Let’s start by taking a look at some of the key statistics from yesterday’s 0-4 defeat to Liverpool at The London Stadium.
Possession
The possession statistics from yesterday’s embarrassing defeat at the hands of The Reds almost echoed those of our heroic 1-0 Victory over Spurs last week, but the result was to be so much different. Last week our distinct lack of keep ball was contradicted by our good performance, but yesterday afternoon our 33.2 percent possession to Jurgen Klopp’s men’s 66.8 percent, just helped to paint the picture of another afternoon to forgot at The London Stadium. One main reason for our poor possession statistics was the absence of skipper Mark Noble and fellow midfield powerhouse Cheikhou Kouyate, but injuries or not, there is no doubt that our ability to keep the ball in home games has to improve next season.
Shots on and off target
If there was one stat that optimised The Reds dominant performance then the attempts on and off target was it. The five-time champions of Europe peppered Adrian constantly with 26 shots, 11 of which were on target to our less flattering 10 total shots with only three directly at Simon Mignolet in The Reds goal. Although our poor defensive display stole the headlines more, our attacking performance didn’t boast much either, as we lacked any real spark in the final third, making for an easy day for the Liverpool back four.
Corners and passing accuracy
Without a great deal of aerial threat in the side due to the continuing absence of Andy Carroll, we failed to pose any real threat in the air from our few corners against the Red half of Merseyside. While Jurgen Klopp’s men seemed to dominate in the air threatening regularly with their six corners, we couldn’t match them and could only make four. Despite having the less of the wide set pieces, we did manage to come close to levelling the game from one just before the break, as Andre Ayew hit the post twice after the ball somehow fell his way at the far post. One major downfall of our dismal home form this season has been our poor passing accuracy and yesterday was to be no different. We barely managed 70 percent passing accuracy; whereas the visitors boasted a passing accuracy of 86.6 percent. One thing is for sure, if we continue in the save in with regards passing, we may be in for more relegation worries next season.
Blocks and clearances
It had seemed that our recent upturn in defensive fortunes would be a long lasting thing, but the defence was as sure as hell back up to its old tricks against Jurgen Klopp’s men yesterday. The defensive stats fail to paint the picture of just how leaky our back three was yesterday, as either team managed one key block apiece or we managed to make 22 key clearances to The Reds 13. Many fans and critics considered our defence lucky to have only conceded four goals yesterday as Liverpool managed to strike the woodwork four times. Yesterdays whitewash also ended an impressive run of clean sheets and with it has surely ended Bilic’s experimentation with the three at the back system.