Anfield Watch
·23 settembre 2024
Anfield Watch
·23 settembre 2024
In yesterday's enthralling clash between Arsenal and Manchester City at the Etihad, the Gunners were heavily criticised for their use of "dark arts" tactics to guarantee a point to take back with them to London.
And while referee Michael Oliver intervened when necessary - in sending off Leandro Trossard for a second yellow because he kicked the ball away - Arsenal managed to delay play as long as possible - which came back to bite them as City equalised in the 98th minute.
In a new report from The Analyst, the North-London-based club have been identified as the team which has the longest Premier League delays to your average match restart.
At 31.8 seconds, Arsenal take almost eight seconds longer than Arne Slot's Liverpool, who rank at second-bottom of the teams who delay the most - at 24.1 seconds, bettered only by West Ham.
Across goal-kicks, free-kicks, penalties, throw-ins and kick-offs, the likelihood of a game having 'injury time' added on is high, as demonstrated in last night's match, where Calafiori gave Liverpool a huge boost in the title race.
Alongside this new revelation, Slot's side is reportedly 0.2 seconds quicker than during Jurgen Klopp's tenure at the club.
Despite fairing pretty well on each of The Analyst's metrics, Liverpool do like to take their time on corner kicks, featuring as the Premier League's fourth-worst offender.
At 41.1 seconds, the Reds take around 17 seconds more on their corners than in any other restart on the pitch, in an effort to take full advantage of the opportunity to give the tall centrebacks of Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk an attempt at goal.
Arsenal sit at the top of every single metric for restarting play, meanwhile, Liverpool sit 18th in the overall rankings - a clear disparity between the intentions of the two teams.
While Liverpool's corner routine - which Arne Slot has recently implemented - is where they offend the most, the team must speed up enormously in all of the other restarts to ensure the ball is in play for as long as possible.
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