KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Surprising OPTA Stats!

OPTA’s latest statistics have revealed some surprising facts about the effectiveness of two of Liverpool’s key midfielders.

According to OPTA, Javier Mascherano is the top passer in the premiership this season, with 547 completed passes and an accuracy rate of 87%. Chelsea’s Michael Essien has the same accuracy rate but has completed a lot less passes.

OPTA has also revealed that Lucas Leiva is one of the premiership’s most effective tacklers, with a 69% success rate! Hard to believe, but the stats don’t lie, and given the fact Lucas has been playing a more defensive role this season, that’s another great result.

does it show how many passes go forwards???

good question trepie

haha, so maybe we dont have teh eye to see such inticate details, we only look at goals and skills? lol

I think well be alright, we were a bit nervey and angry after Fiorentina and Chelsea. We lucky Babel and Kuyt will be back early from intrnationals.

Yea this is a bit surprising...

But the problem is that those two playing together is a bad combination...

i'm not anti lucas, i'm anti lucas-masch playing at the same time...

same here swede - football is all about balance and mash-lucas is unbalanced as a pairing ...... rafa needs to choose one or the other not both

yep and he probably will when aquilani is back. The problem is that he should have done it from the beginning of the season, by pairing either of them with Gerrard.

exactly right swede .... shame rafa's so stubborn he will never admit to a mistake - it just means he never learns from them!!!

exactly! his stubbornness has cost us a lot i think. Would be nice to see him gamble a bit more...For example i can't remember if he's ever made a substitution at half time.

i don't think he has ever done so in his career - i don't mind him making mistakes, after all everyone makes mistakes, but what i want to see is him learning from those mistakes rather than making them over and over again ..... the substitutions are one of his biggest failings