It’s safe to say that Luis Suárez certainly had an ‘interesting’ 2011/12. After starting it by becoming a Copa America champion, as the domestic season unfolded he saw controversy follow him around, as it has continued to since his goal-line handball in the quarter-final of the World Cup in 2010.
As well as the heavily debated ‘Evragate’ and subsequent ban, he also received a further one game ban for giving the Fulham fans at Craven Cottage an unsuitable hand gesture (to put it as politely as I can).
One thing he didn’t do though, and that he was expected to, was score a bagful of goals.
Eleven strikes in the Premier League, scoring in just nine matches, put him joint fourteenth for goals scored and saw him finish behind far less heralded frontmen, such as Grant Holt and Danny Graham. On the other hand, he did create a lot of chances, and this is where I think Liverpool can reap greater benefit from the Uruguayan next season.
Below is a table of how many chances Suárez created in each of his league starts in 2011/12. Bear in mind that the top chance creator in the league (Juán Mata) averaged exactly three per game, according to whoscored.com, so that seems a reasonable target for a decent performance in chance creation terms.
In thirteen appearances out of a total of twenty-nine (or 45% of the time, in other words), Suárez matched or bettered the average for the top creator in the Premier League. It’s interesting to note that two of the five games where Suárez failed to create a chance were against Swansea City, so it would appear that Brendan Rodgers already knows how to nullify the threat posed by the Uruguayan at least.
However, I think that Rodgers could exploit Suárez’ skillset superbly. The Ulsterman favours a high pressing game, and Luis made thirty-one final third regains last season; more than any other player in the Premier League, and at least nineteen more than every other Liverpool player. The statistics show that Suárez is the top player in England for pressing high up the pitch, so Rodgers must be licking his lips in anticipation at working with him.
If the new manager plays Suárez at the left or right of a front three, then I think he can become the Reds’ key creator who should also get into double figures for goals too. This won’t eradicate Liverpool’s need for a prolific striker, but it should mean they make better use of the one world-class forward they currently possess, and that will be one step in the right direction for 2012/13.
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Categories: EPL Index Featured Article, EPL Index Player Profiles, Liverpool
Tags: epl opta stats, EPL Stats, LFC Opta Stats, LFC Stats, Liverpool FC Opta Stats, Liverpool FC Stats, Luis Suarez Opta Stats, Opta Stats, Suarez chances created, Suarez clear cut chances created, Suarez Opta Stats
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Good illustration of Suarez’ creativity. I especially like how you’ve used the Player Stats Breakdown section in our Stats Centre where each player’s season stats is broken down game by game. Thankfully it’s being used. We’ll try to separate that section into’s it own area so that it’s easier to navigate to. Don’t think it’s very easy to get to for the new subscribers at the moment.
Yep, the Quick Stats option made this very easy to compile.
Next season should be interesting for Liverpool. As much as Suárez created a lot of chances, Downing created three more Clear Cut Chances than he did. If Rodgers can find a way to get those two to feed a prolific striker, the Reds can really go places next season.
Good article, however he can be the goalscorer we need.
Little of his chances were simple last season,hence his poor conversion rate but as he shows for Uruguay and at Ajax is that given the right service he can at the very least be a one in two striker. What his time in holland also highlighted is that he tends to feel his way into a league before finally hitting big numbers into the back of the net.
Least season he was very much the typical Liverpool 7 of past, the link man. His record being somewhere along the lines of Kenny. However if he gets closer to goal,and with the correct service, then he can become our main goal scorer.
I agree that luis creates a lot of chances but mainly because we had the wrong attacking options to aid him. For the most part he was trying too hard because when you look at his record elsewhere you see if is a goal machine who does create chances. I believe with better possession and more skilful players around him we will see the true suarez.
I’ve always been of the opinion – If you took any top class player… Messi, just to shoot straight to the top.. and put him in Suarez’s place – He would only be able to show half of his potential as we know it today and the press would be all over him about his bad form.
You can only shine as bright as what the quality around you allows for. Last season, the quality in LFC squad was just not great. Looking forward to some change this coming season.
i hope Rodgers can make use of Luis Suarez……….YNWA