Sackable offence: Shock stat proves Liverpool’s decline under Arne Slot is serious | OneFootball

We all know things are going pretty badly for Liverpool this season, but if anything, it might actually be even worse than a lot of us thought.

Remarkably, new stats have emerged showing that Arne Slot’s side actually have the second worst defensive record of any team in Europe’s big five leagues since May.

Liverpool’s awful defensive record under Arne Slot

Just to reiterate, as the table below shows, only relegation strugglers Wolves have conceded more goals than Liverpool in all competitions for the last six months, showing that the Reds’ problems didn’t just start in the early stages of this season…

Liverpool’s awful defensive record

The image of the table is a bit small, so here is the top three again below just for extra clarity, because it really is a must-see…

Liverpool have top class players in their back line such as Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, and two top goalkeepers in the form of Alisson Becker and Giorgi Mamardashvili, so this really comes as a big surprise and surely shows that Slot’s coaching must be a big part of the problem.

Liverpool defensive stats are a concern, but also slightly misleading, says Reds expert

How big a concern is this for Liverpool? It’s undoubtedly far from ideal for such a big club, but Reds expert Liam Togher of Empire of the Kop spoke to CaughtOffside to offer his thoughts.

Togher believes that although this isn’t great by LFC, there is also some important context missing from just the raw numbers.

Virgil van Dijk reacts during Liverpool’s defeat to Man City (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

“That statistic is slightly misleading as 25% of the tally pertains to the four matches at the end of last season after Liverpool had already won the Premier League and there was an obvious (and understandable) drop-off,” Togher explained.

“However, to have shipped 27 goals in just 18 matches so far this term (1.5 per game) is clearly not befitting of a team with the status of reigning Premier League champions, and the defensive solidity that the Reds had for much of 2024/25 has evaporated.

“That’s down to a combination of basic individual mistakes, reduced cohesion in defence from the changes in personnel over the summer, the loss of midfield security when Ryan Gravenberch or Alexis Mac Allister were unavailable, and the loss of Alisson to injury and the presence that he brings (although that’s no slight on Giorgi Mamardashvili).”

How worried are you by this, Liverpool fans? Or is it just an unfortunate blip that can be fixed? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!