goals per 90 with Benteke as a substitute: 3.24 (111 minutes)
• Liverpool Goals per 90 without Benteke: 1.91 (566 minutes)

Yesterday wasn't all Benteke's fault; with Firmino and Ibe in attack, and Milner and Allen in midfield, Benteke had few runners in behind to head on or pass to when Liverpool played it long to him. Which Liverpool did a fair amount. Ibe tries, but Ibe's 19 (for a couple more days) and Ibe's final ball is often not good. But Coutinho, and to a lesser extent, Lallana make those runs. Sturridge and Origi, had Klopp attempted to play Benteke with a strike partner, make those runs. And aside from Manchester City and Southampton (in the League Cup), Liverpool's attack hasn't been all that impressive without Benteke either. But still.

Benteke's passing yesterday:



Benteke's pass recipients yesterday:

• Ibe (6)
• Lucas (3)
• Milner (2)
• Allen (2)
• Clyne (2)
• Skrtel (1)

Ibe, unsurprisingly, was the only player who received forward passes from Benteke. Both of them. Otherwise, backwards or sideways passes to the three midfielders, a full-back, and a center-back.

These three videos from Simon Brundish highlight three moments when Benteke did very not good things, focusing on both his final third movement and (lack of) pressing. And I'm sure there are more examples.

If you're not going to shoot, not going to create, and not going to press, what are you playing for?

Again, Firmino wasn't any better, slightly more involved in the build-up and pressing, but with just one off-target shot and one chance created. Firmino found Benteke with just one (1) pass in 62 minutes of play. For comparison, in 28 minutes, Lallana passed to Sturridge six times, including Liverpool's best (and pretty much only) open play chance in the final half hour.

Both Benteke and Firmino often want to drop into midfield to receive possession; they do different things with the ball once in possession, but want to start from similar locations. Firmino can play differently, as we saw when he led the line against City, surrounded by Coutinho and Lallana, who both got forward and drifted inside from the flanks, who both pressed and hassled and harried City's defense into mistakes.

After this and after Swansea, it's one or the other. Not both. Please not both.

It was a comprehensive failure in attack, from all involved. Credit to Newcastle, who ran more, pressed more, and seemingly "wanted it" more. But this was still much, much more a Liverpool loss than it was a Newcastle win, mainly because of Liverpool's failings in Newcastle's half of the pitch. And it's not as if this is the first time Liverpool have comprehensively failed up front, especially when Benteke, Firmino, and Ibe all start.

All that complaining said...

Losing 2-0 to 1 shot on target and having a legit goal ruled out at 1-0 is the perfect example of "shit happens" in football #lfc

— Dan Kennett (@DanKennett) December 6, 2015

On a different day, this ends 0-0 or 1-1, and we gripe – rightfully so – but move on. Shit happens in football, to everyone, even if it's seemingly more to Liverpool than others (except Chelsea this season, at least). You are not going to lose many matches when conceding just one shot on-target, even when you play that badly in attack.

Even if it's not the first time Liverpool have been bad in attack, it's one match. One very bad match, with a front six I'd rather not see again. One very bad match, which was all too similar to this fixture last season, which is about the biggest insult you can come up with.

Learn from it. It has, after all, only been 12 matches since Klopp took over, with only seven of them in the league.

After this, coupled with a similar performance from Benteke, Firmino, and Ibe against Swansea, I have to believe it'll be a while before we see an F.B.I. attack again. At least in the league. Liverpool desperately missed Coutinho, Lallana, and Sturridge, and those three (along with Henderson and Emre Can) will assuredly improve Liverpool up front.

That can't come soon enough.

On Christian Benteke

The transfer we all suspected (and feared, and complained) was inevitable finally becomes inevitable.

It seems most have finally come around to the transfer, or at least come to terms with it, but I'm sure you've seen the frantic condemnation and hand-wringing all the same.

Let's just get it all out of the way now.

"£32.5m????"

"Why didn't Liverpool sign Lacazette/Aubameyang/Vietto/Reus?"

"He only scores from crosses, Liverpool never cross!"

"Mid-table over-priced Premier League signing, just like Ings, Milner, Clyne, Lallana, etc."

"blah blah blah Andy Carroll!!!!!!!!!! blah blah blah."

To which I feel obliged to respond:

- Transfer prices have skyrocketed this summer thanks to the massive amount of money in the league, but yeah, that sure is a boatload of cash.

- Either those players didn't want to come to Liverpool, their clubs didn't want to sell them, or (less likely) Liverpool didn't want them. I'd have preferred Messi myself, if we're pipe-dreaming.

- Benteke doesn't only score from crosses, although he doesn't get a bunch from crosses – both in open play and from set plays – but A) having an alternative isn't a bad thing, B) Liverpool will probably cross more this season, after adding Milner and Clyne and someone to actually cross to. and C) if you think he's nothing but headers and crosses, you've haven't seen that much of him. Because he's done far more than that in just his matches against Liverpool.

