A different kind of January signing

I DON’T think a single football fan would be surprised to learn that Liverpool have the worst chance conversion rate of shots into goals in the Premier League this season.

Courtesy of Opta Sports, it was revealed this week that the Red’s conversion rate now stands at an abysmal 8.9 per cent.

That means for every 10 shots a Liverpool player has taken on goal this term, less than one in 10 has hit the back of the net.

It’s a damning statistic - one that is reflected in the paltry 18 goals we have notched in 15 league games. Our Champions League rivals have all scored nearly double, around 30 or more, and Manchester City top the table with a daunting 49 strikes.

What makes even more depressing reading is that our 'goals for' column is also matched or bettered by Newcastle, Aston Villa, Norwich, Sunderland and the Premiership’s bottom two, Blackburn and Bolton. If it wasn’t for our miserly defence, which is the best in the league having conceded just 13 goals, we could be in serious trouble. 

In truth wastefulness has typified almost every game we have played this season – even the victories. Time after time we have kept it solid at the back, passed the ball well and worked great openings, but failed in the final third.

Personally I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve hit the woodwork. In the league I think it’s 13, in all competitions we must be approaching 20. It's a dubious honour we are winning by a landslide, and apparently we were also the top woodwork-hitters at the end of the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. I’m not sure bookies take bets on the Crossbar Challenge, but next time our players are invited on Soccer AM they’ll have to reinforce the bar.

A fortnight ago I wondered if our lean spell was coming to an end when we found four goals to dispatch Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in both the league and cup. Yet even that notion was premature, as these results were sandwiched by our profligacy against Manchester City – a game in which we failed to take advantage of a team reduced to 10 men.

That afternoon Joe Hart made several great saves, but he was only able to do so because our efforts on goal were what I would call 'savable' strikes. Luis Suarez could have done better when put through by Lucas Leiva, but the Andy Carroll opportunity in the dying seconds best illustrates this – if he had put the header in the corner or headed downwards Hart would probably have been beaten. Instead he placed his header at a reachable height and distance, and while Hart's stop was one for the cameras, it was also a save any top keeper should have made.

It really annoyed me to see Chelsea end City's unbeaten run on Monday night in virtually the same circumstances, because they didn’t have more chances than us. They just showed greater composure. It also appeared to me that the supporting cast behind Didier Drogba, the likes of Daniel Sturridge and Juan Mata, had more quality than the players we routinely field in support of Luis. When they are presented with a chance, you expect them to capitalise. In our case you hope we will.

This frustrating trend continued a week later at Craven Cottage. Before I go any further I should say I was loath to write a blog following the defeat at Fulham, mainly because I was still seething days afterwards. I can almost accept watching us lose when we play badly, or when we go down fighting against tough opposition. But the feeling of being robbed is one that stirs up a different reaction altogether, one of incandescent anger directed at the assumed culprit responsible – in this case referee Kevin Friend and his abject assistants.

It has been debated back in forth but in my view it was a ridiculous red card for Jay Spearing that changed the game, as he played the ball cleanly with his instep, then caught a player running across his path with his trailing leg as he slid forward. It wasn’t a head-on collision, Jay didn't dive into him with malice, it was purely the by-product of a hard, fair tackle. A good referee should have realised that.

At worst Mr Friend should have blown his whistle, taken a moment to consider his options, and then handed Jay a booking. That way he wouldn't have unduly altered the outcome of the match. But given the ineptitude he displayed all evening, from the lack of protection he gave Suarez, the outrageous booking of Craig Bellamy for doing nothing but stand still when Clint Dempsey shoved his head in his face, to the failure to send off Phillipe Senderos for his repeated fouls, it was to be expected. As was the chalking off of Suarez’s stunning goal, which was registered after making a run that was clearly level and onside.

However, a couple of days later, when the dust had settled, I went back and watched the game again. And for all the circumstances that went against us, we were at least our second worst enemy. Carroll had two great chances in the first half, the first which he hit straight down Mark Schwarzer’s throat, the second which he completely miskicked. In between Luis blazed over the bar when Andy was free in the area and begging for a pass. In the second half Craig Bellamy spurned a good opportunity and throughout the game we failed to put Schwarzer under pressure with any of our 10+ corners.

Our conversion rate from corners doesn’t even bear thinking about. I read on the redandwhitekop forum that we’ve had something like 132 corners this season, resulting in one goal from a Martin Skrtel header and a Charlie Adam delivery – against Bolton Wanderers back in August. That is pitiful, but again, not a surprise. We have been dire at corner kicks for longer than I can remember, something that has continued despite the acquisition of Adam, a man whose corner kicks  were allegedly worth £10million alone…   

On Saturday I hoped we would find the goals to restore a bit of confidence. But the performance at Anfield against QPR didn’t put to bed any of the doubts about our aptitude in front of goal either. Yes, Suarez ended his scoring drought and we avoided a fifth successive home draw. But the home crowd was nervous throughout, and with good reason.

Sat in the Main Stand watching us face a newly-promoted side in a 3 o’clock kick-off, I hardly expected a repeat of the Champions League semi-final against Chelsea in 2005 atmosphere-wise. But the nerves experienced by the masses as the game developed were all too obvious, and when QPR won a corner in injury time and we were hanging on by just the solitary goal, I was biting my fingernails with much of the same fervour I applied before Eidur Gudjohnsen’s catastrophic miss in front of the Kop six years ago.

