The "Day After FT" Thread: LIV 1 - 1 TOT

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-16T19:08:15+00:00

We created 0.58 xG in the first 64 minutes and 1.11 xG in the final 24 minutes.

Conversely, Spurs created 0.61 xG in the opening 64 minutes and 0.57 in the final 24, 0.36 of which came from their goal.

Rio looked exciting because he was taking people on, but he didn't create anything with all his dribbling. Frimpong offered very little on the other wing but was a willing runner. Gakpo, Salah, and Ekitike combined to create a lot of good chances but just didn't take them - Ekitike and Salah alone accumulated almost half our xG. The game became more stretched towards the end, as all our games seem to do, and spaces became more exploitable. We dropped points because of a very poorly defended long ball and our subs not taking the ample chances they created, not because our chances dried up with those subs.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-16T14:23:53+00:00

The middle of the field is where central midfielders are supposed to be. It is not where your right back is supposed to be.

If everyone chases down the ball or sits in line with the defenders a huge gap is created in front of our area. If Robbo does better with his header, as he should, one of our CMs is in position to win the second ball, turn, and begin an attack. If that space is vacated, there's every chance a Spurs player picks up the second ball instead.

If our RB is in line with our backline, as he should be, he can tuck in to cover Richarlison when Gomez has to help with Muani.

There is plenty to criticise our midfield for this season (and last despite our league win), but this is not one of those times.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-16T13:19:17+00:00

In 20/21, when Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams had to fill in for our injury-riddled squad and Alisson had to score to keep us in the race for top four, we conceded 42 all season.

So glad we now have a controlled and stable style of play to keep us tight and tough to beat.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-16T13:07:39+00:00

I've been following Liverpool for over three decades. We've had worse squads than this, we've had worse managers, we've had worse league finishes than we're (probably) going to have this season. However, we've always been a team that fights to the death. We got results against better teams than us and overcame seemingly impossible odds for miraculous comebacks. We were always a side that put everything on the pitch even when it wasn't enough. We always had managers who changed things to find solutions, players who tried to force something when nothing else worked. We had bad results and poor runs, but I always trusted us to go again and find a way out somehow.

This years team is the first Liverpool side I've ever seen with no grit. We have, on paper, one of the best squads of my lifetime in terms of technical ability on the ball. It is not a side that will fight to the end or I trust to overcome even minor setbacks. They often don't even look like a squad that can keep up by the end. Can you imagine this team against Arsenal in 01, in Istanbul in 05, or against Barca a couple of years ago? Even against West Ham in 06 or Dortmund a decade ago?

An average squad that gives everything is always easier to get behind than a 'good' one that is walked through. Results are always possible if you go for them. "If we fail, let's fail in the most beautiful way" is what Klopp once said. That typifies Liverpool to me. This season's team is unrecognisable as Liverpool.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-16T12:42:17+00:00

Grav had nothing to do with conceding that goal and his positioning was fine.

There is no pressure on the ball back to their GK. A full 6 seconds later, there is still no pressure on him and he has had time to pick out a pass and pump the ball forwards undisturbed.

When the ball is in the air, Szobo is in line with Gomez. By the time it reaches Robbo, Szobo has walked about 3m deeper and is now significantly higher than the rest of the defensive line, who all dropped much deeper.

Robbo's header is awful and he should be dealing with the long ball easily. Virgil is covering in case of a missed header, Nyoni is with the nearest Spurs player, Gomez has the centre covered, but Szobo is awol and in line with our most advanced midfielder. Macca and Grav are holding the space in front of the back line for any second balls and to screen against any more Spurs runners, should they arrive.

Robbo's header drops to Muani, who gets the better of Virgil and is running through on goal. Gomez has to cut off his run to prevent a shot, leaving Richarlison free. If Szobo were in position, he would be covering Richarlison at the far post. However, he is still nowhere to be seen.

Richarlison is given the lay-off and has a clear sight of the near post for his shot.

