It may sound strange, but the dream of Jürgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders is not necessarily to make Liverpool the best team in the world.
Instead, they simply want the Reds to be the hardest team to face, overwhelming their opponents with their aggression and intensity.
Some would say it’s one and the same, but the second goal speaks to the team’s identity better – an identity that was eroded last season.
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«Right now, they seem to be the easiest team to face,» Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher said of his former side following a 3-3 draw against Brighton in October (via TEAMtalk), and things don’t. markedly improved until April, when a tactical adjustment re-energized Liverpool but came too late to save Champions League football.
Looking back on the campaign back in May, Klopp spoke quite honestly about his unrecognizable side.
«There are a lot of games in the season, I think the teams are happy to face us now,» he said (via LFC), «and it’s really the worst that can happen to us. you. I hate these moments.»
The numbers illustrate what the manager was talking about. Liverpool actually have the third fewest shots in the league (366), with only the top two Arsenal (337) and Manchester City (291) doing better than their record, but it was still a defensive game. Absolutely nothing outstanding.
Liverpool have only the eighth best defensive record when it comes to expected goals (xG) head-to-head and, importantly, have the highest xG per shot (0.13) ratio of any team in the Premier League. Tournaments.
Essentially, this means that, while Liverpool have not provided their opponents with many exceptional opportunities, they have given up the highest chance. quality chances. The rewards for the teams that can beat the Reds are unmatched.
However, the biggest cause of the problem Klopp talks about is Liverpool’s inability to win duels – with a meager 47.5%, the former champions have the worst success rate. Tournaments.
It also allows for the third highest successful execution rate (48.9) and only tries to handle in 37.4% of these situations, ranking third from the bottom in the table.
The teams were able to pass the first and second presses easily because of the mismatch of the two sides. Liverpool do not seem equipped to deal with technical players but also have difficulty confronting opponents in terms of fitness, lack of energy, strength and speed.
As such, attackers can use four defenders, or the rest of it with full-backs on the field, with ease. Liverpool’s high defense, the hallmark of a high-risk, high-reward approach, relies on staunch defense, but it has been repeatedly exposed.
Often you will find that the attackers can equal or even outnumber the red shirts in these situations, allowing them to create clear finishing opportunities as if it were an attack and defense exercise. player in training. There was a lot of space created when Liverpool’s ballless structure disappeared.
The good news for Klopp is that last season is in the history books, and he can work from a clean vehicle.
He has found one player who can help remedy the situation in Alexis Mac Allister, who memorably weaved his way through the crowd of Liverpool players in the aforementioned draw to highlight the extent of the problems. of his new team.
Mac Allister was ranked among the Premier League’s top 15 midfielders (among those who played at least 1,000 minutes) in terms of contest success rate last season (57.1%), and beat every opponent of the Premier League. Liverpool with the exception of Thiago, who placed impressively fifth.
Interestingly, the man who is only one place behind Mac Allister with a rate of 56.7% is another potential signing is Southampton’s Roméo Lavia.
This gives us a clue as to why, as Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg reports, Klopp is a ‘big fan’ of the player.
Lavia may have to push hard for Liverpool to strike a deal, with the Red Devils now balking at the Saints’ $64m (£50m/€58m) bid (via Neil Jones/Empire of the Kop).
But if the Reds restore their identity and return to the top, then Klopp knows they just need to deal with the ‘worst thing’ of a dismal year.
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