There are many ways to create chances in football but some are inevitably more successful than others. Fans will roar when their team wins a corner yet only around three per cent of them result in a goal being scored.
Little more than one in every 100 crosses leads to a goal, but the conversion rate rises to around 11 per cent for chances created from such a delivery. Far more effective are through ball passes, though, as Liverpool know better than most.
On average, 25 per cent of opportunities fashioned via through balls find the back of the net. It makes sense they are more effective as they are defined as “a pass splitting the defence for a team-mate to run on to”; a player receiving one is almost certainly clean through on goal.
