Opta player stats: Stoke
There is only one stat that really matters in football - the final score. But here at Liverpoolfc.com we know supporters love to delve through the facts and figures after each game, so we're allowing you to do just that with the help of Opta.
And to make things a little clearer, we have broken down the statistics from the Reds' 0-0 draw against Stoke into sections which outline how both sides fared in terms of possession, how they rated defensively and going forward.
Passing
As has consistently been the case for Liverpool in recent weeks, Steven Gerrard and Joe Allen saw more of the ball than anyone else on the field and, once again, of the players who played the full 90 minutes, the Wales international had the best pass completion rate (91.3 per cent).
Martin Skrtel had the second best pass accuracy (90.2 per cent) out of those who played the full game; of the 61 balls the Slovakian knocked, 54 of them found a Red shirt.
Glen Whelan was officially Stoke's most accurate passer, with 81.8 per cent of his balls finding a claret and blue shirt; however, the midfielder hit just 14 passes during his substitute spell on the field. Of those who played the full 90 minutes for Stoke, Stephen N'Zonzi was the best passer with 75 per cent accuracy.
The home side played 524 passes compared to Stoke's 288 and one batch of statistics illustrate how the two sides differed in their approach to using possession. Overall, Liverpool played 8.4 per cent of their passes long, while the visitors opted for the long pass 17.7 per cent of the time.
Liverpool's back-four averaged 84.5 per cent accuracy in their distribution while Stoke's defence had a pass completion rate of 63.2 per cent.
In terms of serving the ball short and on the deck, Andre Wisdom was easily the most prolific player on the park. Just two per cent of the youngster's 50 passes went long.
Conversely, Stoke's defenders chose the long-ball route much more frequently. Ryan Shawcross played 50 per cent of his passes long, Marc Wilson 24, Geoff Cameron 19 and Robert Huth 28.6.
In total, 95.5 per cent of Asmir Begovic's passes were sent high up the field, while Pepe Reina mixed things up at the other end by playing 50 per cent of his short.
Gerrard touched the ball more times than any player on the park (104 times). N'Zonzi was an influential figure in the Stoke midfield. He took 46 touches and played 36 passes (more than any other Stoke player).
Defence
Nuri Sahin was alert and diligent when it came to breaking up Stoke's play; the Turkey international swooped to make five interceptions while for the opposition, Wilson made four and in all, both sides made 17 interceptions each.
As mentioned previously, N'Zonzi stamped his authority on the game from the central position. He made five tackles, won 64.3 per cent of his duels and 50 per cent of his aerial battles.
On Liverpool's right, Raheem Sterling was embroiled in a battle for possession with his marker Geoff Cameron among others and the statistics show how the young winger emerged on top in the running battle.
The 17-year-old threw himself into four challenges and won every time. Gerrard recorded the exact same statistics when it came to tackling.
Both defences were forced to make exactly 29 clearances. Between them, the Stoke back-four attempted 14 tackles and won a solid 10 of them.
Wisdom followed up his full league debut against Norwich with a comfortable first home league outing on Sunday and for the second week running, the 18-year-old had more touches of the ball than any other Reds defender.
Attack
Wisdom and Allen were the only Liverpool players, of those who played the full 90 minutes, to not try their luck at goal.
Skrtel, Daniel Agger and Glen Johnson each sent two efforts at Begovic's goal and in the 23 minutes he spent on the pitch after returning from a hamstring injury, Joe Cole registered two goalscoring attempts.
Former Red Charlie Adam tried his luck three times and two of those strikes came from inside Reina's penalty area.
Luis Suarez had four efforts on goal, all from inside the box while at the other end, Peter Crouch and Jonathan Walters failed to muster a shot on goal between them.