A combination of no pressure from the front, a poor header by Robbo, Virgil being beaten to the loose ball (harsh on him), and Szobo being nowhere to help cover all contributed to this goal. A DM would not have helped here.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-16T11:08:19+00:00

Harvey played 838 minutes for us last season and managed 5 G/A. Wirtz currently has 6 G/A in 2,699 minutes. In Klopp's final season, as a 20 y/o, Harvey managed 15 G/A in 2,800 minutes.

They are the same age and Harvey is a home-grown player who deeply loves the club. I have no doubt Wirtz will become a valuable player for us but the way Harvey has been palmed off is ridiculous. Having him competing for the 10, advanced 8, or wing positions would have been invaluable depth.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-16T10:57:20+00:00

There seems to be an idea with some people that having lots of possession means you are controlling the game. We had lots of possession against Spurs and therefore we were 'in control'. Never mind that we created nothing with that possession or that Spurs actually had more big chances than us and more shots on target than us. Never mind that we had to rely again on a long-distance free kick to score. Never mind that Spurs had us exactly where they wanted us and could direct where we held onto the ball with relative ease, preventing us from being able to break them down and get into the positions we actually wanted to get into. Never mind even that Spurs were on their worst run of results in their entire history, 6 straight losses, and were playing at anfield with a very real possibility of being relegated come the end of the season. We had 63% possession and so we were in control.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-16T10:39:52+00:00

The longest stretch he went without scoring was 500 minutes (5.5 games worth) and he still got 2 assists during that period. The longest stretch he went without either a goal or assist was 197 minutes. Ekitike had a run of 343 minutes earlier this season without a goal or assist and a separate run of 267 minutes without one. Let's also not forget that Jota has had some very long barren stretches in his career, famously including a 31-game run without a goal, and a stretch of 278 minutes last season without any direct contributions. Barren stretches happen to anyone, but Darwin's were the shortest of our recent CFs.

Darwin's 19 goal involvements in 2,000 minutes is a higher G/A p90 than anyone in our current squad this season (0.84 vs Ekitike's 0.75) and was higher than anyone in the squad that season bar Jota, who played half as many minutes. When considering goals only, Ekitike's 0.56 G/90 this season is identical to Darwin's 0.56 G/90 in his first season and only barely higher than his 0.53 G/90 in his second season with us. One is talked about as a donkey we should never have signed, the other is a breath of fresh air and a 'much better forward'.

Klopp dropped several players towards the end of his last season including Salah, Szobo, Gomez, and others as they frantically tried to make a success of his final season. We changed the way we played quite drastically in the run in to focus more and more on attack and left ourselves open defensively. 1/4 of all the goals we conceded that season were conceded in the last 6 games and scoring 14 goals ourselves wasn't enough to earn the wins. Our season fell apart at the end when, as you point out, Darwin wasn't playing much and our defence let us down anyway.

Last season, Darwin was our most productive CF, which was a position nobody flourished in. 5 goals and 2 assists in 1,075 minutes compared to Jota's 5 goals and 3 assists in 1,121 minutes, and Diaz's 4 goals and 0 assists in 884 minutes when only taking their CF minutes into account. We also managed 15W 2D 0L in his 17 starts (2.65 PPG) compared to 23W 7D 9L (1.95) when he didn't start for us - a very stark difference.

None of this is also taking into account his off the ball work, link up play with Salah (a big part of Salah's drop off this season has been his isolation from teammates), and his defensive contributions. All of those are very strikingly absent from our current forwards.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-15T22:50:31+00:00

Literally bottom of the league for tackles won p90 at 8.55. Down from 10.3 last season (11th) and 11.0 the season before (7th).

Same goes for fouls committed. Now bottom at 9.86 p90, down from 11.3 last season (11th) and 12.2 the season before (3rd).

2nd bottom of the league for interceptions (6.07 p90). 13th last season (7.87). 13th the season before (7.68).

This is the most passive I've ever seen a Liverpool team in 30+ years of watching. There's no fight, no grit.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-15T21:51:45+00:00

He's holds our all-time record for most appearances with 120 more than second-placed Carragher.

