Formed by Hammers supporters Jack Elderton and Callum Goodall to offer their fellow fans in-depth but accessible analysis of their team and its players, Analytics United use performance analysis and data to examine how the Reds’ visit to London Stadium could play out...
After winning their first top-flight title in 30 years, the UEFA Champions League, the FA Cup, and two Carabao Cups, the departure of legendary manager Jürgen Klopp was undoubtedly a significant event for Liverpool Football Club, but the impact on the team has been minimal. In fact, they might have gotten slightly better. New manager, Arne Slot, arrived in England off the back of a successful period as manager of Feyenoord and has so far lived up to his stellar reputation as a coach by leaning into many of the squad’s pre-existing strengths while bringing his own fresh ideas to get the best out of the group.
In comparison to previous seasons, Slot’s Liverpool side are more measured in the way that they use the ball. Unlike the hundred-mile-an-hour attacks the rest of the Premier League had become accustomed to during Klopp’s reign, Slot is more than happy for his team to slow the game down, bringing both full-backs into more conservative positions to retain the ball using the defensive line and a midfielder. This in turn allows the other two midfielders to push on and join the attacking trio, with Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold eventually creeping forward to help pen the opposition into the box. As a result, Liverpool are almost always at a numerical advantage in deep areas, and where Klopp’s side were only taking 25.7% of their touches in the defensive third, Slot’s team average 30.2%. This emphasises the increased focus Slot has on controlling games, happy to keep the ball in deeper areas with less intense focus on directness which is further reflected in their proportion of progressive passes falling to 7.7%, now the league’s seventh highest rate rather than the league-leading 8.65% rate under Klopp.
One of the key features of Slot’s attacking play thus far on Merseyside has been the increase in crosses as a central pillar of Liverpool’s chance creation. With Alexander-Arnold and Robertson featuring in the full-back positions, Liverpool have always been blessed with elite delivery into the box and their volume of crosses has actually decreased by 4.6 per 90 this season, from 21.5 to 16.9. However, the amount they rely on those crosses to gain entry to the box has increased significantly, with many of Liverpool’s attacking sequences resulting in a whipped ball in from the half space. Last season, only 15.8% of Liverpool’s entries into the opposition box came via crosses, whereas in the Slot era, that rate has increased to 21.43%. Predictably, cut-backs to the aforementioned Alexander-Arnold and overlaps from Robertson are often the source, but Cody Gakpo has also been imperious off the left when cutting inside to deliver in-swinging crosses on his right foot, already providing three assists this season.
Out of possession, Slot’s arrival has also brought a slight diversion from Liverpool’s well-renowned heavy metal gegenpressing approach in favour of increased structural security. While it would be wrong to describe Slot’s defensive set-up as passive, there has certainly been a downturn in pressing intensity indicated by the data. In Klopp’s final season, the Reds were the Premier League’s third-most intense pressers when isolating just the final third, allowing opponents on average just 37.49 touches per attempted tackle (TPAT). And if we expand our scope further, to include both the midfield and attacking thirds, Klopp’s team were the league’s second most intense, allowing just 32.77 touches before attempting a tackle. In comparison, Slot’s team are ranked as the sixth most intense, both when isolating the attacking third (44.91 TPAT) and also when including the midfield third (37.96 TPAT), indicating a clear shift away from being all-out pressers.
The Dutchman has most commonly set his team up in a 4-2-4 high-block without the ball, using his two strikers to block the opposition from accessing their midfield teammates and asking his wingers to tuck in, forcing the ball out to the channels and denying opponents central space. While providing an answer for the popular 3-2-5 shape, this set-up can leave lots of work for Liverpool’s midfielders to do, and the evolution of Ryan Gravenberch in a more defensive role has finally filled the Fabinho shaped hole that has lingered in their midfield since the Brazilian’s decline and departure. While his in-possession contributions might be more eye-catching, Gravenberch has covered the space between midfield and attacking lines impressively, and compared to Premier League midfielders this season he’s ranked among the top 25% of ground duellers (60.7% success rate), top 3% of aerial duellers (88.2% success rate) and is one of the league-leading midfield interceptors (2.1 per 90, 97th percentile).
Although collectively Liverpool are strong aerial and ground duellers, no team is perfect and there are certainly some weaknesses to be exploited when attacking them. At the team-level, Liverpool seem to proportionally struggle against carriers in the final third, ranking as the ninth worst performers in the league for opposition carries into the 18-yard box. This highlights the importance of Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus in helping to achieve a positive result, with the latter in the 99th percentile for successful take-ons this season. Looking at individuals, we’ve praised both Robertson and Alexander-Arnold for their upsides going forward, but both are guilty of poor aerial duelling numbers, recording win-rates that place them in the bottom 40% of Premier League defenders (42.9% and 22.2% respectively), making them potential targets for Niclas Füllkrug to roll onto from crosses.
With Liverpool racing away at the top of the Premier League, this is one of the most difficult assignments of the season, but with a couple of crucial battles that could lean in West Ham’s favour with the right performances from key players, there is every chance that Julen Lopetegui’s side could secure an incredible win that could kickstart a positive second half of the season after a much-improved recent run of form that has grown confidence and built a platform for future success.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Analytics United and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of West Ham United.
