Jurgen Klopp‘s Liverpool looked close to greatness last season but fell well short in the final two months, leaving Arne Slot plenty to work on for the new campaign.
While Liverpool showed they had improved drastically on the 2022/23 season, April and May’s shortcomings reminded fans that this squad is far from the finished product.
Slot still has plenty he can work on, and we had a look at some key statistics that could tell Liverpool where they can get better.
Challenges lost
Under Klopp, Liverpool became known for winning the ball back quickly and high up the pitch, a trait Slot would like to retain during his tenure.
His players, though, will have to improve on their performance last season if his tactics are to work, as the Reds lost more challenges than any other Premier League team.
According to FBref, they made 427 unsuccessful attempts to challenge a dribbling player. In comparison, Man City and Arsenal made the least unsuccessful challenges in the league, with 236 and 272 respectively.
Liverpool were, however, ranked fourth for the number of successful tackles on dribblers and were also impressive in how many passes they blocked.
They blocked 367 passes, more than anyone else in the division, while Man City ranked 19th in this respect, indicating a slightly different approach to pressing and defending.
Chances went begging
Liverpool weren’t great in front of goal last season. While they scored 86 goals, the third-most in the league, they should have had more if you look at the numbers.
The Reds had the highest number of expected goals across the season, with 87.8 compared to Man City‘s 80.5, but were worse at taking their chances than Pep Guardiola’s side.
This is clear when observing that Man City ended up scoring 96 to Liverpool’s 86.
Another statistic that showed Liverpool’s lack of efficiency is that they were ranked 15th for goals per shot (0.09 goals per shot). Arsenal and Man City both ranked in the top six in that regard.
Offside, again
It is not always the attacker’s fault when they are caught offside, but there were occasions last year when it became almost a running joke at Anfield how often Liverpool, and Darwin Nunez in particular, were being flagged.
The Reds were caught offside 100 times in the Premier League last season, more than any other team, and Nunez was off more than any other player, on 33 occasions.
Luis Diaz also became prone to mistiming his runs, as he was called offside 20 times, the joint-sixth most in the top flight.
Stop going behind!
Top teams are usually built on sturdy defences.
Liverpool weren’t terrible at the back across the 2023/24 campaign but were caught off guard far too often, particularly in the opening stages of games.
The Reds trailed in 18 Premier League matches last season and, while they earned 28 points from losing positions – more than any other team – it simply is not a sustainable practice.
When looking at the very basic stats, it is abundantly clear how Liverpool can begin to match Man City; last season the Reds managed 10 clean sheets.
Meanwhile, Man City managed 13 and Arsenal 18. Even Everton kept 13, three more than Liverpool!
Defending crosses
This isn’t a statistic that necessarily stands out as a weakness but it is something that Slot may want to change.
Last season, just 4.8 percent of all the crosses Liverpool faced were successfully stopped by the Reds’ goalkeeper – the third-lowest percentage in the division.
In comparison, Arsenal had the highest percentage, with their goalkeeper stopping 12.8 percent of all their crosses faced.
The instant conclusion to be drawn was that the Reds goalkeepers, usually Caoimhin Kelleher last season, were poor in the air at claiming crosses.
However, the reality is that Liverpool likely just approached the defence of crosses differently to Mikel Arteta’s team, with the Reds instead choosing to utilise their defensive height to get the ball clear.
With Virgil van Dijk marshalling the defence across the campaign, Liverpool won a higher percentage of aerial duels (56.9 percent) than anyone else.
In contrast, Arsenal were ranked 11th and relied more heavily on David Raya, in part due to William Saliba’s weakness in the air.
How’s your touch?
Liverpool’s players are technically brilliant, but there were occasions last season when Klopp and supporters would become exasperated as quality players seemed to lose their touch.
Meanwhile, Man City were superb, only miscontrolling the ball 441 times across their 38 league games, 133 times fewer than Liverpool.
The worst culprits for the Reds were Ryan Gravenberch and Diogo Jota, who miscontrolled the ball 3.68 times per 90 minutes and 3.31 times, respectively.
We need to see improvement there, this year.
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