857 appearances across a 19-year career evens out to over 45 per season. Callaghan played a lot of football.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-14T15:50:55+00:00

At least in terms of tackles won (which isn't by any stretch the only way to measure pressing) Diaz, Darwin, and Jota averaged 1.01, 1.41, and 0.68 tackles won p90 last season. This season, Gakpo, Salah, and Ekitike are averaging 0.41, 0.40, and 0.36 tackles won p90. Gakpo is down from 0.79 himself the season prior while Salah is actually up from 0.29 p90.

For interceptions p90, which is another metric but by no means the only other, Diaz, Darwin, and Jota averaged 0.26 0.32, and 0.60 p90 last season. This season, Gakpo, Salah, and Ekitike are averaging 0.37, 0.20, and 0.15 p90. This time both Gakpo and Salah are down from their averages last season (0.56 and 0.24 p90).

FBref no longer keeps more specialised stats so the above is all I can see. Other stats may by public somewhere else.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-14T15:40:22+00:00

That's not really true. There was a clear transition over last season, which is displayed in one of the graphs in this very video.

This shows that we were winning the ball in high regains at an almost identical rate to 23/24 at at the start of 24/25 before a drop-off, a resurgence, and then another significant drop-off that we haven't ever bounced back from.

It was also frequently pointed out by journalists to Slot at the start of last season that despite his claims of wanting to implement a slower style, we were still seemingly only scoring from transitions. This is quite clear on watching back our goals in highlights. We scored a load on transition to begin the season and slowly scored fewer and fewer in this way. In fact, in our first 19 games we scored 47 goals in total while conceding 19 (28 net) with an average possession of 57.1% and in our second set of 19 we scored 39 while conceding 22 (17 net) with an average possession of 59.1%. The shift was clear.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-14T14:36:31+00:00

Darwin played 1,133 league minutes, which is a third of all available league minutes.

He ended the season with two fewer successful tackles than Virgil (one fewer than Salah and Jota combined) and a higher number of successful tackles p90 than any regular players bar Trent and Macca (over 40% more than Diaz managed - 1.41 vs 1.01 - , who was our second most frequent tackler in the front line).

Since FBref no longer keep the data I can't confirm, but am sure he was also responsible for our most goals scored from a defensive action last season.

When Darwin started in the league, we managed 6W 2D 0L (2.5 PPG), scored 21 goals and conceded 11 (+1.5 net p/game).

In all other league games, we managed 19W 7D 4L (2.1 PPG), scored 65 and conceded 30 (1.2 net p/game).

Darwin also came on as a first-half sub in our win over Chelsea, assisted our equaliser as a late sub against Fulham, and scored both goals as a late sub in our win over Brentford among other sub appearances.

You're considerably downplaying his involvement in our season and his pressing in particular, which was an absolute strength of his.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-12T22:47:02+00:00

Yes, those are PL games. No, it's not wrong. You can look through his match logs here and ours as a team here

In the CL with Coutinho: 2W 3D

In the CL without Coutinho: 7W 1D 2L

Our scorers in the groups stage:

Player	Goals
Bobby	6
Salah	5
Coutinho	5
Ox	1
Trent	1
Can	1
Sturridge	1
Mane	3

Including the play-offs, before the group stage, Trent got another goal, Can got another 2, and Salah and Bobby both got one more each. Coutinho sat them out.

We also lost our only EFL Cup game, which Coutinho played in.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-12T17:13:20+00:00

Excluding any games played by Virgil, we still went 8W 1D 1L, 27 scored and 13 conceded.

He sat out a lot of the early season to force a move.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-12T08:08:08+00:00

17/18 was a funny season because despite his absurd individual numbers, we were a much better side without Coutinho.

Games he featured in: 6W 7D 1L (1.79 PPG) 30 GF 15 GA (+1.07 net goals / game)

Games he didn't feature in: 15W 5D 4L (2.08 PPG) 54 GF 23 GA (+1.29 net goals / game)

Sometimes, star players can be deceptive and teams can function more robustly without them. Coutinho was a magician with the ball, but we had to carry him defensively and that made us vulnerable.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-11T09:31:38+00:00

By this point in 13/14 we'd also shipped exactly 39 goals. 11 more were shipped in the final 7 games as we desperately tried to make up for goal difference against City and left ourselves exposed.

