Jurgen Klopp’s criticism of his Liverpool players v Fulham was backed up by one awful stat. The Reds have rarely played worse.
The 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage was not one Liverpool will want to repeat this season. The Reds never properly got going, struggling badly to establish any control on their newly-promoted opponents.
Jurgen Klopp was highly critical of his team after the game in every interview he did. This, plainly, was not the performance he expected – especially after beating Manchester City 3-1 last Sunday.
“We are used to more dominance and we never could get that because we just played not good enough, not quick enough, not precise enough, all these kind of things,” he told Liverpoolfc.com.
Now, anyone watching the game knows exactly what Klopp is talking about there. Liverpool rarely got the better of Fulham’s pressing and couldn’t play through them properly.
And anyone who needs confirmation of that need only look at the game’s statistics.
Worrying Liverpool stat v Fulham
Liverpool finished that game with a pass completion of 78.2%, per FBref. For some teams, that’s par for the course but not the Reds. For them, that is very, very bad.
Klopp saw his team register a lower percentage just once last season – 74.4% away at Chelsea. That game also finished 2-2 but it came against the reigning European champions, rather than the reigning Championship champions.
Pass completion is actually a fine way of looking at how well Liverpool are doing, too. Their four lowest completion rates last season all resulted in dropped points, with three draws and a defeat (1-0 at Leicester City).
But it’s also worth noting that these four games were against Chelsea, Leicester, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City. In other words, four of the league’s best teams over the last few years. Not a newly-promoted side.
No wonder, then, that Klopp was so frustrated after the game, saying it was a 12/10 on the frustration scale. It was one where he threw on James Milner just to try and establish some control on the game as the XI that beat City last week couldn’t do it.
Fulham seriously rattled this Liverpool team, in other words, more than anyone has in some time.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
