Liverpool’s own Kevin De Bruyne just did what entire Man City team combined managed at Arsenal - 90minsftball
Liverpool

Liverpool’s own Kevin De Bruyne just did what entire Man City team combined managed at Arsenal

Gary Neville says Liverpool are still in title race because of one ‘absolutely outstanding’ person
Written by admin

If it was not for a heavily deflected strike from Gabriel Martinelli in the 86th minute at the Emirates, the last five Premier League matches prior to the international break would all have been drawn. While there were some similarities among these games – four of them could reasonably have expected to end all-square based on expected goals – there were also some key differences.

This is best exhibited with a glance at the statistics from Liverpool’s 2-2 draw at Brighton and the big clash between Arsenal and Manchester City. You could double the total expected goals from the latter match (0.9, per FBRef) and still not get that close to the identical figure posted by both the Seagulls and the Reds (2.3 each).

In no small part thanks to having a penalty, Mohamed Salah had 1.4 xG at the Amex. This was not far short of the 1.8 Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest mustered in their goalless draw on Saturday, and more than last season’s Premier League top two produced in their drab clash. Dominik Szoboszlai also matched what City offered in one sense on Sunday and it’s something he has already delivered several times for Liverpool.

FBRef carries a metric called shot-creating actions (SCAs), which are defined as “the two offensive actions directly leading to a shot, such as passes, take-ons and drawing fouls”, with shots and defensive actions also included. Arsenal blogger Adam Rae Voge noted after his side’s victory over the defending champions that City had been credited with just seven SCAs on Sunday, adding it was “the first time since they started keeping SCA records (’17/18 season) that City have been credited with less than 10.” With Ederson responsible for one of them, it didn’t say much for the outfield’s output.

Earlier in the day on the south coast, both Darwin Núñez and Pascal Gross logged six shot-creating actions, with the latter effectively adding one for the Reds by giving away a penalty. It was Szoboszlai who topped the charts, though, by equaling City’s total of seven.

The Hungarian was involved in the moves for all three Opta-defined clear-cut chances that Liverpool had at Brighton, albeit his pass in the sequence for the equalizer was too far back to be recognized as an SCA. What was acknowledged were the foul he suffered to earn a penalty and the cross which Ryan Gravenberch should really have converted early in the second half. While nowhere near as valuable in expected goal terms, Szoboszlai played a role in the Reds’ next two best chances too.

Before we get to assessing his overall impact in the SCA field, consider that the former RB Leipzig man had already delivered seven against Bournemouth and Aston Villa, with the eight he posted against West Ham the joint-most by a Liverpool player this term.

To have reached this arbitrary mark four times so swiftly with a new club should not be underappreciated. Salah reached that level seven times last season, with Trent Alexander-Arnold next in line on five. Szoboszlai has already outdone the entire 2022/23 midfield on this front too, with Harvey Elliott reaching seven twice and Fabinho once. We’ve previously drawn comparisons between Szoboszlai and Kevin De Bruyne, and now it’s easy to see why.

Using the xG value of the shots Liverpool has taken in the league and Europe, we can see that Szoboszlai’s SCAs have contributed to 5.79 expected goals, second only to the 7.47 delivered by Salah. While any comparison with 2022/23 must acknowledge that this season is shaping up to be far better for Liverpool, 5.79 xG from SCAs would’ve ranked Szoboszlai 12th in the Liverpool squad across the whole of the previous campaign.

And with his shot-creating action rate per 90 a touch down on his average with RB Leipzig, further improvement from the 22-year-old looks likely. Let’s hope last weekend wasn’t the only occasion Szoboszlai matches Manchester City for this particular statistic.

 





0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x