The Stats Behind Slot’s LFC Slump

Arne Slot‘s Liverpool have now won just five of their last 17 games in the Premier League, which is a run worse than Roy Hodgson’s time in charge of the club.

Hodgson’s miserable reign as Liverpool manager is widely considered the club’s on-field nadir; a time in the Reds’ recent history that most would rather forget.

It is remarkable, then, that in their last 17 games in the Premier League – not an insignificant stretch – Slot’s side are producing worse form than the Hodgson era.

Last 17 games: Arne Slot vs. Roy Hodgson at Liverpool

Since their initial five-game winning streak at the start of the new campaign, Liverpool’s Premier League form reads:

Played: 17

Won: 5

Drawn: 6

Lost: 6

Win Rate: 29.4%

Hodgson’s record in his final 17 league games in charge of Liverpool was:

Played: 17

Won: 6

Drawn: 3

Lost: 8

Win Rate: 35.3%

And per Opta’s Michael Reid on X, the average of 1.24 points per game in the last 17 league fixtures is lower than Hodgson’s overall record of 1.25 points per game at Liverpool.

There is vital context to consider, not least that Slot’s Liverpool are currently fourth and won the league last season, while Hodgson was sacked after 31 games in charge with his team in 12th.

However this current Liverpool squad is considerably stronger than that of 2010/11 and were boosted by a spend of £446.2 million.

That is compared to the initial £25.5 million outlay of 15 years previous when the likes of Paul Konchesky, Christian Poulsen and Joe Cole arrived.

Hodgson managed 20 games in the Premier League and the Reds won just seven of those, losing nine – a shocking record.

But with Bournemouth (away), Newcastle (home) and Man City (home) to come in their next three games in the league, there is no guarantee that Slot’s Liverpool even record as many wins in this block of 20 fixtures.

Speaking after the game, Slot noted how Liverpool had “even for our standards more ball possession than we usually have” and “generated a lot of chances,” and stats from FotMob show that these are areas in which they have excelled.

Liverpool are dominating possession and chance creation charts

No team is averaging more possession than Liverpool (61.6%) in this season’s Premier League, nor has any team created more chances (263).

Liverpool had 73 percent possession to Burnley‘s 27, with 32 shots to seven and 11 on target to one.

The xG scoreline was 2.96-0.40, but the final score of 1-1 underlined how the Reds missed all three of their big chances.

Drawing with Burnley means Liverpool have failed to beat all three promoted teams at Anfield for the first time in the Premier League era – and the first time since 1980/81.

“Today was a game which I like to see,” Slot told reporters. “A team that had even for our standards more ball possession than we usually have, generating a lot of chances from that ball possession.

“And usually if you take a bit more risk that comes with the other team counter-attacking you a few times. We controlled that really well.

“But yeah, in football one team can have two chances and score one goal and another team can have multiple chances and score one goal as well, the you get the result we got today.”

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