If you had to make a list of the problems which have afflicted Liverpool in 2022/23, it would be lengthy. Jurgen Klopp has been deprived of at least five members of his squad (and an average of 6.6) for every game so far this season, for starters.
The Reds had to deal with the enormous psychological disappointment of missing out on an unprecedented quadruple, then immediately rebuild their attack with Darwin Nunez replacing Sadio Mane. The Uruguayan’s three game ban for a red card against Crystal Palace and erratic form in front of goal has not helped this process, neither has a complete lack of penalties in the Premier League.
Liverpool also had a significant problem with opposition teams playing through their midfield far too easily. While that has been solved to some extent by the trio of Thiago Alcantara, Stefan Bajcetic and Naby Keita, the Reds are now susceptible to set plays and crosses. Their recent massive upsurge in defensive mistakes has only made this worse.
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As unlucky as they might have been, Liverpool have conceded as many own goals in their last four league matches as they did in the preceding 267. To compound the issue, on both occasions they opened the scoring, with Ibrahima Konate putting Brentford on track for a win before Joel Matip did likewise at Wolves.
These might be the most obvious blunders but there is also a metric from Opta which tells a broadly similar tale. They record when a player makes a mistake which leads to a shot or goal as a defensive error and Liverpool’s figures from both ends of the pitch illustrate where they are falling short this season.
In each of the last five Premier League campaigns, the Reds’ opposition made more errors than they committed themselves, with an average margin of 11.4 per season. Yet in 2022/23, Liverpool have benefitted from nine in attack while making the same number at the back. While not wildly above their average of 16.2 defensive errors a year from 2017/18 to last season, it is one more than they made in total in 2021/22.
And as with own goals, they have been happening a lot more frequently in 2023. It’s almost as if the new year celebrations flicked a switch which unleashed a catalogue of mistakes. Klopp’s side made seven Opta-defined errors across the first 25 matches of the season in all competitions, with three leading to goals.
Two of them proved particularly costly; firstly, Virgil van Dijk failed to deal with a cross which enabled Leandro Trossard to score the final goal of a rollercoaster 3-3 draw with Brighton at Anfield. Four weeks later, an errant pass from Joe Gomez went to straight to Leeds United’s Rodrigo, and he scored in what became the Reds’ first home league defeat in front of fans for over five years.
There has then been seven errors in seven games this year, again with three goals the result. As with the own goals, Matip’s mistake in the league match at Brighton set Liverpool on the path to losing while conceding three. There have also been blunders costing goals by Konate for the third at Brentford and Alisson Becker in the home FA Cup draw against Wolves.
It won’t have escaped your attention that the mistakes have been shared around, with the issue spreading through the squad like a disease. Matip has made as many errors in the last two league games as he did in the five seasons prior to that, Gomez the same number in 2022/23 as across the preceding four campaigns. While not as severe, the likes of Thiago, Konate and Andy Robertson have all committed shot-costing errors more frequently than in years gone by too.
In all competitions, it’s Gomez (with four) and Matip (three) who have been the leading culprits for errors this term though. That the pair represent the only available senior centre-backs at present has to be a concern with a Merseyside derby on the horizon. But the way 2022/23 has gone for Liverpool, whoever plays Everton might make a costly defensive mistake as they have quickly become another negative theme of the season.
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