Sometimes it feels like we are watching the same game on repeat - the comfortable home performance that becomes a tightrope due to our inability to extend a lead. All it would have taken in the dying stages is one good delivery, one header, one fumble, one slip, and we could have been cursing dropped points yet again. As it transpired we were let off the hook and we recorded a vital win. But the sense remains that next time we might not be so lucky.

It must be said that we played some great football in spells and that Radek Cerny in their goal made several superb saves. And of course we struck the bar again. Twice. But we again sent in 10 fruitless corner kicks and somehow managed to miss around the same number of golden opportunities. Maxi Rodriguez was excellent in the main, but should have had a hat trick. Suarez could also have taken home the match ball.

After the game Kenny Dalglish backed our attackers, as you would expect and want him to, and insisted we wouldn’t change our approach or the way we play.

He said: “Irrespective of what I say, it’s not going to stop speculation we are going out in January to sign Joe Bloggs up front, or whoever. I don’t need to say anything. For us it was a fantastic team performance. We are quite happy. I trust the players implicitly when it comes to scoring, implicitly.”

However, Kenny went on to admit that we missed the goals to confirm our superiority.

He said: “If you look at home performances they have been fantastic, look at points... maybe not. There is not a game we have played here that we couldn’t have won, we shouldn’t have won.”

I agree with almost everything Kenny had to say, with the exception of trusting the players we have when it comes to scoring. But I have to admit I can’t see us dipping into the transfer market for a forward, be it a pie-in-the-sky target like Atletico Madrid's Radamel Falcao, a cut-price Anfield return for the misfiring Fernando Torres or an as yet unknown, up-and-coming prospect.

Falcao has settled well in Spain and would cost a fortune, while Nicolas Anelka departing Stamford Bridge will already leave Chelsea lacking up front when Didier Drogba goes to the African Nations Cup in the New Year. And even if we unearthed a gem, looking at our squad and the money we have spent in the past 12 months, I also can’t see why FSG would be willing to invest big in another striker. We spent £57m on two in January after all.

I feel we are hardly short in this department in terms of numbers, with Suarez, Carroll, Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt all recognised forwards, and we have a number of players who thrive in supporting roles, such as Maxi, Stewart Downing, the newly recalled Jonjo Shelvey, and of course, our one shoe-in as a world class second striker, the injured Steven Gerrard. Can we realistically expect us to bolster this contingent, or sign a player in these positions unless one of them is sold? 

It's difficult to know what kitty if any will be available, but let's say that Kenny isn’t looking to sign a goalscorer in January and genuinely does believe in this crop of players. How is he going to get the best out of them?

Personally, I’d like to see us make a signing of a different kind next month.

It’s not a new idea, and it’s one that might be dismissed as idealistic. But if our attacking players need to work on their finishing, the way they strike and head the ball or their movement in and around the box, and Kenny is looking to maximise the game of strikers already on our books, perhaps he could call upon an old friend or two. He could start with arguably Liverpool’s two finest goalscorers, Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler, and appoint one of them as an attacking coach. 

Gerard Houllier was first impressed by Ian Rush’s coaching ability and recruited him in 2003 to help the likes of Michael Owen and Emile Heskey. Some would say this delivered mixed results, but it's hard to quantify. Rushie could even have become first team coach under Rafa Benitez, before Rafa opted for Alec Miller. Such a role would not be new to him.

Despite his status at one of the finest British strikers of all time, Rushie also knows all about lean spells, having gone many months at Anfield when he first arrived without so much of a sniff of goal, before he became the legendary goal machine we sing about to this day. Who better to impart some of his experience and wisdom on underperforming attackers?

Robbie has made it clear he would love to return to the club as a coach, and is currently taking his UEFA coaching badges and coaching in Thailand.

To this day I have never seen anybody make such clever runs; darting along a line of defenders in triangles before racing forward and then checking back at the last moment to make space for himself, or a player who could finish so instinctively when presented with a glimmer of a chance. He is liked by the senior players, respected, and if working exclusively on this side of our game, could surely fit into the backroom set up.

Admittedly those two could be dismissed as sentimental appointments. So how about a man with a more intimate knowledge of our floundering number 9, another Geordie who Kenny made famous in his title-winning Blackburn Rovers side? Alan Shearer to this day holds the record for the most Premiership goals, and could surely find a couple of days a week to attend sessions at Melwood alongside his role as a TV pundit.

I think he could help Carroll become the barnstorming colossus he briefly appeared to be last season when still at their beloved Newcastle, as few know more about how to lead the line, how to use strength, size and aggression to win aerial battles (just within the rules of the game) and how to direct headers and shots unerringly into the back of the net. The physical aspect and controlled aggression is something I would like to see more of from Andy - he is only young but needs to impose himself more on opposition defenders.

Shearer has repeatedly said Kenny will get the best out of Carroll, but after a brief spell in charge at St James Park he might relish the chance to return to a training ground and help his mentor coach our forwards back to a more respectable conversion rate. I’m sure Kenny could convince him – it’s got to beat sitting on the Match of the Day couch with Mark Lawrenson.

If any of this trio (or indeed an alternative) could help coax our attackers and bring that statistic up by a few per cent, that improvement would surely be reflected in better results. If we had scored two of every 10 chances this year, our tally would be doubled to 36, and we might be the ones pushing City and Manchester United all the way in the New Year. We would certainly be much closer to our target of a top four finish and Champions League qualification. It would take the pressure off our defenders and goalkeeper, who can't always be expected to keep a clean sheet and will occasionally make mistakes (as we saw at Fulham) and it would put a smile back on all our faces. None wider than that worn by Kenny Dalglish.