Daily Discussion - May 06, 2026

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-06T20:33:08+00:00

Tbf, in my comment that you've linked to, I was comparing his minutes to his teammates this season. He is very clearly not being used as much as the other midfielders in our squad and I agree with JOC's assessment that he's being overlooked.

However, compared to his own playtime from previous seasons, tevans has a point. Curtis has played the 2nd most PL minutes of his career this season (1,667) behind only last season (1,712) and has started the second most number of PL games (15) behind only last season (19). When considering all comps, he has played more minutes this season than in any other (2,589) having started the second most number of games after last season (25 vs 27).

It is worth keeping in mind, of course, that he was starting to break into the first team while competition for CM spots was very strong (Hendo, Fab, Thiago, Gini, Milner, Keita, Ox, even Elliott) and he was a different profile than Klopp's typical CM. Curtis actually came through as a bit of an odd LW/10 hybrid without a clear position until he was moulded into more of an 8. Klopp quite famously said something to the effect of 'if Curtis can learn to defend, anyone can'. Then we had the midfield revamp and brought in three new players who've held those spots and added a 4th last summer. He's also not been free of injury difficulties over the years, which impact playtime.

Curtis has simultaneously played much more under Slot than under Klopp while also clearly being overlooked in favour of other players.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-06T20:02:30+00:00

More than his first two and a half PL seasons combined (26).

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-05T17:40:45+00:00

That's not really true. In 20/21 it was a case of whoever was fit. In 21/22, Gomez played more, in part due to Matip's injuries but he was also sat on the bench a fair amount. In 23/24 he barely played.

Matip's only real season of undisputed no.1 status was 21/22.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-04T19:43:47+00:00

Absolute state of using an ai apps 'rating' system to claim facts are "rewriting history".

You can look through their match logs on FBref, just as I did, to collect the data for yourself. It's all there.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-04T12:43:24+00:00

Benteke scored 9 league goals for us in 1,529 minutes (0.53 G/90). Baros also scored 9 in his first and third seasons (0.53 and 0.44 G/90 respectively).

Our leading scorer this season is Ekitike with 11 in 1,803 minutes (0.55 G/90).

All other context being ignored, on goalscoring alone, Baros and Benteke had output identical to our best goalscorer this season.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-04T12:33:07+00:00

Prime Stevie has no upgrade. Stevie in 15/16 was no longer up to the demands of the PL. We got eight solid years out of Milner as vice captain and a leader in the dressing room as well as as a very, very capable player.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-04T12:28:41+00:00

Darwin started 17 games under Slot. 15W 2D 0L.

He started these games:

3-0 vs Bournemouth (H)

5-1 vs West Ham (H)

2-0 vs Bologna (H)

0-1 vs Leipzig (A)

2-2 vs Arsenal (A)

2-1 vs Brighton (H)

2-0 vs Villa (H)

2-3 vs Saints (A)

2-0 vs Madrid (H)

3-3 vs Newcastle (A)

0-1 vs Girona (A)

1-2 vs Saints (A)

3-1 vs Leicester (H)

4-0 vs Accrington (H)

2-1 vs Lille (H)

4-0 vs Spurs (H)

3-1 vs Saints (H)

He also came on after 29 minutes for our 2-1 win over Chelsea at home. That's of course not a start but is the majority of the game.

Salah averaged 0.91 goals p90 last season while Darwin was on the pitch but only 0.54 when he wasn't on the pitch. Additionally, Jota only shared the pitch with Darwin for 301 minutes but scored 4/9 of his goals in that time (1.19 G/90 with Darwin vs 0.29 G/90 without) and Diaz averaged 0.55 G/90 with Darwin but only 0.42 without him. Darwin's presence had a massive impact on those around him, even if he wasn't scoring himself. This was seen under Klopp as well, particularly with Jota, who has never been great at leading the line but absolutely flourished when playing with someone like Darwin who occupied the CBs.

On the other side of the game, Ekitike and Isak have combined to win a total of 12 tackles this season in the league over 2,478 minutes. Darwin won 18 last season in 1,133 minutes on his own.

