Slot must drop Liverpool man who lost 75% duels

Liverpool battled several adversities to avoid a defeat in a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Marco Silva’s Fulham at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday.

The away side took the lead Andreas Pereira in the 11th minute before Andy Robertson was sent off for taking down Harry Wilson as the last man in the 17th. Arne Slot’s side reacted well to those setbacks, though, and equalised through Cody Gakpo just after the break.

Fulham battled their way back in front through Rodrigo Muniz, only for Slot’s super substitute Diogo Jota to come off the bench to score a late equaliser.

Whilst it was a decent point, given the circumstances after Robertson’s red card, there were some underwhelming performers for the Reds, including Luis Diaz.

Luis Diaz’s performance against Fulham

The Colombia international was selected to lead the line for Liverpool, ahead of Darwin Nunez and Jota, and failed to offer enough to the team at the top end of the pitch.

He did compete well on the physical side of the match, winning two of his four ground duels and both of his aerial contests, and this meant that the forward was not bullied by the Fulham defenders.

However, Diaz only completed 79% of his attempted passes and made one key pass, without creating a ‘big chance’ for his teammates, and this shows that he struggled to provide much in the way of creativity.

The 27-year-old attacker was also wasteful in front of goal. He missed one ‘big chance’ and failed to convert his 0.64 xG (over two shots) to find the back of the net.

Slot must drop him for the substitute goalscorer Jota on Wednesday night in the League Cup against Southampton, and another player who should instantly be binned from the starting XI is central midfielder Curtis Jones.

Curtis Jones’ performance against Fulham

The Liverpool academy graduate got the nod alongside Ryan Gravenberch and Dominic Szoboszlai in the middle of the park, and struggled in and out of possession.

Jones was not strong enough to compete against the Fulham players as he lost 75% (3/4) of his duels throughout his time on the pitch, which shows that it was too easy for opposition players to get the better of him.

It was not only his play out of possession that left a lot to be desired, though, as the England international also failed to create a single chance for his teammates.

As you can see in the table above, his partners in midfield both significantly outperformed him from a defensive perspective, whilst Szoboszlai was the main creative threat in there for Slot.

With this performance, and with it being a midweek cup game, in mind, the Dutch head coach must consider instantly dropping the Liverpool lightweight down to the bench for the clash with the Saints on Wednesday, due to his struggles on and off the ball.