With Liverpool officially halfway through their Premier League fixture list, we look at how this campaign compares to Jurgen Klopp’s latest and greatest.It doesn’t take complicated statistics to say that Liverpool are better than last season. The Reds have scored more goals, conceded fewer goals and won more games.
Football can be simple sometimes.Five more Liverpool goals in the league, nine fewer goals conceded and 13 points means Liverpool have climbed from ninth to first in the league after 19 games. Of course, football is not linear. But if you double Liverpool’s stats and predict what the Reds’ final score will be, they would be on the verge of winning the title. expected pointsLiverpool are expected to score 84 points in the league after scoring 78 goals and conceding 32 goals.
Compared to the Reds’ goal total last season, they would have finished 17 points better at the end of the season, having scored three goals and conceded 15 fewer goals. It’s unclear how life will play out and Liverpool are unlikely to end up with the same record. However, it will be interesting to see how the projected final results compare to previous years for other teams. For example, Liverpool are currently top of the table, but their projected points tally of 84 points was enough to put them in second place last season, five points behind Manchester City.To find the last team to score fewer than 84 points in the league, you only need to go back to Leicester in 2016 (81).
Before Leicester, Liverpool won by just 80 points in 2011. All this means that Liverpool will need to improve their performance even more if they are to win the Premier League this season. It’s something Klopp’s men have managed in recent seasons. Last season, the Reds had nine more points in the second half of the season than in the first half and four more points the previous year.
In the chart below you can see how Klopp’s side have improved over the past five seasons. If injuries don’t get in the way, we’ll see it happen again, but it will all depend on where the Premier League Cup finishes in May. Of course, the second biggest factor in all of this is the ability of the other teams. Manchester City can still play well, so can Arsenal. Liverpool still finished second in the first half of the 2018/19 season, scoring 51 points. The same thing happened in 2021/22 when Pep Guardiola led them to the title again with 44 points. If City drop three points at home, it means they are unlikely to win the league, even if it is unlikely.
According to Opta, Guardiola’s men are just two points worse than last season at this stage. Liverpool, meanwhile, have the third best points tally in the division with 13 points, but comparing the first 19 games of this season with the same period in 2022, West Ham (18) and Aston Villa (14) lead the way. . 2. 3. The Klopp comparison”In terms of intensity, they (Liverpool) are getting back to where I was as a player,” Burnley manager Vincent Kompany said recently.Even if it’s not there yet, depending on the form of the other teams, that level of excellence may not be needed this season. The Reds are two points worse off than they were in 2021/22 as they close in on a historic top-four finish.
Thiago took charge in the second half of the season and the signing of Luis Diaz in January bolstered the attack, resulting in the club’s best half of the season under Klopp. With Thiago likely to return from injury in 2024, fans will be hoping Liverpool progress despite Mo Salah and Wataru Endo, along with Andy Robertson, retiring from international football in January.
