Liverpool’s struggle to keep clean sheets this season has been exposed in the Premier League title race with Manchester City and Arsenal.
It’s a Premier League record Jurgen Klopp won’t be thinking about for long after he leaves Anfield for good in the next fortnight.
However, it helps to understand why his maturing Liverpool side was unable to stay up with Manchester City and Arsenal in the title race in the final few weeks.
The Reds have now gone nine league games without a clean sheet in the Premier League, after conceding two late goals in an exhilarating 4-2 win against Tottenham Hotspur this weekend. That is the longest such streak under Klopp, with Liverpool matching it in the final weeks of the 2015/16 season and the start of 2016/17.
This season, the Reds have recorded just nine top-flight shutouts. Compare this to City’s 11 and Arsenal’s staggering 17. And the importance of maintaining a clean sheet was shown over the last month: if Liverpool had preserved two more clean sheets at Manchester United and West Ham United, where they led, they would have been four points ahead and still in contention for the championship.
Given that Klopp’s side has only lost four league games this season, fewer than leaders Arsenal, such draws have proven costly.
With only two games remaining, Liverpool is set to have the fewest Premier League clean sheets in a single season under the departing manager. The previous fewest was 12 in 2016/17 and 2020/21, while the highest came in 2021/22, when they had 21 league shutouts.
Undoubtedly, the Reds have suffered as a result of the chopping and changing not only of their backline, but also of their goalkeeper and crucial defensive midfielder. First-choice full-backs Trent-Alexander Arnold and Andy Robertson, as well as deputies Conor Bradley and Kostas Tsimikas, have all been sidelined for extended periods of time; centre-back Joel Matip’s season was cut short in December; Ibrahima Konate has been plagued by hamstring issues on a regular basis; defensive midfielders Wataru Endo and Alexis MacAllister have both missed a month for various reasons; and goalkeeper Alisson Becker has been out for more than two months.
It helped to make last Sunday only the ninth time this season that Liverpool has named the same back five for consecutive Premier League games, with the Reds failing to keep the same defensive unit intact for three straight games. Arsenal, on the other hand, have had few defensive injuries, thus the combination of right-back Ben White and centre-backs Gabriel and William Saliba have not started a Premier League game together since December 2.
Clearly, consistency in selection is vital. And Liverpool will undoubtedly be careful of acquiring players with durability as they attempt to rearrange their team in the summer under new manager Arne Slot, with a new centre-back a priority if Matip leaves as a free agency.
While Caoimhin Kelleher was an excellent backup goalkeeper, with Liverpool losing only four of his 26 appearances in all competitions this season and taking 26 from 30 points in his ten Premier League appearances, Alisson’s absence was undeniable. He has preserved twice as many clean sheets than Kelleher, although playing the same number of games.
“The first six months for me were fantastic,” adds Alisson. “I was quite pleased with the manner I could play. But, of course, the last three months have been quite difficult for me, with the exception of the last three weeks when I resumed playing.
“The injuries was quite bad. Two months away for a muscle injury is a long time, but I had to set new goals, and the goal was to recover well and go back to my optimum fitness as soon as possible. And I believe I did it. Physically, I may have recovered better than before my injury. So that is incredibly excellent for me, and now I’m doing what I enjoy the most: playing games.”
Liverpool, who were in contention for a quadruple, will have to settle with the League Cup and a return to the Champions League next season after missing out last season. And when it comes to Klopp’s farewell, Alisson adds: “Of course, everyone would have liked to have given him another trophy for his final year at Liverpool, but everything he did was already amazing at this club, so winning or losing would have made no difference because what he did here is bigger than results.
“It is about legacy, not only for the trophies that he won but also the legacy for the people, for the supporters, for the players and for everybody who has been involved.”
Klopp, on the other hand, will be hoping that his legacy does not include Liverpool’s leakiness continuing into the following season. The Reds have long demonstrated their ability to keep things clean in recent years; now they must look back to move forward once more.
