At the
beginning of February, Manchester City drew 2-2 with Liverpool at the Etihad,
so a football loving blog decided to take a look at the match from a network
point of view, resulting in the following research. We have already reported
about something similar regarding basketball.
The
positions of the players are loosely based on the formations played by the two
teams, although some creative license is employed for clarity. It is important
to note that these are fixed positions, which will not always be representative
of where a player passed/received the ball. Only the starting eleven is shown
on the pitch, as the substitutes weren’t hugely interesting from a passing
perspective in this instance. Only completed passes are shown. Darker and
thicker arrows indicate more passes between each player. The player markers are
sized according to their passing influence, the larger the marker, the greater
their influence. The size and colour of the markers is relative to the players
on their own team i.e. they are on different scales for each team.
In the
reverse fixture, Yaya Touré and De Jong were very influential for City but
Touré was away at the African Cup of Nations, while De Jong joined Milan shortly
after that fixture. Their replacements in this game, Barry and Garcia, were
less influential, although Barry had the strongest passing influence for City
in this match, with Milner second. The central midfield two, Lucas and Gerrard,
were very influential for Liverpool and strongly dictated the passing patterns
of the team. They both linked well with the fullbacks and wider players, while
Lucas also had strong links with Suárez and Sturridge. Certainly in this area
of the pitch, Liverpool had the upper hand over City and this provided a solid
base for Liverpool in the match.
Similarly
to the Arsenal game, Liverpool showed less of an emphasis upon recycling the
ball in deeper areas. Instead, they favoured moving the ball forward more
directly, with Enrique often being an outlet for this via Reina and Agger.
Liverpool’s fullbacks combined well with their respective wide-players, while
also being strong options for Lucas and Gerrard. Strurridge was generally
excellent in this match and was more influential in terms of passing than in
his previous games against Norwich and Arsenal, combining well with Suárez,
Lucas and Gerrard.
At least
based on the past few games, Liverpool have shown the ability to alter their
passing approach with a heavily possession orientated game against Norwich,
followed up by more direct counter-attacking performances against Arsenal and
Manchester City. The game against City was particularly impressive as this was
mixed in with some good control in midfield via Lucas and Gerrard, which was
absent against Arsenal. How this progresses during Liverpool’s next run of
fixtures will be something to look out for.
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