not that i disagree with you, but what are our other problems then?
1) our midfield lacks quality
2) there is a disconnect between the midfield and the strikers
3) our primary striker pairing (Suarez/Carroll) has little to no understanding
I think we're getting too obsessed with this whole "chances created" phenomenon, before this season that was never focused on so much. The definition of a chance created is simply a pass which results in a shot on target. Okay. Great. And Comolli and Kenny went and bought players who, by their own admission, ranked high in statistics in "chances created."
But it is such a misleading statistic. Suppose Enrique has the ball in our own corner. Suppose Carroll is standing right in front of the opposition keeper at the other end. Suppose Downing is standing right next to him. Suppose Enrique takes the ball from our end of the pitch to the other, and beats ten men, then passes it to Downing, who passes it one foot to Carroll, who takes a shot on goal. Well, the "chance created" would officially be by Downing, even though Enrique did 99% of the work.
The point is pretty clear. We're obsessed all of a sudden with crossing the ball into the box, which is ridiculously ineffective (even moreso with Downing who aims not at any LFC player in particular but instead at the shins of the first defender).
Instead of obsessing about "creating chances," we need to base everything on the quality of the midfield. The shots on goal should only be the natural conclusion of midfield quality. We should pass and move and it doesn't matter who gets the final pass before the shot. We used to play like that. Hell we used to play like that under Dalglish, towards the end of last season. We don't anymore. Our best "chances" this season if you can call them that were after some nice intricate play in the midfield, and the most promising build-up play comes, again, from midfield. It didn't come from bouncing it out to Downing who then waits while everyone piles into the box for him to send it a lackluster cross. We need to play through midfield build-up, passing other sides into submission and then finding the final pass. In that sense the "chance created" isn't just the final ball, it's the 10 or 15 passes before it that created the space for someone to get free.
But right now, our starting XI isn't good enough for that. Gerrard is, but he's injured too much lately. Lucas is out for the season. That leaves us with Henderson, Downing, Spearing (who I rate highly and has more bollocks than either of the first two combined) and Adam.
Henderson, let's not even go there, I'm told he is the future, he'll be a star one day, which apparently means he can play shite now and be a passenger. Okay, fine. Downing does little to nothing. Spearing I think is great, and does his own job as DM quite well while also playing some aggressive attacking football from deep. Adam is not good enough, but I've started to come around to him because at least he tries stuff, unlike Downing and Henderson.
That midfield is simply not good enough. And don't act like we're kneejerkers---even the players know it. Go back again and watch the Bolton match, in the 43rd minute, Henderson dumped some ball over Bellamy's head, it got intercepted easily by the Bolton back line.
Bellamy turned around and yelled "JORDAN! I need more from you, mate, I need more from you."
Bellamy was absolutely class that night, as usual. And yet he's supposed to get service from... Henderson? It's really fucking insulting that we put these players around our top talent like Suarez and Bellamy. The midfield we have out there right now really doesn't know what it's doing. That, to me, is the biggest problem. We have occasional flashes of brilliance (there was a nice build up against the Arse that ended up in a Henderson shot in the first half), but the vast majority of the time it's Suarez throwing his hands up in the air because our midfield just isn't at his level.
Those, to me, are all bigger problems.
