Here are Liverpool’s five best dribblers from the 2021/22 Premier League season. The Reds have signed a magician.
Liverpool have some fantastic dribblers in their squad right now – but you really should do when you have five forwards about the place. But who are the best at the club? We have a look at Statsbomb data on Fbref.com to see who performed the best in the 2021/22 season.
Liverpool’s best dribblers in the 2021/22 Premier League
5. Joel Matip
Let’s start with by far the most fun one – Joel Matip. That’s right, we’re putting a centre-back on the list.
But we kind of have to. Matip boasted the best success rate when dribbling past players this season, getting past his man 92.9% of the time. He tried it 14 times and succeeded 13 times.
It’s become a fantastic weapon in the Liverpool team right now. The Reds can move up the pitch with Matip, who will drive the ball into space whenever he sees it. And if that means having to dribble past an opponent, he’ll do so. Few centre-backs can offer that.
4. Diogo Jota
Diogo Jota has the second-lowest success rate in the Liverpool squad when dribbling past players (43%). So why’s he on the list?
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Well, it’s because even though he fails more often than not, Liverpool get chances when Jota dribbles the ball. The Reds created 12 shots as a result of him dribbling this season and while that seems incredibly low, it’s the 10th-most in the Premier League. A ‘created’ shot means Liverpool – be it Jota or not – have a shot on goal within two actions of that dribble.
Four of those shots became goals, too – the second-best in the league. He’s not consistent but Jota makes things happen as few can.
3. Mohamed Salah
A very similar story to Jota, this. Mohamed Salah actually has the lowest success rate in the Liverpool squad when dribbling past players (41.9%). Like Jota, though, Salah makes things happen when he runs with the ball.
Liverpool created 21 shots as a result of Salah’s dribbling. Only Alan Saint-Maximin created more in the Premier League (23) with one massive contrast – zero of the Newcastle United man’s dribbles resulted in goals.
Five of Salah’s did, however, which tops Jota to be the best in the Premier League.
And we also want to cut Salah some slack on that dribble percentage. The Egyptian faces more attention than anyone from game to game, often needing to dribble past multiple markers. It’s going to make things more difficult.
2. Sadio Mané
Sadio Mané successfully dribbled past a player 59.8% of the time last season and we think that’s incredible. We don’t think he faces quite the same amount of attention as Salah but he’s rarely one-on-one. To so comfortably be more successful than not is quite brilliant.
The only thing holding Mané back is that his dribbles aren’t quite as dangerous as others. Only five led to shots, which is a fine but unremarkable number. Still, Mané’s success is on an incredible level – which puts this next man into some perspective.
1. Luis Diaz
Luis Diaz was successful with 66.7% of his dribbles. That’s ‘only’ the 6th-best at Liverpool but the Colombian attempted 14 more dribbles than the five players above him combined.
And that doesn’t even come close to being the most incredible statistic here. For instance, Diaz dribbled past 34 players last season for the 4th-most at Liverpool. And he barely played a quarter of the available minutes.
Diaz’s entire combined minutes total 10.6 games. Despite that, he created more shots off his dribble than Jadon Sancho, Cristiano Ronaldo, James Maddison and twice as many as Mané did. That’s not more ‘per 90’ – it’s more in total across the season.
We’re incredibly confident that Diaz will explode next season. His numbers have always been impressive but his dribbling is on another level to everyone else. Get a full pre-season under his belt and Diaz will be one of the best around.
We’re certain.