Arne Slot has voiced his ‘frustration’ at one ‘ridiculous’ statistical trend which has been prevalent during Liverpool’s miserable run of results over the past couple of months.
The Reds have now lost nine of their last 12 matches in all competitions, with the past week seeing them ship three-goal defeats at Anfield, leading some journalists to question whether the Dutchman’s job could come under threat if the losses continue to pile up.
The 47-year-old has said that he’s spoken to the LFC hierarchy since the 4-1 drubbing by PSV Eindhoven last night and has vowed to ‘fight on’ through his team’s miserable situation, with the underlying numbers perhaps suggesting that the Merseysiders have been more competitive than the results would indicate.
Slot bemoans Liverpool’s ‘ridiculous’ xG figures
At a press conference this afternoon, Slot has asked what he takes from Liverpool’s xG stats from their last two games, which have seen them exceed their opponents’ cumulative total but lose those matches by an aggregate score of 7-1.
The Reds boss replied (via Liverpool FC on YouTube): “Frustration. xG doesn’t always tell you the right story, because when do you get those chances? After you concede, you tend to be more open than when you’re 1-0 or 2-0 up.
“Against Real Madrid and Aston Villa we hardly conceded a chance, and that has happened in many more games when we were leading, but when you’re chasing a game you normally concede more [chances].
“We don’t reward ourselves for good phases of the game and that is best shown in our xG created, because it’s ridiculous. Normally you score more than your xG, but I didn’t need xG to know we missed loads of chances.”
How does Liverpool’s xG stack up across their nine defeats?
Many football fans detest hearing about xG, especially when the only statistic which truly counts is the number of goals scored and conceded, but it’s interesting nonetheless to examine the xG of Liverpool and their respective opponents from the nine matches that they’ve lost over the past two months.
| Fixture | Final score | Liverpool xG | Opponent xG |
| Crystal Palace (A) | 1-2 | 2.1 | 2.9 |
| Galatasaray (A) | 0-1 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Chelsea (A) | 1-2 | 1.9 | 1 |
| Man United (H) | 1-2 | 2.6 | 1.3 |
| Brentford (A) | 2-3 | 2.2 | 2.7 |
| Crystal Palace (H) | 0-3 | 0.6 | 1 |
| Man City (A) | 0-3 | 0.7 | 1.5 |
| Nottingham Forest (H) | 0-3 | 1.9 | 1.6 |
| PSV Eindhoven (H) | 1-4 | 2.3 | 2.2 |
| Total | 6-23 | 16 | 15.9 |
*Figures via FBref and Sofascore
It’s immediately apparent from compiling the figures that, although Liverpool have actually been the equals of their opponents across the nine matches combined in terms of xG, they’ve woefully underperformed in terms of the actual scoring and concession of goals.
They’ve actually ‘won’ four and ‘drawn’ one of those games on xG, with the Chelsea and Manchester United defeats being particularly galling in that regard, and it’s only in the two losses to Palace and the Man City mauling that they were comprehensively outplayed.
While Slot makes a fair point about his team being left more open when they go behind in matches and are left chasing a result, he’ll also know that the underlying stats count for little when the Reds have accumulated such a frightening collection of losses.
The head coach can’t legislate for glaring individual errors which lead to goals being conceded, but he can adapt his tactical approach to make Liverpool harder to beat structurally, and in the short-term he might be forced to compromise on his ideals if it’d help his side to get back to winning ways.
The xG comfort blanket can’t continue to cover over the cold, hard reality that the defending Premier League champions have lost as many games in the past two months as they did in the whole of last season.
You can watch Slot’s full post-PSV press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
Yes but arne, the club is obsessed with statistics and results. Please select the right players for the next games.
We are now on the worst run in 71 years, it’s relagation form, only wolves have a worse record than us. Some of the attacking football last night wasn’t that bad, but as usual the problems come when we lose the ball. I’ve never seen a Liverpool team so vulnerable to the counter attack, last night we didn’t play against a physical team, and we still couldn’t cope. Sometimes is going to give, you can’t carry on with this much longer. I can only see another defeat against west ham, and the longer FSG dithers, it’s going to do more damage to the football club. Slot reminds me of Brendan Rodgers, out of his depth.
Unable to organise a team without the ball and at set pieces, not an Elite coach. The hardest part of being at a big club is taking the game to the opposition and controlling games and being good at the back. It’s why Eric ten hag failed at United. Klopp was an Elite coach, slot is not. The lesson here for FSG is this, when you do find an Elite coach you make sure you keep them, they are very rare, you back them to the hilt. Who’s next after slot then ? Pick the wrong man again, and we will sink into oblivion.
Get that ReM some CBT vouchers.
Tedious, misery grooming.
Change the record, kidder.
“Relagation”.
Sure he’s not a MU or a Nev trying to drive young Reds fans to suicide ?
The record never changes. What a Muppet.