- Okay, true, but some of those players have actually been acceptable, I guess. And I expect decent things from those signed this summer. Also, be fair, Liverpool have signed a lot of players from outside the Premier League who've failed too.

The Andy Carroll comparison seems especially facile. Benteke is not Carroll for more than a few reasons, but most notable is that he's done it for a few seasons, rather than half of one. He's also faster, stronger, more durable, and seemingly a responsible professional rather than a running joke soaked in booze and Axe Body Spray, but his résumé is the more meaningful difference.

Benteke has averaged a nearly a goal every two games for three Premier League seasons.

As Paul Tomkins wrote, Emile Heskey seems a better comparison, at least physically, but Heskey was never as prolific as Benteke either, scoring once every four league games prior to moving to Liverpool compared to Benteke's once every two games.

Arguments with folks about Heskey's attributes were one of the first Liverpool arguments I remember having. Sure, he didn't score enough. Sure, he was an easy target for jokes and criticism. But, at his best, at Liverpool's best, he was vital in making space for Owen and Fowler to thrive, winning and holding possession, occupying and dragging defenders out of position, offering a different option. At the very, very least, Benteke will be able to do similar for Sturridge, Firmino, Coutinho, Lallana, etc. That's probably not enough to justify £32.5m, but it's a reasonable floor for expectations as well, and better than Liverpool currently have.



Benteke adds a different option to Liverpool, something Rickie Lambert was supposed to, but ultimately couldn't do last season. Multiple options, and a much deeper, varied squad, seem good things. Although there is still the worry that Rodgers never seemed to figure out his best side last season, and now he's got more pieces for the puzzle in this.



Also, let's be fair. Aston Villa – unless they were playing Liverpool, naturally – were generally awful. Only Sunderland averaged fewer key passes per match last season; only Sunderland and West Brom averaged fewer shots; only Sunderland and Burnley scored fewer goals. They were generally awful in all three of Benteke's seasons, threatened with relegation in each. So it's hard to tell how many of Benteke's flaws – the lack of dribbling and defensive contribution, the reliance on crosses and aerial duels – is due to the player's preferences or Aston Villa's style under Lambert and Sherwood. It's still enough to make you worry, but it's also enough to make excuses.

And if not for Benteke, Aston Villa probably would've been out of the Premier League three years ago.







Like Danny Ings, Benteke's seemingly bought to remedy one of last season's major failings.

LFC couldn't get shots on target in the DZ last yr. Their two targets didn't trouble from anywhere else pic.twitter.com/oB4myUouP3

— Paul Riley (@footballfactman) July 17, 2015

So, all of Benteke's shots are headers, yes?

Not quite. 27 of Benteke's 79 non-penalty shots last season were headers (34.2%), and I actually thought it'd be more. 33.3% were on-target, leading to four goals, all from open play. Seven of his goals came with his right foot, two with his left. Eight of his goals came from open play (four headers, three right-footed, one left-footed), two from corners (both right-footed), one from a free kick (left-footed), and one each from a penalty and a direct free kick.

However, removing headers does make Benteke look much less potent in the Danger Zone. 25 of Benteke's 52 non-penalty Danger Zone shots were headers (48.1%). Eight were on-target (four goals), 14 off-target, and three blocked. 12 from set plays, 13 from open play.





Yes, Benteke likes a header. Yes, Benteke likes a cross. But, again, I suspect a fair amount of that was due to Villa. Three of Benteke's seven international goals from Belgium came from headers (all open play crosses); the other four were from a low cross, a byline cutback, running onto a chipped ball over the back line, and picked up the rebound after the defense failed to fully clear a cross.

He may prefer headers, as they're still his strongest attribute, but there's a fair bit of variation in his goals.

Preseason so far, while still very much preseason, has seemingly demonstrated that Liverpool intend to be a more direct side. Not necessarily a long ball side, although I suspect we'll see more of them this season than last, but a more vertical side, quick to push forward after winning possession, quick to get multiple players forward – most notably, Henderson and Milner from midfield, in contrast to last season's midfield – quick to get into the box.

Benteke will very much help in this manner, whether as an orthodox target-man or running at defenses. Which he can do; I suspect you'll remember him doing both against Liverpool in previous seasons. And, as many others have noted, he'll help on set plays, both attacking and defending them. Liverpool scored just 13 set play goals last season while conceding 19, down from 26 scored and up from 12 conceded the season before (all competitions).

Yes, this transfer is a massive risk. Yes, this could go very badly. Yes, there are valid concerns about both style and adaptability. Yes, Liverpool overpaid – although, if you hadn't noticed, every single Premier League transfer this summer has seemed to be an overpay, because money, there's so much money and everyone has money.

Brendan Rodgers has designed his bed, bought the sheets, pillows, and quilt, and made his bed. And now, for better or worse, he'll lie in it.