it is a stat that can be mis-interpreted but it has some value.
We do not press - 3 of the top 4 (Olise, Zaha, Edouard or Eze) do not consistently put in a shift. We can all see it and the stats back it up.
Similarly some FBs are up and down all game, ours don't.
Of our CM they rarely get in the box.
We can all see it and the stats back this up.

However, better teams such as Man City don't have great miles per games stats as they have the majority of possession and so can dictate play.

Unfortunately we are not Man City so are running stats should be better.

The absence of pressing up front has been noticeable for years. If you can't or don't press well then the whole team has to drop off into a deep block, which in turn makes you play in bursts and/or on the counter.

It's easy to say that chasing people around the pitch is simply a matter of effort and organisation, but effective pressing does need a bit of individual skill. The players need a bit of agility, acceleration, balance, defensive nous (i.e not to dive in and get beaten easily), awareness of where others are etc, as well as an aggressive attitude.

I think some players are genuinely just not very good at it. None of Murray, Zaha, Bolasie, Mateta, Benteke, Sako, Edouard, Olise, Eze etc seem naturally capable of it, but I don't think that makes them crap or lazy. Rashford, Salah, Hazard etc aren't very good at it either, at least not in the way that Mane, Son etc are. Big strikers struggle especially to press, as they just aren't agile and quick enough. Watching Crouch or Weighorst try to press is almost cringeworthy sometimes, however hard they try.

I think our players have done a lot of running over the years, but it's all longer distances as they all run back into a deep block when we lose it. Pressing sides tend to do more short, explosive running, and I reckon we are probably very low-scoring on that front.

To be fair, none of Dann, Delaney, Jedinak, Cahill, Tompkins, Koyate etc had any pace to play high up the pitch, so dropping off has always made sense (as well as being the preferred method of Pulis, Allardyce and Hodgson).

Now, with the pace of Geuhi in particular, we should be able to play a bit further up the park, get into opponents' faces (especially at home), and generally play with more tempo. Gallagher made a huge difference in that respect and showed that it sometimes only needs one player to set it all off.

I'd be amazed if Zaha was still here next year, and hopefully, we will have a new, mobile forward too, so perhaps we can finally start playing in the opponent's half with and without the ball.

It won't be happening under Roy, but he's not here to change the world, just to get us over the line so someone else can.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (23 Mar 2023 5.55pm)

I'd happily settle for one that does one of the three.

Only if you want to be a pressing team, you can be as good defensively by having good shape and being disciplined, I prefer pressing, it's more exciting, you win the ball further up the pitch, but Liverpool have gone from the best team in the world at doing it, to not pressing at all, so probably not as easy as it sounds, especially with our squad. Even with how bad our run has been I wouldn't say we are an easy team to beat anyway and we all know roy will concentrate on shape and having 10 men behind the ball anyway so I don't see our running stats drastically changing anyway.

I agree. Remember Gallagher's interview after we beat City last season, and he said something like he couldn't feel his legs because he had been running so much. No idea how PV went from that, to what we watched recently. Even CG leaving is no excuse.

Basically, if you go 13 matches without a win, like we did under PV, there's no excuse for being a side that doesn't at least run around a little. I'd rather lose with players showing effort, rather than lose watching them stroll and jog around.

Edited by Wilbraham413 (24 Mar 2023 2.04am)

2017 Feb. (Van Aanholt) Palace 1 - 0 Middlesboro
2018 Jan. (Sako) Palace 1 - 0 Burnley
2019 May (Batshuayi, Batshuayi, OG, Van Aanholt, Townsend) Palace 5 - 3 Bournemouth
2020 Feb. (Van Aanholt) Palace 1 - 0 Newcastle

Yes i watch the training video and I couldn’t see olise!