Liverpool v Manchester United Preview: FA Cup 4th Round

Why Liverpool Need Bellamy, and Manchester United Need Evra

By Soccerlens on January 26th, 2012

We preview Liverpool v Manchester United ahead of their match this Saturday in the FA Cup. The analysis highlights Craig Bellamy and his striking rivals, as well as comparing José Enrique and Patrice Evra.

BELLAMY DESERVES HIS CHANCE IN ABSENCE OF SUAREZ

Manchester United and Liverpool resume their fierce rivalry in the 4^th Round of the FA Cup this weekend, with Castrol EDGE Performance data showing that Craig Bellamy deserves to continue leading the Liverpool attack following strong performance this season.

Bellamy’s appearances have been limited compared to goal-shy Dirk Kuyt and the Manchester United attacking duo of Danny Welbeck and Wayne Rooney. However, of the quartet Bellamy has the best chance conversion rate (29% for his 5 goals), pass completion (86%) and is the most creative, laying on a chance for a teammate once every 27 minutes, by far the highest rate.

In addition he sits only just behind Rooney with a goal every 128 minutes scored (compared with Rooney’s 126) and is second to Welbeck with a 59% shooting accuracy. Somewhat surprisingly Bellamy’s dribbling ability seems to have deserted him this season, with a 29% completion rate, whereas Rooney boasts an impressive 66%.

Robin van Persie vs Wayne Rooney in Premier League 2011-12

Prem Lge 2011/12	Craig Bellamy	Dirk Kuyt	Danny Welbeck	Wayne Rooney
Team	Liverpool		Manchester United
Appearances	16	19	17	20
Minutes On Pitch	642	1,128	1,070	1,641
Goal Attempts
Goals	5	0	6	13
Mins per goal	128	-	178	126
Shots On Target	10	7	17	38
Shots Off Target	7	12	10	30
Total Shots	17	19	27	68
Shooting Accuracy	59%	37%	63%	56%
Chance Conversion	29%	0%	22%	19%
Blocked Shots	5	10	11	22
Passing
Goal Assists	2	1	2	3
Chances created (inc. Assists)	24	21	15	31
Mins per chance created	27	54	71	53
Total Passes	299	575	368	1,002
Pass Completion %	86%	77%	83%	81%
Dribbling
Dribbles & Runs	14	15	28	35
Dribble Completion %	29%	47%	46%	66%

ADVENTUROUS EVRA AND ENRIQUE LOCK HORNS

Two of the Premier League’s leading left-backs will be on show at Anfield, with Castrol EDGE Performance data revealing that José Enrique and Patrice Evra are performing to a similar level this season.

While Enrique has the edge with tackles won (80%), it is Evra who has a far superior clearance rate with 4.93 per 90 minutes compared to Enrique’s 0.95 (156 total versus 30), perhaps reflecting the pressure the United defence has come under this season.

However, Evra invites a degree of this pressure by conceding more than double the fouls of Enrique.

Prem Lge 2011/12	José Enrique	Patrice Evra
Team	Liverpool	Manchester United
Appearances	22	21
Minutes On Pitch	1980	1826
Tackles and Blocks
Total Tackles Made	40	57
Last Man Saving Tackles	1	0
Tackles Won %	80%	75%
Shots Blocked	3	8
Interceptions	21	26
Clearances
Total Clearances Made	21	100
Clearances per 90 mins	0.95	4.93
Headed Clearances	9	56
Distribution
Total Passes	1142	885
Passes per 90 mins	51.91	43.62
Pass Completion %	80%	86%
Discipline
Total Fouls Conceded	9	20
Yellow Cards	1	4
Red Cards	0	0
Going Forward
Goals	0	0
Shots on Target	1	3
Shots off Target	6	1

José Enrique’s key strength though is going forward, completing the most number of dribbles of any defender in the Premier League with 39 this season. Evra is second with 28, showing that both will be a key source of their team’s attacking ambitions this weekend.

Prem Lge 11/12 – Defenders Only	Team	Dribbles Completed
José Enrique	Liverpool	39
Evra, Patrice	Man Utd	28
Assou-Ekotto, Benoit	Tottenham	22
Johnson, Glen	Liverpool	21
Baines, Leighton	Everton	20