Since people love to talk about this all the time and routinely mention it when criticising our defenders, particularly Skrtel and Carragher I thought I'd breeze through the stats this season to see how bad our hoofing has been.
So with our most recent game first:
Chelsea 4/10:
Skrtel - 15 passes of which 1 was unsuccessful. 6 Clearances, one of which went to a Chelsea player.
Carragher - 24 passes, all found an LFC player. 10 Clearances, 5 of which went to the opposition.
Skrtel's longest pass was about 35 yards (a third of the pitch), and it was his only unsuccessful one. Carragher's longest pass was a 30 yard one to Babel.
In summary - Our centre backs gave the ball away 7 times out of 55 attempts on the ball. It's worth bearing in mind that those 7 include times when the defenders had no option but to get rid of the ball. All in all that's 79% of the time they had to deal with the ball they found a teammate.
Hull 26/9:
Skrtel - 42 passes, 1 unsuccessful. 9 clearances, 4 of which found a Hull Player.
Carragher - 50 passes, 1 unsuccessful. 6 clearances, 4 of which resulted in possession being lost.
Again the passing charts show no evidence of long balls, the longest balls they both played happened to be backpasses to Reina.
In summary - 107 times they were on the ball, 9 times they gave possession away. That's something like an 89% success rate.
West Ham 19/09
Carragher - 29 passes, all on target. 5 clearances, 1 of which gave possession away.
Skrtel - 35 passes, 2 unsuccessful ones. 3 clearances, 3 times the ball went to the opposition.
72 possessions, 6 times the ball was given away. 88% success rate. No evidence of long balls being played.
Burnley 12/9
Carragher - 50 passes, 1 unsuccessful. 7 clearances, 3 lost possession.
Skrtel - 37 passes, 4 unsuccessful. 12 clearances, 6 lost possession.
106 possessions, 14 times resulted in losing possession. 86% success rate. No evidence of long balls up the field.
Do I need to go on ?
Basically given that our defenders keep possession better than most Premiership midfielders I think the level of criticism that they receive for "hoofing" is completely over the top.
So with our most recent game first:
Chelsea 4/10:
Skrtel - 15 passes of which 1 was unsuccessful. 6 Clearances, one of which went to a Chelsea player.
Carragher - 24 passes, all found an LFC player. 10 Clearances, 5 of which went to the opposition.
Skrtel's longest pass was about 35 yards (a third of the pitch), and it was his only unsuccessful one. Carragher's longest pass was a 30 yard one to Babel.
In summary - Our centre backs gave the ball away 7 times out of 55 attempts on the ball. It's worth bearing in mind that those 7 include times when the defenders had no option but to get rid of the ball. All in all that's 79% of the time they had to deal with the ball they found a teammate.
Hull 26/9:
Skrtel - 42 passes, 1 unsuccessful. 9 clearances, 4 of which found a Hull Player.
Carragher - 50 passes, 1 unsuccessful. 6 clearances, 4 of which resulted in possession being lost.
Again the passing charts show no evidence of long balls, the longest balls they both played happened to be backpasses to Reina.
In summary - 107 times they were on the ball, 9 times they gave possession away. That's something like an 89% success rate.
West Ham 19/09
Carragher - 29 passes, all on target. 5 clearances, 1 of which gave possession away.
Skrtel - 35 passes, 2 unsuccessful ones. 3 clearances, 3 times the ball went to the opposition.
72 possessions, 6 times the ball was given away. 88% success rate. No evidence of long balls being played.
Burnley 12/9
Carragher - 50 passes, 1 unsuccessful. 7 clearances, 3 lost possession.
Skrtel - 37 passes, 4 unsuccessful. 12 clearances, 6 lost possession.
106 possessions, 14 times resulted in losing possession. 86% success rate. No evidence of long balls up the field.
Do I need to go on ?
Basically given that our defenders keep possession better than most Premiership midfielders I think the level of criticism that they receive for "hoofing" is completely over the top.
