Liverpool COLLAPSE linked back to one controversial agreement | OneFootball

The Luis Diaz sale

Liverpool decided to sell Luis Diaz to Bayern Munich in the summer once it became clear he wouldn't renew his contract. That was controversial in of itself - Diaz was vital to the team last season.

But it was even more controversial when Liverpool agreed not to replace the Colombian. They instead promoted Rio Ngumoha to their first-team squad.

That looks like a strange decision at this point given Arne Slot has barely used the youngster. It's felt instead as though Liverpool are simply down one key player on last season.

It's shown up in the stats, too. Everyone has heard Slot complain about an inability to break down a low block in this campaign and that's been the most common defence deployed against Liverpool.

New research by the Athletic shows some insight into that. They've highlighted that the Reds boast the greatest take-on success rate in the Premier League this season.

However, they're only actually eight for attempts and their success rate in the box has collapsed, dropping from 3.0 to 1.9 per 90. That's almost entirely down to Diaz - he had the second-most in the team last season with 0.8 per 90. That's simply disappeared from the squad.

The rest can be down to Mo Salah regressing a bit - though, again, that can be put down to him being the only attack actively looking to dribble in the box. The lack of it coming from the other side makes him an awful lot easier to defend.

That Diaz sale always looked debatable given Liverpool didn't replace him. Now, though, it's at the centre of the team's collapse against a low block and increasingly looks like the wrong move.