by Injury, international competitions and even a kidnapping against Liverpool have worked to prevent their front three from starting more than nine Premier League games together this season, but Jürgen Klopp appears to be settled on a first-choice attack with the aim of ending his reign with his second title.
Before there was Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah, but things have changed amid a rebuild. Salah remains but his assistants are different; Luis Díaz and Darwin Núñez have settled in after arriving from Portugal, and have joined the Egyptian attack in the last three games. Salah brings coolness and consistency while the South American duo brings chaos and unpredictability.
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Salah has scored eight goals starting alongside Colombian Díaz and Uruguayan Núñez in the league but Manchester United came to Anfield and parked the bus before latching onto their penalty area to keep out the home side’s lead, getting as the only team to keep a clean sheet against Liverpool this season. United also eliminated Klopp’s side from the FA Cup last month, meaning revenge is on the agenda at Old Trafford on Sunday.
In their win over Brighton last Sunday, Liverpool had 30 shots – 12 of them by Salah – to show that their creativity is peaking at the right time. Another 29 shots were combined against Sheffield United, making it a useful point to come up against a side with a porous defence. Manchester United have faced the most shots in the league, 209, since the beginning of February in nine games and there will undoubtedly be plenty of chances available.
The form and fitness of others were factors for Klopp; Cody Gakpo has started just 12 league games, along with 15 substitute appearances, while Diogo Jota is out with a knee problem. The Portuguese averages a goal every 80 minutes this season and has been Liverpool’s most clinical forward, converting 31% of his shots, compared to Salah’s 25% success rate, dropping to 23% in the league, which equal to his highest scorer. , Erling Haaland.
Neither Núñez nor Díaz can compete with the efficiency of either team, resulting in 15% and 18% of chances across all competitions. The Uruguayan has 11 goals in the Premier League, making him the 11th top scorer in the competition before this weekend with Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood, who has a conversion rate of 46% and averages a goal every 82 minutes.
Liverpool have created the most “big chances”, where a player can reasonably be expected to score. The Reds are 79, four more than Manchester City and 17 ahead of Arsenal, who have managed two more goals. It’s a sign that Liverpool need to be more clinical but their prolific creativity is getting through the cracks.
It is a testament to Liverpool’s intelligence that so many chances are often played against teams that cut a low block, aided by their architects of chaos Núñez and Díaz. The former has 30 contributions this season, which shows his importance even if he doesn’t live up to what some might want from a No.9.
This latest incarnation of Klopp’s Liverpool is relentless – regardless of the situation, their effort is never in question. Against Sheffield United they had 83.1% possession, the highest since records began in the Premier League. He helped clear the Blades and earned two more goals later, taking his tally to 26 league goals in the last 15 minutes (plus stoppages) of games, 10 more than the second-best total. It’s hard to stop a team with so much possession and match the shots. Every team wants to score more but Liverpool are doing the business when the pressure is on to save a win.
In rugby union there are specialist “finishers” who come off the bench when the legs are tired to see things through. Liverpool’s use of substitutes is the same, resulting in 49 goals coming from substitutes. Even if the starters aren’t taking their chances, they’re often distracting opponents so their teammates can do damage late. For the third goal against Sheffield United two substitutes combined as Gakpo produced a clever run and header from Andy Robertson’s sublime cross.
As United proved again against Chelsea they are easy to open up, prone to errors and guilty of falling asleep at set pieces. They are unlikely to adopt the defensive style that worked so effectively at Anfield, but will instead step up, as Erik ten Hag likes to say, in an attempt to replicate their FA Cup quarter-final triumph in three weeks’ time. since then.
Klopp says he will enjoy the run-in regardless and there is plenty of pleasure to be had in what Liverpool are doing as they fight for the title, even if it could come with a bit of frustration. The eventual champions are likely to be settled by the best margin and Liverpool will not want to foul up the dropped points by not taking their chances.
