Liverpool have reportedly stepped-up their interest in Valencia attacking midfielder Dani Parejo, who is allegedly on the club's wish-list for the upcoming summer transfer window.
In February, reports in Spain claimed that Brendan Rodgers is 'impressed' with Parejo's performances this season, and according to Spanish Newspaper Super Deporte this week:
* Barry Hunter, LFC's Chief Scout, watched ran the rule over Parejo during Los Che's recent 2-1 victory over Granada.
* Valencia are aware of the interest, but are determined to keep the £20m-rated attacker at the club.
Some info about 24-year old Parejo:
- Current contract expires in 2016.
- Cost Valencia €6m in 2011.
- A product of Real Madrid's youth academy.
- Flopped in the Real senior team, and made only 5 apps.
- 43 appearances for various Spain youth teams.
- 18 apps for QPR in 2008 (No goals)
- Can play defensive or attacking midfield.
- 87% passing accuracy this season (from 1000 passes)
- 2007: Won the UEFA European Under-19 Championship with Spain.
- 2011: Part of Spain's UEFA European Under-21 Championship winning team.
- When Madrid sent Parejo on loan, it so annoyed club legend Alfredo di Stefano that he refused to watch the club's reserves (!)
Parejo's stats
* 2011-12: 0 goals/1 assist in 27 apps.
* 2012-13: 2 goals/6 assists in 36 apps.
* 2013-14: 4 goals/3 assists in 24 apps.
* TOTALS: 6 goals/10 assists in 87 apps.
* Goal every 14.5 apps | Assist every 8.7 apps
* Goal/Assist every 5.4 games.
With respect, this is hardly inspiring stuff, and certainly not worth £20m (IMO). Parejo predominantly plays as a midfield playmaker/attacking midfielder for Valencia, and if this is the best he can do, I doubt he'd be able to improve on this in the Premier League.
Author: Jaimie K
In February, reports in Spain claimed that Brendan Rodgers is 'impressed' with Parejo's performances this season, and according to Spanish Newspaper Super Deporte this week:
* Barry Hunter, LFC's Chief Scout, watched ran the rule over Parejo during Los Che's recent 2-1 victory over Granada.
* Valencia are aware of the interest, but are determined to keep the £20m-rated attacker at the club.
Some info about 24-year old Parejo:
- Current contract expires in 2016.
- Cost Valencia €6m in 2011.
- A product of Real Madrid's youth academy.
- Flopped in the Real senior team, and made only 5 apps.
- 43 appearances for various Spain youth teams.
- 18 apps for QPR in 2008 (No goals)
- Can play defensive or attacking midfield.
- 87% passing accuracy this season (from 1000 passes)
- 2007: Won the UEFA European Under-19 Championship with Spain.
- 2011: Part of Spain's UEFA European Under-21 Championship winning team.
- When Madrid sent Parejo on loan, it so annoyed club legend Alfredo di Stefano that he refused to watch the club's reserves (!)
Parejo's stats
* 2011-12: 0 goals/1 assist in 27 apps.
* 2012-13: 2 goals/6 assists in 36 apps.
* 2013-14: 4 goals/3 assists in 24 apps.
* TOTALS: 6 goals/10 assists in 87 apps.
* Goal every 14.5 apps | Assist every 8.7 apps
* Goal/Assist every 5.4 games.
With respect, this is hardly inspiring stuff, and certainly not worth £20m (IMO). Parejo predominantly plays as a midfield playmaker/attacking midfielder for Valencia, and if this is the best he can do, I doubt he'd be able to improve on this in the Premier League.
Author: Jaimie K
Yet another player linked with LFC which will not be seen at Anfield.
ReplyDeleteIt is getting to a stage now where we are being linked with at least one player from each and every club in Europe.
We will be linked to everyone now, get used to seeing 'Liverpool snubbed' by????...........................total rubbish!!!
ReplyDeleteYes one player from every club - each week!
ReplyDeleteI can't see him at LFC with those stats. Would be interested to see how Susos stats compare.
ReplyDeleteYaya Toure wasn't prolific at any previous team yet I think he's avg. about 10 goals season with city.not saying this fella is near Yaya but you never know.20 is lot tho...what are Valencia smoking?
ReplyDeleteNo one can say agents aren't hard working people.
ReplyDeleteOn to some better news, both Lucas and Sakho are back from injury and played in the U21s match vs West ham. Lucas played the full 90 minutes and Sakho featured for 70 minutes.
ReplyDeleteHoping Sakho comes back into the starting eleven soon!
Yes, let's hope Sakho, the defensively suspect €19m signing comes back into the starting line-up, despite the fact that there's no evidence to suggest that he'll improve the defence.
ReplyDeleteSo show how Sakho the individual is defensively suspect?
