A slightly worrying goalscoring statistic has come to light, with Jurgen Klopp and Alisson both touching on the issue after drawing 0-0 against Man United.
Sunday’s draw at Anfield was the first time in 35 games that Liverpool have failed to score. In fact, the Reds have netted 36 times in 17 league games this season, the third highest total in the Premier League.
Despite this, Liverpool’s forwards are actually on somewhat of a barren run. As noted by Andrew Beasley on X, Jurgen Klopp‘s attackers have scored just once between them in the last five matches.
That sole strike came courtesy of Mo Salah against Crystal Palace. In the same period, Liverpool’s midfielders have managed four goals, and the defenders have three.
This all means that Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo are goalless since November 30, albeit with the latter mostly used as a substitute midfielder. Meanwhile, Darwin Nunez has failed to score in his last 10 appearances for the club.
Goalkeeper Alisson thought this was one of the “big areas to improve,” telling LFCTV that we were “shooting balls that we could have passed to a player in a better position.
“But this is part of the game, we have to learn from that as quick as possible as the season doesn’t give you too much time to improve.”
He emphasised the point, saying: “I think only Lucho (Diaz) had a really clear chance, and even that chance wasn’t clear.”
Klopp also bemoaned Liverpool’s attacking output, explaining: “Other situations when we finished, when we took the shot. I have to watch it back because, in the moment, my feeling was we have to take the overlap.
“You use the overlap or we have to use a player who would have probably been free in the centre.”
This would have suited Liverpool “because the way United defended was with a lot of passion,” the boss added.
“The way we played disorganised them quite frequently but, in the end, we didn’t see that because then they were deep in the box and then they just throw themselves into the balls and the shots.
“If a team defends like that, there’s always a free player because rather two than one wants to block the ball, so it means somebody else is probably free. We didn’t see that and that’s why we drew the game.”
The blame doesn’t lie completely with the forwards, of course. Nunez was often isolated when running onto the ball in channels, and Diaz is receiving the ball a long way from goal most of the time.
Even Salah was finding it tough to link play until Joe Gomez came on, with Dominik Szoboszlai previously suffering a torrid afternoon.
One of the many benefits Liverpool had from having Diogo Jota, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Salah all at the club, was that they didn’t all have to play well for the Reds to win.
Now, though, we are seeing what happens when none of the front three are fully firing. Hopefully, all it needs is a slight change or spark to reignite their goalscoring touch.
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