Liverpool are soaring at the top of the Premier League but data shows that only TWO new stars from Arne Slot's side would feature in Jurgen Klopp's title-winning team of 2019-20 - THE SHARPE END
Share:
For those not from the red end of Merseyside, it’s easy to forget quite how dominant the Liverpool side were that won the Premier League title five seasons ago. A point shy of a century, won the league by 18 points. We look at this team under Arne Slot and think they have started well, flying high at the top of the table, but it’s nothing compared to the Liverpool of 2019-20.
![[It is easy to forget quite how dominant Jurgen Klopp's side that ended their wait for a title were]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/21/11/93378785-14216479-image-a-82_1734780994786.jpg)
After 15 games, they had won 14 and drawn one. Seven more points than this time around. And yet this new, different-looking Liverpool are favourites to win the title in Arne Slot’s first season, which would be a staggering achievement. So, how do they compare? Who edges who? And what makes them different?.
![[Liverpool ball recoveries: First 15 games of this season (left) v final 15 games of 2019-20 (right)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/21/11/93378899-14216479-image-a-85_1734781318813.jpg)
On first glance, there’s just a slip of paper between them. Almost identical number of shots per game at around 15.5 and similar on target at a smidge more than six. Arne Slot has his Liverpool side in a dominant position after a flying start to the new era at Anfield.
![[The Reds are keeping the ball better under Slot than in any of there seasons with Klopp according to the data]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/21/11/93378779-14216479-image-a-81_1734780992800.jpg)
It is easy to forget quite how dominant Jurgen Klopp's side that ended their wait for a title were. A few extra shots faced this term, 10 to eight, but the same Expected Goals (xG) conceded of one, so chances of a very similar quality and both with passing accuracies around 85 per cent.
![[Mohamed Salah has been in imperious form this season and has 13 goals to his name already]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/21/11/93378895-14216479-image-a-83_1734781187162.jpg)
Yet there are clear differences in styles and not in the ways we might have expected. Unsurprisingly, Jurgen Klopp’s side pressed higher. The title winners won the ball further up the pitch as heatmaps show. And yet it did not necessarily work as efficiently as the new bunch. Fewer of those turnovers of possession high up the pitch led to shots and goals than those made by the current bunch. Slot’s side are more controlled. They pick their moments.
![[Slot is doing much better at getting his star forward into more dangerous, goalscoring positions]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/21/11/93378897-14216479-image-a-84_1734781191878.jpg)
