Liverpool Have Got Their Balance Right

Just two seasons ago, the age profile of Liverpool's midfield was appalling. Sharp recruitment has seen a marked improvement.

A recent Sky Sports article contained some very interesting data on the age of defenders teams have used in the Premier League this season. The piece’s primary aim was to preview the key fixtures of match week 24.

As well as looking at Manchester City’s trip to Arsenal, a result few people would’ve predicted, there was a section on Bournemouth ahead of their clash with Liverpool. It highlighted the startling age profile of Andoni Iraola’s primary centre-backs, Dean Huijsen and Illia Zabarnyi.

Both are under 23, which is unusual for their position. The article reported that the Cherries had lost just one of 12 league games when the pair had started together, an impressive record for central defenders so young. The Reds went on to add another L to their shared results column, but the main interest from the Bournemouth section was the chart of centre-back minutes played by current age:

It immediately reminded me of a chart I made a couple of seasons back. At that time, the performance of Liverpool’s midfield was alarming, with opposing teams running through the side at will. If by any chance you weren’t following the Reds then, picture the City of this season to get an idea.

One of the major issues was that Jürgen Klopp couldn’t call on peak age midfielders in peak condition. Naby Keïta was fit enough to play just 293 league minutes in his age-27 season, at a time when the line of experience should cross over relative youth to generate a performance pinnacle.

Liverpool’s only other midfielder within the decade-wide window of being aged 21 to 31 was Fabinho. His issue was not one of fitness, it was of having played too much football. This indispensable chart from the end of 2021/22 helps illustrate the point.

With a tally just north of 37,000 career minutes in club football by the end of 2022/23, Fabinho was 29 years old. The reason he could no longer keep pace with opponents week after week was because that level of playing time is more in line with that of a 36-year-old. The Reds already had a James Milner at that age that season, they didn’t need another.

Looking into this led me to create the below midfield chart, similar to the one from Sky. It is harder to categorise players with the same positional certainty here though. A team might play two, three or even four centre-backs (if their manager is a tactical visionary like Tony Pulis or Pep Guardiola). The concept of a midfielder is far vaguer. To qualify for this chart, players had to have ‘MF’ listed first in the position column on FBRef.

The Premier League teams from 2022/23 are sorted by the proportion of their midfield minutes played by men who were between 22 and 28 at the start of the season. While that range was chosen at the time to illustrate the age gulf at Liverpool, it seems a reasonable frame for the years when a player is approaching their peak. You will find the Reds second bottom of the standings.

With Klopp and Jörg Schmadtke running things, Liverpool then rebuilt their midfield in the summer of 2023. As the most important section of most teams, it’s vital to get the balance right. Youth alone is not enough, but it’s worth a closer look at the figures.

Presenting the data more neatly makes it easier to see that having a midfield of decent age does not correlate with success. The positions of relegated Leicester versus the Premier League top two of City and Arsenal are the best examples to illustrate that.

A team is about more than its midfield, as crucial as it is. If we reproduce the above chart for 2022/23 with all players included, we find the Reds increased to having 48 per cent of their minutes played by men aged between 22 and 28.

The problem is that this proportion still left them second bottom among their Premier League peers, without too much talent heading up the pipeline from the younger bracket.

With Fabinho moving into the ‘29 plus’ group for 2023/24, Curtis Jones was set to be Liverpool’s only midfielder in the peak age zone. Enter Ryan Gravenberch (21), Dominik Szoboszlai (22) and Alexis Mac Allister (24), with Wataru Endō (30) taking a veteran spot with three team elders leaving the club.

With those changes, the Reds’ percentage of total minutes played by peak age players only rose by 6.6 points from the previous season. For midfield alone, it more than doubled, going past the team-wide figure in the process.

Even with their notable improvement, Liverpool were still fourth bottom in the division. Endō and Harvey Elliott were third and fourth for midfield minutes played last season, straddling the peak age range a decade apart.

With the club welcoming Arne Slot as Klopp’s successor last summer, transfer business was thin on the ground. Two footballers in the 22 to 28 age bracket were purchased, but Federico Chiesa has barely played more league minutes than out-on-loan goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Gravenberch has made a significant difference, both on the pitch and in the spreadsheets though. He has already played more league minutes than in the previous two campaigns combined, plus he has entered our peak zone as he is in his age-22 season.

An improved fitness record across the squad has also helped get the best players on the field more often. Endō has barely played when he featured heavily last term. The Japanese international has yet to compile as much as 90 minutes playing time in the 2024/25 Premier League.

These shifts have lifted Liverpool to eighth in the peak age minutes standings, with only 415 minutes going to played aged 21 or younger. An even more notable gain has occurred in midfield specifically.

This chart shows that the midfield battle in the forthcoming Carabao Cup final will be lively. It’s also clear in part why Nottingham Forest gave Liverpool a pair of very tough matches this season. At the bottom of the chart, you’d surely rather three quarters of the minutes went to youngsters rather than veterans, as differentiates Brighton from City.

There is rightly much consternation regarding the contract situation of a trio of top Liverpool players, all of whom could yet leave the club for free this summer. Whatever happens there, the Reds will still have Gravenberch, Mac Allister and Szoboszlai locked down until 2028.

Even the oldest of the three, the World Cup winning Argentine, will only be in his age-28 season come the final year of his current deal. Liverpool should remain at the top end of the peak age midfield minutes standings for a good while longer yet.