Against Everton, we saw once again how wasteful Liverpool can be in front of goal, and these particular stats show how the pressure is getting to the players.
The Reds lost the Merseyside Derby 2-0, largely due to poor defending at set-pieces and being caught out by Everton early on.
Despite the two-goal defeat, Liverpool still created over two expected goals (xG), nearly double that of Everton.
In the first half, it was again the Reds’ finishing that let them down again – a consistent theme across the latter part of the season.
Liverpool’s inability to bury chances has flummoxed supporters, and it appears the pressure is getting to the forwards.
According to journalist Andrew Beasley‘s statistics, they have fallen well below the average when behind in games, but remain relatively standard when drawing or winning.
Opta say that non-penalty big chances are converted 39 percent of the time on average.
However, when Liverpool have been losing this season, they have only managed to convert three of 23 big chances, equating to 13 percent.
Spoke about this on a recent @DistanceCovered podcast.
Opta non-pen big chances are converted 39% of the time. When Liverpool have been losing this season, they've scored just three of 23, 13%.
They've been fine when drawing (39.1%) or ahead (40.8%). But not with more pressure. https://t.co/qLjPUOj5uR pic.twitter.com/MArZhg9JVC
— Andrew Beasley (@BassTunedToRed) April 25, 2024
This trend doesn’t continue when Liverpool have been drawing or leading, at 39.1 percent or 40.8 percent respectively.
Quite clearly this shows Jurgen Klopp‘s side miss more big chances when they are behind in matches – not ideal for a team who have conceded first 15 times this season in the league.
In fact, since Klopp announced he was leaving, Liverpool have the third lowest shot conversion rate in the division, according to journalist Duncan Alexander.
The manager has repeatedly apportioned some blame on Liverpool’s loss to Man United in the FA Cup, in which they missed countless opportunities only getting knocked out.
After the Everton match, he said: “It’s long ago but I blame a little bit the [Man] United game for it.
“[Having] that many chances and you play really good but you don’t get anything for it. That’s really bad. Since then, we create but we don’t score often enough and that doesn’t help.”
Whether the extra pressure to make Klopp’s farewell a special one has got to the players, we can’t say for definite.
However, we do know that strikers who don’t score goals when given the opportunity, likely won’t be favoured for very long under the new manager.
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