It was another tough pill to swallow for scousers who saw their team smash the 90 point mark once again and still miss out on the title.
The 2021/22 season saw them rack up 92 points only to lose out on the title to Manchester City by one point. This is the second time they have lost the title to City in such a fashion, after they racked up 97 points in the 2018/19 season.
It was also their third time in five seasons racking up more than 90 points after 38 league games but only one has resulted in a Premier League title – the 99 points haul from the 2019/20 season.
This speaks to the quality of their opposition and many fans are wondering if they will be able to beat City to the title next season.
Here is a brief analysis of their chances ahead of the 2022/23 Premier League season.
Lack of goal scorers and assisters
Liverpool have a very talented attack who are delivering the goods. They scored 94 goals in total, with 54 of those goals coming from Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota. Those three are the only three who hit double figures for goals, with Salah notching 23 to win the golden boot, Mane hitting 16 and Jota scoring 15.
It becomes more worrisome when you think back to the fact that Liverpool were without Mane and Salah for more than a month due to the African Cup of Nations in January.
City, on the other hand, scored 99 goals with three players hitting double figures. However, it was the support that their three top goalscorers – Kevin De Bruyne (15), Raheem Sterling (13) and Riyad Mahrez (11) – had that made the difference.
Excluding the top scorers, City had five players who scored seven goals or more whereas Liverpool had only their top three scorers hit those numbers.
It is the same with the assist figures, as City had six players with five assists or more whereas Liverpool had only four players hit those figures and they included the usual suspects of Salah (13), Andrew Robertson (10) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (12), with Jordan Henderson who hit five assists.
If Jürgen Klopp, whose team is the most efficient team per 90 in the Premier League, can focus on getting everyone involved in the scoring and creating like Pep Guardiola does at City, he could have the most dangerous football team on his hands and finally win another Premier League title.
Midfield deficiency
Klopp has relied on his fullbacks to create and it has worked for him perfectly. One of Alexander-Arnold and Robertson has ended the past five seasons either in the top three of assists provided and in the top 5 of chances created, or in both statistics. Both fullbacks have also dominated the statistics at the same time.
Their midfield, however, remains a problem as there is little or no creativity coming from there every game. While Fabinho, Henderson, Thiago Alcantara and Naby Keita are quality players, the fact that they are outshined by their fullbacks in stats that are traditionally dominated by midfielders pose a problem.
This is where City just about edges Liverpool. They have very good attacking fullbacks but unlike the Reds, also have a solid midfield who can do more than just win the ball.
Klopp will need to work on this bit to edge out City, and Thiago can be a good start.