ReplyDeleteI've already shown how he's defensively suspect in various articles. Use the search bar. And the stats used last time are not 'spurious' in the slightest. Just because you don't like the what they show doesn't make them wrong. Sakho and Agger are both left-footed CDs, so it's fair to compare them. Plus, they've played the same number of games this season. The stats show that LFC are more defensively solid with Agger in the team, and that, with Sakho, the team only kept one clean sheet. Endlessly making exceptions/changes to the stats until you (or others) get the the result that matches your expectation is the only 'spurious' aspect here.
ReplyDeleteVery assured how? The team has kept only one clean sheet with him in the XI; how is that defensively 'assured'? How is playing hospital passes to various players (including an infamous suicide pass to Mignolet vs Spurs) defensively 'assured'?
ReplyDeleteBy having the best passing stats he looks assured on the ball, by making less defensive errors than anyone else, by making more defensive actions than anyone but Skrtel on average in every game.
ReplyDeleteYou point to the clean sheets thing as if it means anything but it doesn't. How can Sakho be blamed for Mignolet making an error against Sunderland when we won 3-1? Or a goal scored after he came off against Palace? Again 3-1.Or Sissokho giving the penalty away against West Brom? This time 4-1. Or Skrtel's own goal vs West Ham? Again 4-1.
There are four brain farts from colleagues that Sakho is supposed to take blame for according to you?
Truth is that Sakho according to squawker and whoscored is statistically our second best defender this season, but you choose to ignore that as it goes against your bias. Sakho's lowest rating according to whoscored is 6.48 in the game against Soto when he played left back, an unfamiliar role in an unfamiliar team. His highest rating is 9.09. Compared to Agger who's lowest rating is 5.91 and highest 8.88 and Toure lowest is 6.14 and highest 8.1. Their respective average being 7.29, 6.89 and 6.96.
But hey that lack of clean sheets is what matters isn't it? As it is all Sakho's fault, despite giving away the ball less and winning more tackles and giving away less fouls.
I see you use no individual stats to back yourself up.
ReplyDeleteHow many goals was Sakho personally responsible for when he played?
Funny you point to a pass he made in a game we got a clean sheet, Sakho had a 96% passing accuracy, making more passes than anyone else in the defence, making more tackles and interceptions than Skrtel and generally being quite assured and commanding. He did make a bad pass, but who hasn't this season? Skrtel has made plenty as too has Agger and Toure. No one is saying he is perfect just that he is one of the best CB's WE have AT PRESENT!
ReplyDelete"Hospital passes" is a term of yours rather than an actual thing but if you would like to be more specific and quantify it better I would try and help.
ReplyDeleteAs for drawing and losing games. Hmm lets think about that for a second and see if we can get an answer. Earm. City, Chelsea, United and Arsenal away. That we have played more top ten sides with Sakho in the team than with Agger for example who has played against 7 or 6 if we don't count Soto, which is a team that every one of our CB's lost against early in the season so also skews the stats slightly as Sakho was playing LB for most of that game.
The sub thing maybe harder to answer as I would have to look at the country situation but he has been injured quite a bit and I believe that changing a CB pairing to bring a player coming back from injury in may have destabilised
Using Squawka's performance rating to back up your view? How is that credible? That rating is not factual, or even persuasive (IMO), as it's based on their own proprietary 'formula'.
ReplyDeleteThe actual, unfettered stats show that LFC don't keep clean sheets with Sakho in the team. Blocks, clearances etc are irrelevant if the opposition team is still scoring goals. If Sakho makes 10 blocks in one game, and has passing accuracy of 90%, what's the difference is LFC lose the game?
Clean sheets win games, not blocks, interceptions and passing accuracy.
Bottom line:
* LFC lose 38% of games with Sakho.
* Skrtel = 25%
* Agger = 26%
* Toure = 26%
Why do LFC lose games more frequently with Sakho in the team if he's so defensively solid?
With Sakho, LFC lose every 2.5 games. That is not defensive solidity, and extrapolated across a whole season, that would be catastrophic.
No that is why I mentioned the spurious connection. They don't show anything of not as I have shown above. Clean sheets mean nothing when other defenders are making mistakes leading to goals. That is not even mentioning any of the other aspects that could be mentioned such as protection from midfield etc. The stats show that we have had more clean sheets against less teams in the top ten in the league and in those individual game there have been no individual mistakes that have lead to goals. Now if the individual mistakes were Sakho's then you might have a point. But they are not. They are not of his making either. They are not mistakes that have come from a (what this means exactly you will have to enlighten me) hospital pass or any such thing. There is corrolation but you have mistaken that for causation and not once have you met this argument head on. You just whine about goal posts getting moved. No, the goal posts have always been the same. If the argument has no credibility then that has to be acknowledged. It's simple. You try and shift away from the actual discussion by saying that those arguing against you are changing how we see stats but that is just false. Just because other fallacious articles have been less scrutinised doesn't men that goal posts have been changed it just means that there are some people who are willing to actual look in to the stats properly on other occasions.
