Hull City 3-1 Liverpool - Statistical Analysis

Suarez

Luis Suarez

Hull City picked up a surprise, but merited, 3-1 home victory over Liverpool on Sunday, the first time they’ve beaten the Merseyside club in any competition in history. The Reds’ day got off to a bad start with the news that top-scorer Daniel Sturridge would miss up to eight weeks through injury, but they were also without Philippe Coutinho who was only fit for the bench. Hull took the lead thanks to a deflected shot from Jake Livermore, before Steven Gerrard rifled in a free-kick to equalise just minutes later. Victor Moses had the best chance to win the game for Liverpool, but one minute after he saw his shot saved, David Meyler hit the decisive second. Tom Huddlestone saw his weak effort bundled in by Skrtel for the third, as Hull took a huge three points.

Key Stats:

This screenshot was taken from the Squawka Football App - Download it here

Liverpool dominated possession for long stretches, as demonstrated by their 56% possession during the 90 minutes, but too much of their work on the ball was passive, slow-tempo and comfortably in front of the Hull midfield, let alone their defence.

The low tally of shots from both sides was notable, with careless play in the final third from Liverpool, added to their lack of creativity, culminating in a fairly quiet afternoon for Alan McGregor. At the other end, Yannick Sagbo was often isolated, but held the ball up very well at times and was always willing to run in behind the defence—something none of the Reds’ attackers really did.

Having managed a draw at Everton last week courtesy of three goals off set-pieces, Liverpool couldn’t do the same today despite Steven Gerrard’s free-kick and racking up the corner count.

Man of the Match

save image

David Meyler was awarded the Man of the Match on account of his Performance Score, with his match-winning goal contributing heavily to his tally of 50.

The versatile midfielder had a tough start to the game and after 15 minutes, with Hull chasing the ball after Liverpool’s bright start, he had a score of -8. Meyler had already misplaced two passes by this time and not made any defensive contributions, but as Hull grew into the game, Meyler’s performance did improve.

His most telling impact came just after the 70th minute, when he drilled a left-footed shot into the far bottom corner to beat Simon Mignolet and put Hull back into the lead. That was his second shot in just a few seconds, after the initial effort was blocked.

Meyler ended the game with a 72% pass completion rate, fairly low, but also won both of his tackles, made two clearances and one interception.

save image

Performance Score

save image

Liverpool might have had the lion’s share of possession, but they simply didn’t do enough with it to trouble Hull regularly. The home side, in fact, finished with a Performance Score double that of Liverpool: 220-110.

Early on, it was Liverpool with the better chances to attack, but Hull defended well and by the time they took the lead inside 20 minutes, they had opened up a lead of 93 points to Liverpool’s -24. Steven Gerrard’s quick equaliser, though, ensured the teams were close to each other again by the half hour mark, 47-23.

That remained the case until well in the second-half, with the sides evenly matched and cancelling each other out, with Liverpool easing ahead by the 55 minute mark, 108-102.

They might have looked the favourites to go on and win then, but Victor Moses’ miss and Meyler’s goal one minute later provided the big swing, which Hull only increased with their third goal before full time.

Key Observations

save image

Liverpool’s play can be summed up in their Action Areas map, with just 2.8% of their play coming in the Hull City penalty area. With Luis Suarez off-form and roaming all over the park in an attempt to get himself involved, there were basically no runners beyond him to make the most of the space. As such, there was very little threat on Hull’s goal and Liverpool had only four shots from inside the penalty area all game.

This screenshot was taken from the Squawka Football App - Download it here

Victor Moses, brought in for a chance to shine in the absence of Coutinho and Sturridge, had next to no impact on the game and ended with a Performance Score of -1. He had one shot, saved at close range at a key moment in the match, completed just one take-on during the game and did not attempt a single cross.

Furthermore, Luis Suarez had a timid game for The Reds. The forward attempted six dribbles, completing none of them, while he also did not make a key pass. His Heat Map shows how much time he spent buzzing around the box, rather than being inside the box.

save image

While Hull’s Curtis Davies was a rock at the back, winning two tackles, making five interceptions, seven clearances and winning all three of his headed duels.

Curtis Davies

He was far from overworked though with Liverpool’s attack simply not functioning: one corner from six found a Red shirt, not a single successful cross from 13 attempts did the same and they managed just five successful take-ons as a team inside the Hull half, from 19 attempts. All in all, a poor day’s work for Liverpool and a great result for Hull.

Quick Links

Edited by Staff Editor