Fox in the Box? No, Too Slow
Successive goal-less defeats for Liverpool have highlighted a significant penalty box problem for the Reds.
It’s been a bad week for Liverpool. Far from the first in the last nine months.
If the defeat to Paris Saint-Germain was largely expected, the thumping at Manchester City hurt. Marc Guéhi could easily have spent this season with the Reds; he has beaten them five times in four different competitions instead. Thanks, mate.
The whole campaign has been rough for Liverpool when it comes to facing the Cityzens (a club so dislikeable they can’t even spell their own nickname correctly). Deflections, one-off City goal scorers who flatter to deceive, needless penalties and a couple of goals scored within seconds of the Reds’ own throw-ins. As poorly as Liverpool (mostly) played in the three encounters, the aggregate scoreline of 9-1 still feels a little harsh.
A lot of the metrics were reasonably even for the two teams across the 270 minutes. While some of this will be thanks to City happily containing Liverpool in the second half of their home games, most numbers don’t suggest Pep Guardiola’s side merited their six non-penalty goal advantage.
One issue that plagued these matches was also apparent in Paris. Liverpool averaged 2.9 penalty area touches for each of their shots in the box in the 2024/25 Premier League. Let’s call that baseline Arne Slot output. His side posted a figure of 3.6 at Anfield against City, 4.4 in the league meeting at the Etihad and 5.0 in last weekend’s drubbing. The one shot within their nine touches in the European champions’ 18-yard box obviously gave them a mark of 9.0 last time out.
Shots vary in value, these numbers needn’t matter in themselves. What will worry Slot are his three players who are proving particularly inefficient in the box.
