After Liverpool extended their unbeaten league run, WhoScored's Martin Laurence discusses the five key reasons for the Reds' recent resurgence.
Two of the league's in-form teams met on Tuesday night as Liverpool came out of their clash with Tottenham with their recent unbeaten streak intact. Indeed, it is now nine matches since the Reds last tasted defeat in the league - their closest rivals in terms of current streaks are on just four in comparison - with WhoScored.com pinpointing five key factors that have led to this upturn in fortunes.
1. The formation
Undoubtedly the feature of Liverpool's play in recent months that has the strongest correlation with their impressive run of form has been a switch to three at the back. A 1-0 defeat at Newcastle earlier in the season deploying that system was not enough to deter Brendan Rodgers to adopt the same tactic against Manchester United back in December. A 3-0 loss at the hands of their rivals that day could easily have dissuaded the Reds boss from lining up with a back three anytime soon but the Ulsterman was right to take encouragement despite a quite bizarre result, with David de Gea receiving a WhoScored rating of 9.08 courtesy of eight saves on the day.
Liverpool have, indeed, persisted with the same formation for their nine league encounters thereafter without tasting defeat. Having lost five of their 14 matches in the league when playing a back four the switch has clearly profited the side and while the increase in goals per game is relatively marginal between a back three (1.55) and back four (1.36), it's their defensive record that has most improved. Indeed, Liverpool have conceded 11 goals with a back three this season compared compared to 18 with a four-man defence.
2. Youth over experience at the back
The decision to play Emre Can out of position as a right centre-back has proven to be an inspired one, with the German youth international again in fine form as Liverpool dispatched of Spurs on Tuesday. It was another summer signing that began the season alongside Martin Skrtel at the back but a number of high-profile errors cost Dejan Lovren his place, with Can also leaping ahead of Kolo Toure in the pecking order after limited opportunities early in the campaign.
In seven Premier League starts at centre-back Can has earned a rating of 7.52 from WhoScored.com and while Mamadou Sakho has perhaps been a little less consistent, showing questionable technique in the tackle against Tottenham, alongside Skrtel the three have formed an imposing shield ahead of Simon Mignolet. It's Can, despite being the youngest, that has looked the most assured though, having not committed a single error that has directly led to an opposition shot. Meanwhile no player in the Premier League has committed more than Lovren (six), despite the fact that the Croat has started just 14 times.
3. Dropping the dropper has paid off
Rodgers took the bold decision to drop his number one keeper ahead of the aforementioned defeat to Manchester United, looking for a reaction from an out-of-form Simon Mignolet. While the Belgian only returned to the side in the first instance due to an injury to Brad Jones, Mignolet has not committed a single error leading directly to an opposition shot since returning to the side. His performances certainly haven't been without the odd hairy moment but some eye-catching stops akin to those that earned him a switch to Anfield have earned the keeper a rating of 6.77 from WhoScored in his last eight league appearances, compared to 6.61 beforehand.
4. Captain marvel's revelation
It was the news that Liverpool fans may have dreaded hearing for over a decade but Steven Gerrard's announcement that he would leave the club at the end of the season was one that seems to have been well-timed. Since the news broke at the turn of the year Rodgers has moved his captain around in the new formation, fielding Gerrard further forward at times to accommodate for the inclusion of Lucas Leiva. There seems to be less pressure on Gerrard in the current system, even when he does play in the middle of the park, and Rodgers has rested the club icon at the right times. The skipper has completed the 90 minutes just once in the league since making it known that he would be leaving in the summer.
5. Coutinho's class
He may not given the best account of himself against Tottenham, perhaps due to fitness concerns ahead of kick-off, but Philippe Coutinho has shone in recent months. After an excellent pre-season campaign the Brazilian looked short of form early on in the Premier League season. He is now in full, mesmerising flow. Up to and including their last defeat to United the 22-year-old had a meagre rating of just 6.70 from WhoScored.com from 13 appearances. From that point on his rating has soared to a magnificent 7.88, having seen his formerly lowly average figures for through balls (0.1), key passes (0.6) and shots (1.7) leap to 0.8, 2.4 and 3.3 respectively.
Martin Laurence.
All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com, where you can find yet more stats, including live in-game data and unique player and team ratings. You can follow all the scores, statistics, live player and team ratings with the new free-to-download WhoScored iOS app
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