6 Surprising Liverpool Stats This Season
Liverpool's campaign continues to rumble along promisingly, despite the Reds failing to turn one point into three at Newcastle United's St. James' Park at the weekend.
The 2-2 draw saw Brendan Rodgers' side slip from second to third in the table, with victories for the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City ensuring that lofty title aspirations suffered a blow.
Five wins, two draws and a solitary defeat leave Liverpool with 17 points from their 24 games this season, with Reds forward Daniel Sturridge currently topping the league's goalscoring charts with seven strikes in those eight games.
Those statistics are obvious and well known, but what about those that you may have overlooked?
Here are six surprising and revealing stats from Liverpool's decent start:
Simon Mignolet Has Made the Second-Most Saves in the Premier League
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Only Cardiff City goalkeeper David Marshall has been called upon more times to bail his team out of trouble in the Premier League than Liverpool's Simon Mignolet, the Belgian shot-stopper who has impressed everyone in his early days at Anfield.
The ex-Sunderland man began his Reds career by keeping out a late Jonathan Walters penalty to preserve the three points on the opening day of the season against Stoke at Anfield, and he has continued in that vein ever since.
Mignolet has saved 32 shots in his eight games, just two fewer than Cardiff's Marshall.
The fact that, on average, Liverpool have conceded more attempts at goal (15) than had efforts themselves (14) is certain to concern Brendan Rodgers, while the other four goalkeepers who make up the top five all play for clubs sitting in the bottom six places at the time of writing.
Their goalkeeper has rescued Liverpool several times then, but they'd rather he didn't have to.
Stats: Opta and WhoScored.com
Steven Gerrard Is a Constant Crosser, the Third Highest in the League
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Liverpool's short passing style has attracted much attention since the appointment of Rodgers, but the Reds have shown a willingness to get the ball into the box whenever it is needed too.
With 58, skipper Steven Gerrard currently ranks third for the highest number of crosses attempted in this Premier League season, just two off divisional leader Adam Lallana of Southampton and one off Everton's Leighton Baines in second.
This has to be deemed surprising due to Gerrard's central position on the field as opposed to Lallana and Baines' berths on the flanks, while that duo have conventional target men to aim for in the likes of Rickie Lambert, Pablo Osvaldo and Romelu Lukaku, and Gerrard does not.
Perhaps this shows that the Reds are able to mix things up when needed and when in pursuit of a goal, with their captain leading the way.
Stats: Opta
Kolo Toure Is Already Better This Season That Last
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Well on course to beat last season's total of 15 Premier League appearances for Manchester City, Kolo Toure has shown that Liverpool's decision to bring him on a free transfer was a shrewd one.
In seven league games for the Reds, Toure has won 39 personal duels with an opponent, already two more than the 37 he won throughout the whole of his last campaign in a City shirt.
The Ivorian is also 18-12 ahead in the aerial duels contested compared to 2012/13 too, and has won a greater percentage of his tackles, 78.6 percent compared to 73.7 percent.
Going forward, Toure has also managed a shot on target too, something that he failed to muster throughout the whole of the last campaign.
Stats: Opta
Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho Are the Pass Masters
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Whilst Liverpool's most frequent passers are their regular midfielders (Gerrard with 67.4 per game, Lucas Leiva with 59 and Jordan Henderson with 52.6), their most successful distributors of the ball come from the back.
The Reds' three-man defence has come in for a lot of attention in recent weeks, and two of those defensive players are proving to be adept with the ball at their feet.
Mamadou Sakho is Liverpool's most successful passer so far this season, successfully finding his target 91.2 percent of the time to just edge out Martin Skrtel's 90.7 percent.
Of course, most of these will be short passes across the back line, perhaps to each other, but it will hearten Rodgers to see that he can trust the duo on the ball.
Elsewhere on the list, Luis Alberto currently sits sixth. A decent indication that the Spaniard certainly has promise.
Stats: WhoScored.com
The Reds Raid Down the Right
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Liverpool attack down their right flank 40 percent of the time compared to 31 percent down their left and 29 percent through the middle.
Given the injury problem suffered by Glen Johnson in the win over Manchester United in early September, Rodgers has been forced to play different players down that flank, with the likes of Toure, Henderson and Raheem Sterling all looked to in Johnson's absence.
Whoever the personnel though, the Reds seemingly look to the right more often than in any other direction, with the first goal at Sunderland and the third at home to Crystal Palace two recent examples of this approach working.
Stats: WhoScored.com
"Only" 53 Percent Possession
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With Rodgers basing so much of his philosophy on keeping possession, the fact that Liverpool have "only" averaged 53 percent of the ball in their matches so far will be a little surprising.
The Reds have still kept the ball more than their opponents in six of their eight league games so far this season, but in many the margins have been fine, with the 62 percent recorded at Newcastle on Saturday the highest percentage of the campaign.
Rodgers will hope that this suggests a change for the better in his side, who will know that they at their most dangerous when dominating the ball in a ruthless fashion.
Stats: Opta and WhoScored.com
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