A mini-crisis?
It was a bit of a disaster of a summer for Liverpool in the end, as Manchester United exponentially improved themselves with the signings of Nemanja Matic and Romelu Lukaku, Chelsea brought in Alvaro Morata and Tiemoue Bakayoko and Manchester City brought in just about everyone. It almost felt like Liverpool were being left behind.
Mohamed Salah is proving to be a great signing thus far and the verdict is still out on Alex Oxlade Chamberlain since his move.
Much has been made about the side’s defensive frailties this season and with no improvements made in the back four or the goalkeeping department, Klopp has come under a bit of criticism of late.
It had to be said https://t.co/XK2fyx5Sm7
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) September 27, 2017
The common consensus is that Liverpool are good going forward and not so good at defending but maybe that’s not the case, maybe they’re not quite as good up front as we’d think. Or at least not recently.
On Wednesday night, Liverpool bombarded Spartak Moscow, but just couldn’t find the net. They had 16 shots against the Russian side, yet Philippe Coutinho’s 31st-minute goal was the only thing to hit the net for the Anfield side.
There’s a worrying statistic doing the rounds that shows how poor Liverpool have been at converting – Klopp’s team have scored just six times in their last six games, despite having 121 shots in those matches.
Liverpool have managed just 6 goals from 121 shots in their last 6 games, winning just 1 of these games (ESPN) #LFC
— The LFC Poll (@TheLFCPoll) September 26, 2017
Despite their attacking stars in the likes of Coutinho, Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, Klopp’s side have not been as clinical and generally as good going forward as you would like to think.
So, not all their problems lie defensively.
That’s a lot of shots, 20.6 per game yet they’ve only managed six goals despite them statistics. A tad worrying.
No Liverpool fan will deny that the side is struggling to keep goals out, they are conceding a lot, only two less than Crystal Palace in the Premier League, so it’s a bit of a cocktail of frustration as there are too many goals going in at one end and not the other.
You’d have to question some of the decisions made by players. Philippe Coutinho is the team’s most talented player, but since his return, he hasn’t been very efficient.
Yes, he scored last night, and it was a crucial goal too in the end, but you take a quick look at his shooting statistics.
(Image credit: Squawka)
In 156 Premier League minutes, the Brazilian has taken 12 shots, needless to say, that is a lot and has one goal against Leicester to show for it.
Liverpool sit fifth in the Premier League and could go top of their Champions League group with two wins against Maribor, but they still have a lot of work to do at both ends of the pitch if they want some much coveted silverware.
