The Match, The Stat: Galatasaray 1-0 Liverpool
Liverpool lost the game to a very soft penalty and two starters to injury. Were there any positives from the Reds' latest defeat?
I’m going to try a different method of doing these articles. I used to do immediate post-match round-ups for The Tomkins Times but the site is downsizing so no longer will. This may become the same but different… shorter pieces that are ideally publshed immediately after every game. Except here; start how you don’t mean to go on.
Top Five Stats
Liverpool had six of the eight highest value non-penalty shots.
The Reds had six chances worth at least 0.15 xG, more than in any other game this season.
Ibrahima Konaté has committed as many defensive errors leading to shots in the last two games as in 2021/22 and 2023/24 (in league and Europe) combined
Florian Wirtz’s expected assists pass value is now 0.72 per 90 minutes in the Champions League compared with just 0.16 in the Premier League.
Liverpool have missed eight of their nine Opta-defined big chances in the last two matches but didn’t have one after the 49th minute here.
Match Review
Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Díaz, from right to left, stationed behind Diogo Jota. A potent, hard working quartet with established relationships. Their in-built knowledge of each other’s games garnered from so many shared experiences.
This was the front four when Liverpool had last played away in the Champions League. The only one of them in the starting XI in Turkey on Tuesday was at right-back.
Teams need to evolve. There is such a thing as too much change though. It’s hard to expect a front four of Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz, Cody Gakpo and Hugo Ekitike to have much of a connection. Granted, the latter trio started the first five games of the season together but at RAMS Park they were missing the man who should be their guiding light. The band leader.
That Salah has been far from that this season perhaps explains how Liverpool have got to this point. The singer is so out of tune that there’s not much the backing band can do about it.
Despite some slight disconnect in attack, errors at the back remained the most obvious issue for the Reds. As at Crystal Palace, avoidable mistakes were at the heart of the best chances Liverpool conceded.
The defence remains the biggest concern as this was not a toothless performance. Imagine the exact same game with the Galatasaray penalty removed (which isn’t a wild assumption given how soft it was). It feels like a fairly standard European away match for the Reds in this scenario, dominating possession while trying to generate chances against a massed defence.
It was, however, a match in which the eye test didn’t perfectly align with the data. Liverpool’s three big chances were two headers and a backheel by Ekitike, hardly opportunities that looked like nailed on goals in waiting. It continued the theme of the loss at Selhurst Park in that the best chances were not as clear-cut as the classification implies.
You can take a few positives if you squint. The wide men created three big chances between them. Wirtz played a wonderful line-splitting pass to Frimpong in the first half, then a lovely, lofted through-ball to Alexander Isak once he came on. The German’s passing is working in Europe in a way it isn’t quite in England.
Are there enough ticks to overpower the negatives? Probably not. A performance can be not as bad as you might have first thought while still not being good enough. That needs to change, which won’t be easy when the multiple line-up changes continue. Who’s up front on Saturday, Arne?
Source for graphics: Opta Analyst.
Think this maybe our transition season not last season as we all thought. Klopp’s players are gradually being squeezed out and Slot is trying to balance between the old regime and his new regime. Salah is missing Trent with the effect that nobody is passing to Salah but then again Salah doesn’t exactly come looking for the ball. There is nothing coming down the wings although we allegedly have 2 very fast full backs, consequently everything is going through the middle and once we lose possession we are in shit street as neither of our high pressing centre backs seem particularly quick nowadays when the ball is knocked over them into that vast chasm between them and Allison. Perhaps I should stick to subbuteo 🤔🤔
FWIW, I like a post-match analysis post alongside one about a longitudinal trend. Another string to your bow. Thanks Andrew.
It's been a difficult start to the season. It's hard to sugar coat it as the performances have often been poor. However, it's also silly to not have some perspective given the scale of change in the squad. Alex and Florian are world-class players and they will achieve the fitness levels that the EPL's intensity requires and rediscover their form. When they are "back", it'll have a knock-on effect to the rest of the squad.
After the next international break, hopefully Arne will start the "new-to-EPL" signings (Florian / Jeremie / Hugo) in the cup competitions and limit them to substitutes in the league. Give them time to adjust to the new country/league/club.