Centre Midfield
As Gerrard and Scholes came out on top in the centre midfield comparison and Carrick was chosen for the 4-3-3 formation these players have been compared to Britton, Spearing and Livermore to see if any of these un-capped players would make the starting XI.
Gerrard has scored 5 goals this season, which is 2 more goals than Scholes, 3 more than Carrick and 5 more than Livermore, Spearing and Britton. Gerrard has also scored a goal every 225 minutes which is 57 minutes more often than Scholes and 852 minutes more often than Carrick.
Gerrard also creates a chance for Liverpool every 43 minutes, which is 13 minutes more often than Scholes and 39 minutes more often than Livermore. As well as creating the highest amount of overall chances for his team Gerrard has also has created the highest amount of clear-cut chances this season. Gerrard has created 1 more clear-cut chance than Scholes and 2 more clear-cut chances than Livermore and Britton.
Gerrard creates a clear-cut chance for his team every 376 minutes, which is 48 minutes more often than Scholes and 358 minutes more often than Livermore. He also wins the ball back in the attacking third of the pitch every 125 minutes which is 242 minutes more often than Livermore and 623 minutes more often than Carrick.
Scholes wins the ball back in the midfield third of the pitch 1 minute more often than Britton and 3 minutes more often than Spearing, while Spearing wins the ball back in the defensive third of the pitch 1 minute more often than Britton and 7 minutes more often than Carrick.
Scholes also only loses possession of the ball every 169 minutes, which is 28 minutes longer than Spearing and 34 minutes longer than Livermore. Scholes also completes 92.5% of his passes which is only beaten by Britton who has completed 93.18% of his passes this season.
Carrick has won the highest percentage of ground and aerial 50-50s this season as he has won 6% more ground 50-50s than Britton and 8% more than Spearing, while he has won 3% more aerial 50-50s than Gerrard and 7% more than Scholes.
Spearing has made more tackles per minute than any other of the midfielders as makes a tackle 2 minutes more often than both Scholes and Carrick and 4 minutes more often than Livermore. Spearing has also won 78.57% of his tackles this season which is 7.74% better than Livermore and 9% better than Gerrard.
Therefore, as Gerrard, Scholes and Carrick all come out on top in this comparison then they should keep their places in the starting XI for Euro 2012.
Wide Midfielders
As Lennon and Johnson were chosen for theEngland’s best XI they have been compared to Sinclair, Dyer, Osman and Pilkington to see whether any of these un-capped players deserve a place in the starting line up.
Lennon has created 10 clear-cut chances this season, which is 4 more than Pilkington and 6 more than Johnson. Lennon has also created a clear-cut chance every 119 minutes, which is 105 minutes more often than Johnson and 192 minutes more often than Pilkington.
Pilkington and Sinclair have both scored 8 goals this season, which is 2 more goals than Johnson this season and 4 more goals than Osman and Dyer this season. Although, Johnson has scored more goals per minute than anyone else in this comparison as he scores a goal 46 minutes more often than Pilkington and 170 minutes more often than Sinclair.
Johnson has also created a chance for his team every 30 minutes this season, which is 3 minutes more often than Lennon and 22 minutes more often than Pilkington.
Pilkington has found a teammate with 35% of his crosses this season, which is 10% better than both Lennon and Johnson and 12% better than Osman. It also takes Osman 81 minutes to lose possession of the ball which is 2 minutes longer than Lennon and 36 minutes longer than Pilkington.
As well as scoring 8 goals this season Sinclair has also completed 82.35% of his passes this season, which is 0.82% better than Johnson and 2.22% better than Lennon.
Therefore, as Lennon and Johnson come out on top in this comparison they should keep their places in the starting XI, although Pilkington comes close so we think that he may have a case for a place on the plane.
To conclude, none of the un-capped players should be included in the starting XI, although Pilkington should be considered for a place in the squad for Euro 2012.
All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.com – Subscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) See Demo’s and videos about the Stats Centre & read about new additions to the stats centre.