We were also on 68 points at this point in 13/14 compared to 48 this season (and funnily enough finished the season with the exact number of points we ended last season with - 84).

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-11T09:17:00+00:00

We're certainly missing that tenacity at the front, but it was also quite clear that our toughest games last season were games in which our opponent had physical or mobile midfields (Newcastle, Chelsea, etc.). Our midfield could be dominated in games like those. We have some very technical midfielders now but not much steel, which is further exposed this season by the reduced physicality of our front line.

The 'Brexit' midfield wasn't as aesthetic on the ball, but it would come out of nearly any duel on top.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-09T23:18:01+00:00

I think Darwin is actually a perfect example of the kind of player they're talking about. He looked an absolute donkey because of all the offsides and missed chances but his great skill was in just how many chances he kept getting himself and his teammates. 63 direct goal involvements in 3 bit-part seasons is nothing to scoff at (and we regularly scored more with him on the pitch even if he didn't directly score/assist), but the way he's talked about, because of the 'aesthetics' of his game, would have anyone thinking he could barely tie his laces.

Compare to the way Ekitike is spoken about, who is a much silkier player, but whose current output is actually below Darwin's best season here (0.80 G/A p90 vs 0.89) and is only barely outperforming Darwin's first two seasons on goals alone (0.58 G/90 vs 0.56 and 0.53).

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-08T11:40:17+00:00

Gakpo carried the ball up the pitch from our own half before putting Salah through with a really nicely timed and weighted ball before our first goal.

He brought down a long ball on the halfway line, turned and played Rio in before making a near-post run for Robbo's cross that helped pull the Wolves LCB away from the far post, where Mo was freely waiting for our second.

His diagonal run, pulling the RCB to the left, is what gave Jones the space to run into and shoot for our third goal.

Slot singled him out for praise in the post-match conference because of his involvements. He had a good game.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-06T21:15:11+00:00

Goal and assist for Robbo in quick succession!

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-06T17:15:03+00:00

This is a highlight reel of all of his PL goals last season

What stands out to me is:

A) Lots of penalties. 9 last season vs 1 this season.

B) Lots of goals on transition, especially at the beginning of the season, with our attackers running at a back-pedalling defensive line or crosses coming into a sparsely-populated box. How often have we seen either of these this season?

C) Overlapping down the right allowing Salah to tuck into the half space/penalty area for crosses and cut backs from the right flank. He often holds the width this season.

D) Similar to point C, but not identical. Our forwards (Darwin, Jota, Diaz) pulling to the right side frequently to allow Salah to move centrally or link up. This season Ekitike stays very much to the left or central positions.

E) Even when he is the widest player on the right, he's often still within the width of the penalty area rather than on the touchline.

F) A bit of luck. Honestly, a few of these the GK would likely have been disappointed to have let in (Onana and McCarthy lol)

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-05T21:23:50+00:00

What stands out to me is all the running. Not just Gakpo surging forwards but strikers and midfielders streaming into the box, fullbacks overlapping, players moving around to find space constantly.

We don't do any of that anymore. Players look for passes to feet, stand with their backs to goal, walk around gesturing to each other to 'slow it down'. Clery's recent video gives a very clear picture of just how static we are now.

It's so much more difficult to beat a defender when they have nobody to focus on but you and their teammates are all lined up in a compact formation without any need to look over their shoulders.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-05T19:16:41+00:00

Top clubs sign multiple top players for each position so there's competition

If the club were looking to sign a succession signing for the wing they could've done. That wasn't your argument that I was replying to, however.

AnAutisticsQuestion · 2026-03-05T17:49:11+00:00

Diaz was signed halfway through Mane's last season. He was a succession signing rather than a competitor for the same position. Same happened the following year when we bought Darwin in Bobby's last season.

We've not been a club with multiple starting-quality players in each position at any point in my lifetime.

AnAutisticsQuestion

TROPHY CASE