Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal: The Debrief

Arsenal go into Christmas at the top of the table

This is a shorter and less in depth version because it is Christmas, I hope to be able to have more time looking at this match at a later date after the holiday.

Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal: The Graphics

Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal: The Debrief

13 - Shots for Arsenal, tied for the second-fewest

0.71 - Expected goals for Arsenal, second lowest this season

1 - Big Chance in this match

For all of the defensive fragility from Liverpool coming into this match, they held strong keeping Arsenal quiet.

13 - Shots for Liverpool, tied for the third fewest this season

0.9 - Expected goals for Liverpool, tied for second lowest total this season.

1 - Big Chance for Liverpool

Arsenal returned the favor, limiting the previously high flying attack to one of their lowest totals of the season.

Liverpool made Arsenal play their game

74 - Long pass attempts for Arsenal, the 5th highest total that they have tried this season

16% - The percent of Arsenal’s passes that were long in this match, the highest percentage this season

34 - The number of long passes that Arsenal attempted in their defensive 40% of the pitch

83% - Arsenal’s passing percentage in their own half

98% - Arsenal’s passing efficiency in their own half compared to my expected passing model

12 - Sequences of 7 or more passes for Arsenal, their lowest total of the season.

87 - Attacking sequences for both teams, the most in an Arsenal match this season. The average before this was 64 sequences per team.

The pitch looked overwatered and incredibly slippery. Players were never sure of their footing with players on both teams losing their grip, the ball also seemed to be moving slower and not in the expected way for players.

This seemed to be exactly what Liverpool wanted (except that this seemed to potentially lead to two of their players going down injured) and with the pressure they applied, they got Arsenal playing the way that they wanted in this match.

Outside of the opening 10 minutes or so, it really felt like Liverpool was able to dictate the way that this game was played. Liverpool want the game to be more of a basketball game than a chess match, they are willing to give up potential breaks to generate their own and it did seem like they were able to bait Arsenal into giving them what they wanted.

Execution let’s Arsenal down again

24 - Touches in the box for Arsenal

36 - Touches within 25 yards of goal

13 - Shots generated from these locations

25 - Passes attempted into the box

9 - Passes completed into the box

9 - Open play crosses attempted

1 - Open play cross completed (Saka 0 for 5)

2 - Passes completed into the box by the front 3 (1 each for Saka and Martinelli)

8 - Times Arsenal lost possession within 35 yards of goal (Martinelli 3 times, Saka and Jesus 1 each)

In this match, Arsenal managed to get into dangerous positions several times but they failed to turn it into something positive over and over again. Watching this match back, it was incredibly frustrating to see how many times the front three got into a good position and made a poor decision, didn’t have the support for the passes they wanted to make, or just lost the ball trying to do too much.

Liverpool can probably say something similar and maybe this was just a day where the defenders just had the better of the attackers but it was still very frustrating to have the team get into good locations and then fail to execute.

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I have a lot more thoughts on this match but that is about all I have time for today. I hope everyone enjoys their holidays if they are celebrating.