The Ballad of Federico Chiesa's Left Foot
Federico Chiesa is doing everything he can to earn more playing time for Liverpool. Something other than his two assists in midweek suggests he's ready.
Federico Chiesa picked up the first Player of the Match award of his Liverpool career in the Reds’ 2-1 win against Southampton. It was richly deserved.
The problem with assessing his time in England is that he has frequently faced lesser sides in cup competitions. Chiesa has over twice as many minutes against Accrington Stanley as against the Premier League big six. He has made five starts, completing just three games.
Much of what follows has to be viewed in that light. Equally, Fede has rarely had the opportunity to play with Liverpool’s top stars, scratching out performances as part of makeshift sides. Four of the five men with whom he has featured most often are no longer at the club, despite him joining a little over a year ago. For big six read Mohamed Salah, for Accrington Stanley read Harvey Elliott (sorry, Harv).
Fans haven’t included Chiesa when considering the options the club realistically has for their forward positions. Arne Slot’s general reluctance to use the Italian international has made that inevitable. With a match-deciding goal and two assists already this season, is it time for Liverpool to start using the 27-year-old more regularly?
Hugo Ekitike’s brainless red card combined with Alexander Isak’s inability to play a full 90 minutes means Chiesa is likely to get a run out at Selhurst Park on Saturday. His efforts against the Saints mean he deserves one regardless.
The former Juve man created four Opta-defined big chances on Tuesday night, an absurd level of creativity no matter the opponent. According to Michael Reid, Football Data Editor for OptaJoe, there have only been “21 instances of a Premier League player creating 4+ big chances in a game” in all competitions. Only Salah - naturally - had previously achieved this for Liverpool, doing so against Sparta Prague in 2024.
How many matches must top flight players have played in the 15-odd years that the big chance metric has existed? Never mind 99th percentile, what Chiesa did last time out must be in the 99.99th. As impressive as that is, another aspect of his performance against Southampton suggests he is fully fit and ready to cook at last.
It’s funny what you pick up when casually listening to post-match analysis. Former Liverpool players Jay Spearing and David Thompson were on duty for LFCTV in midweek. The younger of the pair gave some insight in to Chiesa, with whom he has trained as part of his role at the club.
“He’s funny. He said to us, when he starts shooting with his left foot and it’s on fire, that’s when he knows he’s fit,” Spearing said. “I know that’s a little bit of a bizarre thing, but he said it… Once he was finishing and he was shooting, he said, ‘when I know I’m fit is when my left foot’s cooking’. That was literally the sentence he said.”
It’s a bit obvious as tells go, Fede. His career statistics perhaps prove his point though. The Liverpool number 14 has scored 6.4 goals fewer than expected with his left foot across his league career, per Understat. His most productive campaign with his weaker peg was 2020/21, in which he used to it to score four league goals.
Chiesa was voted in the Serie A team of the year that season, winning the Coppa Italia too. He then won the European Championship with Italy, also taking a spot in the team of that tournament. It helped him earn his nations player of the year award, the Pallone Azzurro, for 2021. It seems he really does cook when his left foot is on point.
He used it to score a Carabao Cup final consolation goal. It is hard to believe Chiesa is so far below par on his weak side when you see how well he finished at Wembley.
Any player will naturally shoot with the foot on which the chance falls, of course. It is interesting that Chiesa fired off three with his left against the Saints in what was clearly his best performance for the Reds though. He used that foot when shooting in a win-clinching counter attack against Arsenal too, as well as when rattling the woodwork in his Premier League debut for the club.
Even if things of this nature can easily emerge when poring over a small body of work, Chiesa is Liverpool’s goal involvement king.
This type of involvement includes actions in build-up play as well as the far more recognised metrics of goals and assists. Notice how Chiesa has basically matched Salah for those while contributing to more sequences on top. He is pure output.
Josh Williams explained these strengths well in a recent mini episode of his podcast that focussed on Chiesa. “There’s no fluff attached to his game. No unnecessary dribbles, you know, galaxy brain stuff. He just does things that matter,” he said, later adding: “He’s just intense and a natural Liverpool forward for me.” We may soon learn if Slot feels the same way. With Chiesa’s left foot warming up in the kitchen and on the pitch, perhaps he should.
Keep an eye on Fede's left foot, folks!
Great stuff. Like you, I'm a believer in numbers, so I'm all aboard with the idea that Fede deserves more chances than perhaps he's been given. The problem, of course, is that our system under Arne (as it was under Jurgen) is that we depend on having wingers who can shoot with their "inside" foot and the person standing in that spot for us is one of the club's all-time greatest players. Howevah, if Fede can play comfortably off the left (as he was in that excellent assist for Hugo), I'd be find with him starting against Palace in place of Cody, who's hit a bit of a dry spell in not just production, but creation (crosses going to no one but defenders, etc.) My one hesitation on Fede has to do with the fabled "eye test" in the same way that did with Harvey. Harvey's numbers in terms of chance creation and passes were solid, too; sometimes even spectacular. But too often when it came to subbing in and providing output that turned things around, he just wasn't physically capable of doing so. In this most recent case, any casual glance at the action would show you Fede passing that "eye test" as he was clearly out best player on the field AND the numbers back that up. This is one of those "numbers are part of the answer, not all of the answer" moments. If he does get the start at Selhurst, I'm very eager to see what he can do.