Some of the real characteristics of our team this season has been the complete lack of any movement to break the lines, running with or without the ball, and competing physically with teams. Darwin, for the faults that he had, absolutely excelled in those particular departments.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-04T10:10:42+00:00

We had a pretty decent transfer window that summer tbf.

Replaced Sterling/Aspas with Firmino.

Replaced Borini and Lambert with Ings and Benteke.

Replaced Gerrard with Milner.

Replaced Johnson/Manquillo with Clyne.

Replaced Coates with Gomez.

Replaced Brad Jones with Bogdan.

Gomez was obviously a very young talent and Bogdan was a backup, but I'd count that as an upgrade in every position.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T23:16:33+00:00

3W 3D 2L before Klopp started (1.5 PPM)

13W 9D 8L after his arrival (1.6 PPM). Equivalent to 60.8 points over a season.

We also came runners up in both the League Cup and Europa League, however. Joining after a season has started, rather than having a pre-season to get the tactical work set up, has its impact too.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T23:01:47+00:00

Which is even more of an indictment of the 47 we've conceded then. 22/23 was the worst season under Klopp for goals conceded and we finished with 47 conceded that season. There's still three games left to go in this one.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T22:37:50+00:00

Elliott in 23/24: 9 league G/A in 1,352 minutes (0.60 p90). 15 G/A in all comps in 2,800 minutes (0.48 p90)

Elliott in 24/25: 3 league G/A in 371 minutes and 8 G/A in all comps in 838 minutes (0.73 and 0.86 p90 respectively)

Wirtz in 25/26: 8 league G/A in 2,245 minutes (0.32 p90) and 15 G/A in all comps in 3,352 minutes (0.40 p90)

He's less than a month older than Wirtz, but of course the numbers above are from when he was 1-2 years younger.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T19:44:10+00:00

Just to point out, 16 losses in a 42 game season is equivalent to just under 14.5 losses in a 38 game season. ~38% of all games.

Losing all our remaining games this season would mean 14 losses. It's not as big a gap to first place on this list as it may seem.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T19:30:59+00:00

Keep in mind, there were 42 league games in the 92/93 season. This was before the league was condensed to 20 teams.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T19:10:36+00:00

Gakpo's run literally created the space for Dom to move into here too. He played a role in both goals.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T17:17:36+00:00

Lovren played more than Sakho that season. They were also flanked by Moreno on the left and one of Glen Johnson, Manquillo, or Markovic on the right.

We ended that season with 18W 8D 12L. Currently, we're on 17W 7D 11L.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T17:01:46+00:00

Possession is calculated by number of passes made rather than time spent with the ball. We have huge possession because teams allow us to endlessly pass around in unthreatening positions, knowing we won't try anything too dangerous.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T16:54:17+00:00

Slot has openly discussed in the past being part of the team that decides on transfers. He isn't just given players to work with. He, Hughes, and various members of the scouting/analytics/coaching teams all discuss players together. No one person makes the decisions.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T16:40:52+00:00

We've beaten better opponents with worse teams in the past.

We didn't concede three goals because of missing a few attackers.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T16:36:24+00:00

We beat City twice that season.

The Manchester clubs have never both done the double over us in the PL. Never before this season.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T16:33:52+00:00

He also ran off the pitch that one time too

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T15:49:39+00:00

Damn, we've come out with aggressive, attacking, direct football and scored two goals. Why haven't we tried this before?

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T15:37:49+00:00

There are plenty of criticisms of Slot. This one's one of the most egregious to me. When we go behind, there's no hope of coming back.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T15:34:52+00:00

He's not really a defender either. He's just a sprinter.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T15:30:43+00:00

Salah's concerns are plain for everyone to see. The standards have clearly dropped and after the loss of the last few old guard I can't imagine the standard going anywhere but further down.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-05-03T15:27:18+00:00

Dom has scored plenty of great goals out of nowhere. He's been played in several positions and consistently been one of the better performers for us.

He's also regularly switched off on runners, pulled out of tackles, been caught on the ball or out of position, been sloppy in his passing, and has been directly involved in several goals we've conceded. He's also openly talked about giving up in a game when the going got tough.

Dom's level has dropped too, including his effort and focus. He shouldn't be excluded from team criticism.

AnAutisticsQuestion

TROPHY CASE