2022/23 Premier League Previews | Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp and their fight against mythical Manchester City

BySiddhant Lazar, SportsCafe Editor

08/04/2022

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The 2022/23 Premier League season is around the corner and for Liverpool, this season is a battle as the club continues its battle with Manchester City. The Reds have spent the last four years battling the Cityzens and have only managed to win one title while finishing second by one point twice.

How well did Liverpool do in the 2021/22 Premier League season?

Well, if Manchester City were very very very good, then Liverpool were also very very good and that’s proven by the fact that the Reds finished one point behind their rivals. They pushed City to the very brink of their powers, to the final day and for a mere moment it looked like Pep Guardiola’s side were indeed going to be beaten and hand Liverpool the title. But fate, lady luck and circumstances had other ideas, and City produced a comeback to make sure history remembered them nicely.

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But all in all, Liverpool finished the season with the FA Cup and Carabao Cup trophies although that heartbreaking loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League final would have hurt this entire team. Yet even then, their league performance was never affected by the fact that the Reds played every single game last season and yet they somehow managed to finish the season with 28 wins, 8 draws and 2 losses.

Only Leicester City and West Ham United managed to beat the Reds but their draws against Chelsea and Tottenham definitely didn’t help their title chances. Because much like their table standings, they finished behind or level with Manchester City for most of their stats with them scoring the second most goals last season (94). That was despite the fact that they had the best xG (89.2) with the best xG per 90 (2.35) and the best assists per 90 (1.87).

Not only that, they completed the second-most key passes (507), had the joint second-best goals per shot on target ratio (0.37) and had the best npxG or non-penalty xG (83.5). As if that wasn’t enough, Jurgen Klopp’s side also excelled defensively with the joint best goals-against record (26). They also had the second-best PSxG (Post-Shot Expected Goals) (29.7) although their PSxG+/- (Post-Shot Expected Goals minus goals allowed) was +4.7.

That means that Alisson saved the Reds from conceding at least four more goals while cutting down on the defensive errors leading to a shot for the joint fifth least errors last season (7), committed the third least fouls (422) and had the second best successful pressure percentage (32.3%). Not only that, the Reds had the joint best clean sheet percentage (percentage of games that end with a clean sheet) (55.3) and finished the season with the second-best Points Per Match at 2.42. Not the worst season, in hindsight.

Improvements they’ve made so far:

After spending most of the early part of the summer window engaged in a transfer saga with Bayern Munich over Sadio Mane, Liverpool eventually sold the forward to the Bavarians. However, to that effect, the Reds went on to sign Darwin Nunez for a mammoth €75 million fee. With that kind of fee, fans and critics will expect the forward to start scoring almost immediately especially after he netted 32 goals for Benfica last season.

But there is an underlying concern as to whether Nunez can hit that number on a consistent basis especially since that was the first time he has hit that figure in the top flight. They’ve also signed former Fulham starlet Fabio Carvalho and young Calvin Ramsay but expect the duo to play a more bit-part role over the course of the next few seasons.

However, the loss of a few other squad players could end up hurting the club although getting big fees for Neco Williams, Takumi Minamino and a few others don’t make things all bad although the Reds could use a few squad players to help pump up the team. But beyond that, this team is about as close as it comes to perfect although Darwin Nunez's period of adaptation could either make or break this season.

How well could Liverpool do in the 2022/23 Premier League season?

That almost always depends on just how well that front-line clicks without Sadio Mane but with the presence of Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota plus now Darwin Nunez, there is a chance the Reds get off to a flying start. Even then, their floor is at worst a top four place although that could drop even lower if Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United somehow get their teams in place and break through the stranglehold the two top have on the league. However, that is dependent on another serious injury crisis for the Reds much like the 2020/21 season but if that doesn’t happen, then they could be in for another title fight.