Liverpool Aren't Bringing Enough Danger to the Danger Zone
Arne Slot has made Liverpool cautious. You would too after three straight three-goal defeats. Has the shift come at too great an attacking cost?
It’s Danger Zone week on ABF. We’ll be looking at how Liverpool are faring in defence and attack when it comes to shots in the penalty area from the zone within the width of the six-yard box. We’re heading up front first.
Liverpool played well in their recent 0-0 draw at Arsenal. Better than most people thought they would, their own fans included.
One statistic that drew attention highlighted that the Reds didn’t have a shot on target. They last failed to test a goalkeeper in the Premier League in March 2010. As important as this metric is, would it have suddenly been a better attacking performance if someone had trundled a grass cutter effort from 30 yards out serenely into David Raya’s arms?
The greater issue - if anything can be damning when away to the likely champions - is that Liverpool didn’t have a shot in the danger zone, the centre of the penalty box. The gif at the top of the page shows their shots, represented by different colour arrows. Off Target (red), blocked (grey), on target (n/a), whatever; none of the chances were of great significance as they were not in the most valuable part of the pitch.
This issue somewhat came to a head in the 1-1 draw with Burnley too. The Reds struggled to create chances in the Clarets’ danger zone after the visitors equalised. There wasn’t a shot taken in that area in the final 42 minutes of the contest that was put on target.
Chances in the danger zone are not easy to assess, as nowhere shares the data. If not unheard of a concept, it’s not popular enough to appear neatly stacked on the likes of FBRef or WhoScored. But as Liverpool had 12 efforts in this area against Burnley, their second most of the league campaign, they deserve a little credit. There is a strange pattern to what happens when they have a lot of efforts from within the width of the six-yard box in the penalty area though.