ReplyDeleteHow you can pinpoint losses to Sakho and blame him for a lack of clean sheets is quite comical. How many other players are there in the starting eleven?
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, are you suggesting the own goal in the West ham match scored by Skrtel was Sakho's fault? If Skrtel had not scored an own goal then it would have been a clean sheet. How many other errors have lead to goals conceded by other players?
.
Let's compare apples with apples. How many individual mistakes made by Sakho has lead to goals compared to Skrtel?
To take it even further cause you like pointing out clean sheets.
ReplyDeleteJohnson has recorded 7 clean sheets this season. Skrtel has recorded six. Does that make Johnson a good defender?
Please don't respond to my posts unless you have something related and/or of interest to say. When you understand my point re number of games played vs. clean-sheets/losses per game, then we'll talk. Until, then, I'm not wasting my time on this issue with you. As you've proved time and time again, you have tunnel vision. In this case, you have to support Sakho because you have blind faith in Rodgers, and to be critical of him would mean you're being indirectly critical of Rodgers' transfer policy. As such, no matter what mistakes etc Sakho makes, you will lionise him, just like you do with Joe Allen.
ReplyDeleteThe stats are clear: in the 3 games Sakho has played, LFC have lost 38% of games. For the three other defenders, it's only 25%. End of story.
Greg, I have met the argument head on many times. I've provided the stats; you just refuse to accept them, and prefer to rely on non-credible performance scores from sites that calculate performance level based on some secret formula.
ReplyDeleteYou and others do move the goalposts repeatedly because you can't hack what the stats show most of the time.
You have no looked into the stats properly as you contend; you've just ignored the most common and persuasive stats about Sakho because you don't want to face the truth, which is he is defensively suspect for LFC.
Again: 38% of games lost with him in the team vs 25% for the other three senior defenders. Plus there's the clean sheets issue. These are more important and persuasive stats than how many blocks or interceptions Sakho made on a personal level.
I use top-level stats to back up my point; you and others use personal, individual stats, which clearly make no difference to how the *team* performs; and team performance - and a players impact on that - are (IMO) the most important things.
I used Squaker and Whoscored and it was whoscored's ratings I used. They have a points value for things such as tackles and interceptions, clearances etc as well as for passing. It is a statistics based rating system rather than who was or wasn't in a team where a player made a mistake and lead to a goal which seems to be your approach to this.
ReplyDeleteOnce again you have not even discusse the fact that Sakho's teamates have made mistakes that lead to goals in games we won comfortably. We didn't have a clean sheet in many games not because of Sakho's defending (as demonstrated has been better than others in the team and is relevant whether you like it or not), not because of his passing which is better than all but one in the team and not because he has heaped pressure on that player. That is the important thing. But you don't like it and choose to sidestep and every chance.
Clean sheets don't win games. In the games I mentioned we won by 2-3 goals and didn't keep clean sheets due to individual mistakes. Individuals that are not Sakho. Goals win games not clean sheets. But how an we get clean sheets? With blocks, tackles, clearences and good possession. And whats that? Sakho is good at all those things.
It proves that in the 19 games Johnson has played *this season*, he has been defensively solid to the extent that he's helped LFC keep clean sheets in 38% of games. Why shouldn't he be praised for that? Maybe he's been through a purple patch defensively? It doesn't define his entire LFC career, but in those 19 games, Johnson appears to have performed solidly.
ReplyDeleteSkrtel has been played in 26 EPL matches this season and has been part of every loss LFC has suffered this season.
ReplyDeleteI really do not know what you are trying to get at with your stats???
Why should I discuss what Sakho's team-mates do? Drilling down to the degree you want is pointless, and it's just another way to dismiss stats you don't like.
ReplyDeleteStatistically, I judge all defenders equally. A defender's primary role is to stop goals being scored, and stop the team losing. It's not to rack up amazing individual block/interception stats at the expense of the team's success.
There is a major correlation between Sakho being in the team and defeats for LFC. Judging the other defenders on the same level, the same correlation does not exist. It's that simple, and no amount of blocks, interceptions etc is going to change that.
I'm sure that defenders for Crystal Palace, Fulham etc have lots of blocks, headers, winning tackles, but what difference will that make at the end of the season if they get relegated?
LFC have only kept 2 clean sheets in his last 13 appearances.
ReplyDeleteOK just had a look at the stats regarding Sakho and games lost. Now in itself I don't think it was a strong enough argument. So I had a look at it (hung over day off). And it has some legs. I looked at the percentage of games Sakho has played away from home and against the top ten. Which is on average more than those to compare against (Agger and Toure). But the stats for these games is worse than the league average. So Jaimie does have a point. It could be argued that losing games is more than the defence and specifically one player but he has lost more of those games than the average which is correct. Again Correlation may not be causation but it is a stronger argument than the clean sheet one.
