Liverpool's 2024/25 Pre-Season: The Data

Who played and who did what

Liverpool concluded their pre-season match programme for 2024/25 on Sunday. The Reds’ pattern of goal scoring across the six games was reminiscent of the conclusion of A Day In The Life by The Beatles.

It built in a crescendo, from a blank against Preston, through one goal against Real Betis, two versus Arsenal, three past Manchester United and four handed to Sevilla, before a bump to earth shut out against Las Palmas. As an aside, a new series of Only Connect starts on BBC2 on Monday, but we needn’t worry about that now.

The clanging E chord of the final nil must have really echoed around an empty Anfield at the end of the game on Sunday evening. Here’s a look through Liverpool’s 2024/25 pre-season data.

The results don’t matter. The European champion Reds side that reconvened in the summer of 2019 lost to Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla and Napoli before then winning the English league title earlier (in terms of games played) than any side in history. Even so, in such a pivotal pre-season as this one, it doesn’t hurt to get a few wins on the board.

And while the underlying data totals aren’t of huge importance either, one thing stands out from the data for the five games following the behind-closed-doors opener against Preston: Big Chances.

Liverpool had no issues creating opportunities which Opta deemed reasonable to expect the player to score last season. Their average of 3.42 per game in 2023/24 has only been bettered four times by any club across the previous 13 Premier League campaigns. The dip to 2.4 in these five friendlies initially appears of mild concern, but all-but-one of the big chances occurred prior to the raft of substitutions which happened around the 65th minute of every game; focus on the starting XI time and the rate was a very healthy 3.0 per 90 minutes.

The tally of three conceded is very encouraging. The Reds allowed the joint-fifth fewest in the top flight last term, and allowing just seven fewer would’ve earned them the bronze medal. However, their total of 80 was exactly double what Arsenal permitted their opponents, with Manchester City, with 60, exactly half way in-between.

The best Jürgen Klopp sides allowed a shade over one per match but the Reds have been going at more than double that for two years now. Addressing this issue has to be one of Arne Slot’s most vital priorities.

There should have been more high quality chances conceded, in truth. Las Palmas’ Iván Gil air-kicked from six-yards out with the Kop End goal at his mercy, for instance. The Reds’ new possession-building style in the back four also invites pressure and will inevitably lead to big chances for opponents at times this season too.

The trend is very positive though. Let’s see who got the most minutes for Liverpool in pre-season this summer.

There probably isn’t too much to draw from this. It’s reasonable to assume that the team which started against Sevilla on Sunday lunchtime will largely be the side which gets 2024/25 underway at Portman Road next weekend. The fact five of that XI have a maximum of 74 pre-season minutes isn’t going to change that. Here are the attacking output numbers, with the players sorted by total shots and chances created.

The samples are too small to prove much of value, though it looks clear that Harvey Elliott, Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota are ready for the new campaign. Credit also goes to Ben Doak, who has the best per 90 rate for shots and creativity among players with more than one appearance; he may not immediately force his way into Slot’s team but he could have done little more to impress.

“I think we saw today in both games a lot of good things but I can make a big list also of things we have to improve, which is completely normal,” the Reds’ head coach said on Sunday evening (via the club website). “So it’s normal that we are far from perfect, but even being far from perfect we can score four, so that’s a good start,” Slot added, and that feels like a fair summary of Liverpool’s summer.

But, ultimately, the data from the pre-season matches should very quickly become irrelevant. It’s what happens in the Premier League campaign which is all that matters.

Never could be any other way.