Stat of the Match: Liverpool 3-0 Bournemouth
Three is the magic number for Liverpool as Arne Slot's side thrice deliver a type of goal creating action which often eluded the Reds under Jürgen Klopp.
For the second time in five days, Liverpool started a match poorly before scoring three times to win. There are worse habits to have.
There are also worse opponents to face than Bournemouth when looking to kick on in the Premier League. There are certainly inferior sides; between the first days of November and May last season, the Cherries amassed the fifth most points in the division.
Unlike Nottingham Forest, though, Andoni Iraola’s team play a high line in order to press aggressively. It leaves them invitingly open. Since going home with a 2-2 draw in 2017, Bournemouth have lost their last six visits to Anfield by an aggregate score of 23-2, with Liverpool only failing to score more than two goals once.
Kepa Arrizabalaga had an interesting day, as Kepa Arrizabalaga so often does. The Reds’ amassed 3.8 post-shot expected goals, so he could easily have been beaten more times. However, the deadlock would not have been broken when it was had he not gone walkabout.
The last team to test a goalkeeper so severely in the English top flight was also Liverpool, in their final match under Jürgen Klopp. From the 23rd minute in Milan through to the 88th on Saturday, the Reds amassed 24 shots on target, mostly from decent locations. Few teams will live with them if they keep up anything like this level of attacking potency.
The transition from Klopp to Arne Slot is proving to be fascinating. It was even addressed on Match Of The Day following the highlights from this match. Liverpool are playing a more measured game than they were yet still score the types of goals which were hallmarks of their play under their last manager.
The former is evidenced by their build up completion rate, which is their pass accuracy in the first two thirds of the field. Per Mark Stats, it has risen from 86.4 per cent in 2023/24 to 87.7 under Slot (and 90 in this match specifically). As small a rise as that may be, the Reds have greater control of their matches.
They still fly forward at pace, in a manner of which Klopp would approve. And, whisper it, they might be even more effective in this sense now too.
Luis Díaz first did his best to prove a point recently made on here, namely that he struggles to convert chances once he has dribbled a long way with the ball. Two minutes after Antoine Semenyo missed what would prove to be Bournemouth’s highest value shot of the game - a rare big chance against Slot’s Liverpool at 0-0 - Díaz collected a pass from Andy Robertson on the left flank.
He drove into the box, dribbling past Julián Araujo and Illia Zabarnyi as he did so. Having done the hard work, the Colombian was unable to beat Kepa at his near post. Finding Darwin Núñez or Mohamed Salah would’ve been a better option, if harder than firing off a shot.
Across the preceding seven seasons, no Premier League side turned a higher proportion of their shot-creating take-ons into goal-creating ones (16.6 per cent). Liverpool this season? Thirteen mustered and none converted; the most in the top flight for zero reward.
The pay-off will come in due course. Slot’s men put their dribbling abilities to productive use in a slightly different sense on Saturday. Rather than taking players on, they carried the ball a reasonable distance before delivering a goal or assist.
Opta has a metric called carries, which is defined as “the player moving the ball five metres or more.” Diáz went at least that far on his way to scoring the opener, as did Núñez for the third. It was down to Trent Alexander-Arnold to deliver the lengthiest of the goal contributions, going from the halfway line to the edge of the penalty box while in possession to set up the second.
Liverpool had games like this last season. The home win over Chelsea saw both Diogo Jota and Conor Bradley carrying the ball into the box before scoring, with the latter also moving up field with it at his feet before assisting Dominik Szoboszlai. Less than three weeks later, Núñez and Salah scored following carries at Brentford.
There is the potential for more. With their efforts against Bournemouth, Alexander-Arnold, Darwin and Díaz equalled their 2023/24 totals for assists or goals from carries as appropriate, on one apiece. No player scored more times in the Eredivisie in this fashion last term than Yankuba Minteh, while Feyenoord’s Luka Ivanušec feel just one shy of joint-topping the assist standings. Slot knows how to get this brand of production out of the footballers under his charge.
The Cherries’ aggressive, open style might have helped in terms of leaving space in which to attack but three potent uses of carries carried Liverpool to three points. There should be more to come before May.
Excellent match summary. A quirky observation.
We're only a few games in but I'm noticing we seem to get more throw ins compared to Arsenal or Man City.
Is this an opposition tactic?