02 Nov 2025 01:38:52
Great result, made up for Robbo and Bradley they were great. It looks like Mo has turned a corner too. Macca had his best game tonight any coincidence as RM will be watching? He will play a blinder on Tuesday. Slot got to stick with the same team stop chopping and changing we looked good when we pressed but not so good when slowed it down and never.
Lots of runs being made up front but preferring to not make the pass? it stops momentum, come on Arne press out of teams don't let them have a breather it's in our dna don't worry about burnout . we look better for it. we had some luck tonight but a wins a win, now for that lot.
02 Nov 2025 07:33:31
You can't go hell for leather pressing for 90 minutes. When we slowed it down we restricted them to very speculative chances or chances that were barely even half chances, they had less than 0.5 xG (the bulk of that in the first half) and 0 big chances all game. It's not simply about 'letting the other team have a breather', we need to have a breather too, just because we let them have possession, sit in and try to get another goal in transition (which we almost did at least twice in the latter stages), there's nothing wrong with that.
The second game we played against City was a classic example of how we can control the game even if we aren't controlling possession and aren't pressing and forcing them into their own half for 90 minutes. This is the hallmark of Slot football I think, control and composure on and off the ball, speeding and slowing the game down to suit us, not allowing the other team to dictate the tempo. Yesterday we saw a sign of it coming back, that is the most promising sign of all.
02 Nov 2025 07:40:54
If anything it was the first 20 minutes that were hairy for us because of nerves (understandable given our losing run), after that I think we were very much in control of the game.
02 Nov 2025 08:24:10
0 big chances all game?
They hit the post twice?
02 Nov 2025 08:47:10
Our keeper also made a save diving to his right.
02 Nov 2025 08:44:19
Hitting the post doesn't in itself count as a big chance. You could hit the post from the halfway line or from a goalkick, that doesn't qualify as a big chance. If a player has an excellent, high percentage chance to score after being put through on goal and THEN hits the post, then it qualifies as a big chance.
These are the official stats from the game
Statistic
Liverpool
Aston Villa
Possession
52%
48%
Expected Goals (xG)
0.96
0.15
Total Shots
13
5
Shots on Target
3
2
Big Chances
3
0
Passing Accuracy
87%
82%
Fouls Committed
6
5
Corners
1
1.
02 Nov 2025 08:45:14
Oops sorry those were half time stats
These are the full time stats (from Sports Illustrated)
Statistic
Liverpool
Aston Villa
Possession
54%
46%
Expected Goals (xG)
1.09
0.31
Total Shots
16
10
Shots on Target
4
3
Big Chances
3
0
Passing Accuracy
87%
84%
Fouls Committed
13
11
Corners
1
4.
02 Nov 2025 10:03:11
They didn't have any big chances that i remember either, 2 or 3 half chances that ended in long shots, a couple of them were very good shots however!
02 Nov 2025 10:10:14
You can also score from the half way line.
I don’t need stats to tell me what’s a big chance mate. I can make my mind up from just watching with the naked eye.
No idea how football survived all those many moons ago when Xg and big chance stats weren’t a thing.
02 Nov 2025 10:28:38
I'm sorry JK but a player going on a run in the box and then bending one in like Rogers tried to do is not a big chance, it is a quality attacking move from a quality player, nor is a shot from outside the area that takes a big deflection and requires Mamardashvili to make a big save. The point of 'big chance' and 'xG' is to show you whether a team is consistently creating clear cut opportunities to score, and on the other side of the coin, whether the opposition are limiting clear opportunities. Of course any team can get on the scoresheet because of the sheer quality of their players and outperform their xG, that's the point of having quality players, but every team wants to consistently create goals through repeatable situations that don't need individual moments of brilliance from unique situations and tight angles.
No need to be sarcastic and snarky mate, or make me out to seem like I'm simply providing irrelevant numbers.
02 Nov 2025 10:30:42
And yes, you can absolutely score from the halfway line, but a goalie being off his line and a player being in a position to chip him does not, by any stretch of the imagination, qualify as a big chance.
Even if the ball fell to Mo in such a situation, you wouldn't call it a sitter that he missed if it sailed over the bar or get on his case for missing it, and he would be the most likely of all our players to be able to execute that skill, which objectively would mean it would be a bigger chance for him than anybody else.
02 Nov 2025 11:00:29
Pb you can tell me it’s not a big chance until the cows come home mate. It doesn’t mean i have to change my opinion to fall in line with yours.
If both had gone in then it might be a case of we’re two nil down but it’s ok they weren’t big chances.
The key thing is neither went in nor did any other chance or Xg and we got the win.
If we don’t win any trophies this season the. Perhaps the Xg / big chance trophy open top bus tour will still be on the cards.
02 Nov 2025 11:12:50
Meaningless stats, trying to rationalise skill and fit it into a neat little box.
02 Nov 2025 11:30:52
Nobody said that it was okay because they weren't big chances, you want to stop quality players from being able to have a sight at goal because they are quality players.
But a big chance isn't a big chance because of where it ends up, if Cash's deflection flew into the stands it wouldn't, by your logic, qualify as a big chance, so in your estimation a big chance is a big chance only if it tests the keeper or hits the post? Was the beach ball freak accident against Sunderland all those years ago a big chance? If Nunez was a meter away from an open goal and skies it into the stands, that's not a big chance? Where's the sense in that?
I feel like you and I are talking about different things, I'm talking purely about a metric used in football and explaining why it's useful (and not just stats nerds think it's useful, I can guarantee every coach cares about xG for and against) . Whereas you are suggesting I am using a stat against common sense and saying we won the xG trophy.
You can agree or disagree with what a stat is used for, but you don't have to be condescending towards me or dismiss my attempt to explain why the stat might be useful, is what I mean.
02 Nov 2025 12:00:07
Pb I think we are talking about different things mate.
I’m not sure where you think I’m being condescending as that wasn’t my intention.
All about opinions though.
02 Nov 2025 12:14:51
Yup we are very much talking about different things, which was why I was trying to explain my end! No worries though, glad we both had a good game of football to watch last night.
02 Nov 2025 13:59:25
If someone hits the post . that a big chance obviously.
03 Nov 2025 06:37:48
A big chance is when someone has sight of goal, didn't matter if they sky it, Nunez used to do it all the time. Some stats are useless, if a player from one team runs into the box an totally misses that's a chance and needs to be stopped because of you okay real or man chesty they will score that chance.