Jurgen Klopp‘s Liverpool appeared near greatness final season however fell effectively quick within the remaining two months, leaving Arne Slot a lot to work on for the brand new marketing campaign.
Whereas Liverpool confirmed that they had improved drastically on the 2022/23 season, April and Might’s shortcomings reminded followers that this squad is much from the completed product.
Slot nonetheless has a lot he can work on, and we had a take a look at some key statistics that would inform Liverpool the place they’ll get higher.
Challenges misplaced
Below Klopp, Liverpool turned identified for successful the ball again shortly and excessive up the pitch, a trait Slot want to retain throughout his tenure.
His gamers, although, should enhance on their efficiency final season if his ways are to work, because the Reds misplaced extra challenges than some other Premier League crew.
In accordance with FBref, they made 427 unsuccessful makes an attempt to problem a dribbling participant. As compared, Man Metropolis and Arsenal made the least unsuccessful challenges within the league, with 236 and 272 respectively.
Liverpool had been, nevertheless, ranked fourth for the variety of profitable tackles on dribblers and had been additionally spectacular in what number of passes they blocked.
They blocked 367 passes, greater than anybody else within the division, whereas Man Metropolis ranked nineteenth on this respect, indicating a barely totally different strategy to urgent and defending.
Possibilities went begging
Liverpool weren’t nice in entrance of aim final season. Whereas they scored 86 objectives, the third-most within the league, they need to have had extra for those who take a look at the numbers.
The Reds had the very best variety of anticipated objectives throughout the season, with 87.8 in comparison with Man Metropolis‘s 80.5, however had been worse at taking their possibilities than Pep Guardiola’s facet.
That is clear when observing that Man Metropolis ended up scoring 96 to Liverpool’s 86.
One other statistic that confirmed Liverpool’s lack of effectivity is that they had been ranked fifteenth for objectives per shot (0.09 objectives per shot). Arsenal and Man Metropolis each ranked within the prime six in that regard.
Offside, once more
It’s not all the time the attacker’s fault when they’re caught offside, however there have been events final 12 months when it turned nearly a working joke at Anfield how typically Liverpool, and Darwin Nunez specifically, had been being flagged.
The Reds had been caught offside 100 instances within the Premier League final season, greater than some other crew, and Nunez was off greater than some other participant, on 33 events.
Luis Diaz additionally turned liable to mistiming his runs, as he was known as offside 20 instances, the joint-sixth most within the prime flight.
Cease going behind!
Prime groups are often constructed on sturdy defences.
Liverpool weren’t horrible on the again throughout the 2023/24 marketing campaign however had been caught off guard far too typically, notably within the opening phases of video games.
The Reds trailed in 18 Premier League matches final season and, whereas they earned 28 factors from dropping positions – greater than some other crew – it merely isn’t a sustainable observe.
When trying on the very primary stats, it’s abundantly clear how Liverpool can start to match Man Metropolis; final season the Reds managed 10 clear sheets.
In the meantime, Man Metropolis managed 13 and Arsenal 18. Even Everton saved 13, three greater than Liverpool!
Defending crosses
This isn’t a statistic that essentially stands out as a weak spot however it’s one thing that Slot might need to change.
Final season, simply 4.8 p.c of all of the crosses Liverpool confronted had been efficiently stopped by the Reds’ goalkeeper – the third-lowest share within the division.
As compared, Arsenal had the very best share, with their goalkeeper stopping 12.8 p.c of all their crosses confronted.
The moment conclusion to be drawn was that the Reds goalkeepers, often Caoimhin Kelleher final season, had been poor within the air at claiming crosses.
Nevertheless, the truth is that Liverpool seemingly simply approached the defence of crosses in another way to Mikel Arteta’s crew, with the Reds as an alternative selecting to utilise their defensive peak to get the ball clear.
With Virgil van Dijk marshalling the defence throughout the marketing campaign, Liverpool gained a better share of aerial duels (56.9 p.c) than anybody else.
In distinction, Arsenal had been ranked eleventh and relied extra closely on David Raya, partially because of William Saliba’s weak spot within the air.
How’s your contact?
Liverpool’s gamers are technically sensible, however there have been events final season when Klopp and supporters would turn into exasperated as high quality gamers appeared to lose their contact.
In the meantime, Man Metropolis had been very good, solely miscontrolling the ball 441 instances throughout their 38 league video games, 133 instances fewer than Liverpool.
The worst culprits for the Reds had been Ryan Gravenberch and Diogo Jota, who miscontrolled the ball 3.68 instances per 90 minutes and three.31 instances, respectively.
We have to see enchancment there, this 12 months.
