Liverpool 2025/26: Born In An Offside Position
Alex Ferguson's old line about Pippo Inzaghi sadly applies to the Reds this season.
How do you know when a team’s attack isn’t working? This isn’t the start of a joke, as funny as it will be to rival supporters.
A good indication for a stuttering offence would be a high offside count. It’s indicative of players not being attuned to the same train of thought, with forwards also not paying enough attention to the opposition’s defensive line.
Liverpool lead the 2025/26 Premier League for offsides, with 49. Their rate per game of 2.33 isn’t horrendous by historical standards. Manchester City won the 2018/19 title with 2.58 offsides a match, while Jürgen Klopp’s final Reds posted 2.63 when in the championship running for most of the 2023/24 season.
The greater issue this term is that when Liverpool rack up offsides there seems to be no stopping them. Over zealous assistant referees, your honour? It might be a possibility if they didn’t tend to wait until an attack is concluded before flagging these days.
Whatever the cause, the Reds have been caught offside at least six times in four of their previous 12 league matches. No team has done this in more than five games in any completed Premier League campaign since 2014.
The worst individual performance was delivered by Mohamed Salah at Manchester City. He became the only player to be flagged offside four times in a Premier League match for any club so far this season. It is Cody Gakpo who has been the most frequent offender overall though.
These figures undermine the initial thought that the high offside count has been thanks to multiple new attackers. It is the old guard who have erred most of all, on both sides of the equation. Creating chances is about players combining which is also pertinent here. As with any metric, the pitch location is hugely relevant too.
Before we get to that, another point for concern. Liverpool’s offside rate was initially two per game but has risen to 2.8 since the team underwent it’s de-Salah-fication. The Reds’ more cautious style has made them worse for offsides, giving Arne Slot yet another stumbling block to overcome.