ReplyDeleteFor Sakho, it's one in the last thirteen.
ReplyDeleteBut then how can you claim that Johnson has been defensively solid?
ReplyDeleteSkrtel has played 30 games for LFC this season, and the team has lost only 26% of those games, compared to Sakho's average of 38%.
ReplyDeleteThe point is games-per-loss, or overall average. The more games you play, the more possibility of losing. historically, it's massively rare for teams to go a whole season without losing. Losses are expected, and will happen. With Sakho, the stats show that LFC are more likely lose games more frequently with Sakho in the team.
Seriously, it really is like talking to a brick wall. I don't have time for this pointlessness.
ReplyDeleteSakho has played in 12 EPL matches this season and all of them were with Skrtel if I am not mistaken.
ReplyDeleteHow can you honestly compare 12 vs 26 when 12 of those matches have seen them in the same team?
Yup, there is no point in discussing this further.
I fully agree, I feel like I am talking to a brick wall too.
ReplyDeleteGod you can get ridiculous. I am not relying on the ratings scores just used them to add extra weight and your idea that they are non credible yet a very tenuous connection between clean sheets and a players worth is the be all and end all is just laughable.
ReplyDeleteYou repeat the goal posts thing all you want mate it doesn't make it anymore true than it was the first few dozen times. Not once have you talked of the idividual mistakes made by players in games we won comfortably that had nothing to do with Sakho which has prevented him having more clean sheets. It is a statistical anomoly that you see more in because you want to. It's fine and evidently pointless to argue the toss as you will not discuss that matter at all despite it being repeated.
I don't ignore persuasive stats. It's just the "stats" were not persuasive. Unlike the loss percentage which as I have said above has more legs. Again correlation and causation are different things but the numbers are much more persuasive than the clean sheets straw man argument. Sakho has had more losses against top ten sides and away sides than the league average. Having watched those games I cannot find reason to think it was in anyway due to Sakho as his performances in those games were good apart from the Soto at home game.
It's clear that despite all the evidence to the contrary you have made your mind up and that is that. I just find it amusing how clearly guilty you are of what you claim others to be. Their was a very good Horizon episode about bias. There was also a very good article on it in the new scientist too a few months back if you were interested in looking for it. I know it's pompous but I am just saying that we are all guilty of bias whether we like it or not. You definitely have yours.
I think you're right that the clean-sheet argument is not the strongest. 'm not saying that the way I view defensive solidity is absolutely right. The stats you've used are also valid, it's just personal preference.
ReplyDeleteAnd we lose in 95 per cent of the games when I have a headache...
ReplyDeleteIt is about how he played, and he was either good or great in 90 per cent games he played
And where have I ever stated that I don't have 'bias'?! Every football fan is biased in some way, including me, so that's no great revelation.
ReplyDeleteDefensively suspect can cause their team-mates to make mistakes; they can create uncertainty in the defensive unit, and (IMO), that is what happens with Sakho. He often looks uncomfortable in possession, and his regular uncertainty causes problems in defence, which has a knock-on effect on others.
The most persuasive stat of the lot though is, again, the number of losses. All the other partnerships have loss rates of 25%; That shoots up to 38% with Sakho in the team. There is a reason for that, and the reason is utterly obvious: Sakho is the not as solid/comfortable etc in defence as Skrtel, Sakho and Toure.
Sakho was 'great' in 90% of the games he's played? Is that why LFC lost 5 out of those 13 games, and only kept a clean-sheet in one? Is that what 'great' equates to these days?
ReplyDeleteno, it is how HE played.
ReplyDeleteOTHER PLAYRES made costly mistakes.
ReplyDeleteMamadou SakhoComparisonMartin SkrtelDFPositionDF12Games played261,029Minutes Played2,32212Starts260 Substitution On 03 Substitution Off 1
ReplyDeleteMamadou SakhoComparisonMartin Skrtel607Passes1,19891.6%Passing Accuracy90.2%86.7%Passing Accuracy opp. Half (%)74.1%66Duels Won13643Duels lost6960.6%Duels won (%)66.3%33Aerial duels won8823Aerial duels lost4058.9%Aerial Duels Won (%)68.8%72Recoveries125Mamadou SakhoComparisonMartin Skrtel20Tackles Won262Tackles Lost790.9%Tackles Won (%)78.8%97Clearances3017Blocks2625Interceptions480Penalties conceded17Fouls Won87Fouls Conceded210Yellow Cards20Red Cards0
No, it will not end the debate. Post the stats, and stop using disqus as an excuse.
ReplyDeleteOur defence has not been solid even without Sakho in the team so I still do not know what you are trying to get at and pointing all the blame at Sakho is an easy way out.
ReplyDelete