Liverpool may have found a new source of goals and assists this season

The Reds will be looking towards some fringe members of the squad to contribute in the final third this term.

Despite everything Liverpool achieved in their unforgettable 2020/21 campaign, they did take one small step backwards.

For the first time since Jurgen Klopp became their manager, the Reds scored fewer league goals than they had in the preceding season.

It was hardly a disastrous shift and needs putting into context. Liverpool’s total of 85 goals was second only to the 102 Manchester City netted in the Premier League. It was also a total that the club topped just once between the legendary team of 1987/88 and Klopp’s arrival on Merseyside, with Brendan Rodgers 2013/14 side scoring 101.

Even so, Liverpool won 14 league matches by a single goal last season, at least four more than any other team and eight more than City managed. A greater degree of breathing room would have been appreciated – not least by the supporters – and would have enabled the team to ease off a touch at the end of more games if they had been won early.

And ultimately, no matter how good a team is there’s always room for improvement. With Kostas Tsimikas unlikely to add many goals – he has nine across his whole career – and further signings currently looking unlikely, if Liverpool want to score more goals then they will have to add them from within the squad.

Last season, the players beyond the established front three did better in this regard than people might think. While certain positional descriptions can be arbitrary, according to Transfermarkt Liverpool’s defenders scored 12 league goals last season, second only to the 14 which Newcastle’s backline contributed.

Indeed, with five goals, Virgil van Dijk was the top-scoring defender in the Premier League. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s four strikes put him joint-top of the full-back scoring chart, while only seven players in the position bettered Andy Robertson’s tally of two.

Despite everything Liverpool achieved in their unforgettable 2020/21 campaign, they did take one small step backwards.

For the first time since Jurgen Klopp became their manager, the Reds scored fewer league goals than they had in the preceding season.

It was hardly a disastrous shift and needs putting into context. Liverpool’s total of 85 goals was second only to the 102 Manchester City netted in the Premier League. It was also a total that the club topped just once between the legendary team of 1987/88 and Klopp’s arrival on Merseyside, with Brendan Rodgers 2013/14 side scoring 101.

Even so, Liverpool won 14 league matches by a single goal last season, at least four more than any other team and eight more than City managed. A greater degree of breathing room would have been appreciated – not least by the supporters – and would have enabled the team to ease off a touch at the end of more games if they had been won early.

And ultimately, no matter how good a team is there’s always room for improvement. With Kostas Tsimikas unlikely to add many goals – he has nine across his whole career – and further signings currently looking unlikely, if Liverpool want to score more goals then they will have to add them from within the squad.

Last season, the players beyond the established front three did better in this regard than people might think. While certain positional descriptions can be arbitrary, according to Transfermarkt Liverpool’s defenders scored 12 league goals last season, second only to the 14 which Newcastle’s backline contributed.

Indeed, with five goals, Virgil van Dijk was the top-scoring defender in the Premier League. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s four strikes put him joint-top of the full-back scoring chart, while only seven players in the position bettered Andy Robertson’s tally of two.

While Alexander-Arnold looks capable of improving, it’s not realistic to expect Liverpool’s defence to massively increase their goal contribution this season.

The midfield could score more goals though, right? Clearly they could, but they weighed in with 20, and only City’s midfield provided more in the top flight, with 29.

The good news is that the Reds have options among the players who didn’t feature too much during the league-winning campaign. Those players should be able to contribute more, either by directly scoring or by setting up goals for others.

It’s very early in Curtis Jones’ professional career, but he has shown signs of what he’s capable of. Jones scored three first-team goals in his limited playing time last season, meaning only Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah scored more frequently on a pro-rata basis.

He also has high underlying expected goal figures, though that’s mainly thanks to having one excellent chance which he converted against Aston Villa.

Nonetheless, he’s not afraid to get forward and have a shot – he had five in the box in the league last season, which was the same as James Milner, and only six behind both Jordan Henderson and Divock Origi despite playing far fewer minutes.

It was also only one fewer than Naby Keita managed, though the Guinean’s stats from 2019/20 suggest he’ll be more of a threat on the creating front rather than through scoring.

Keita averaged 0.36 expected assists per 90 minutes in the league last term (according to Understat), which – among players with at least 800 minutes – was only topped in the Premier League by the City trio of Kevin De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez and David Silva. He scored 14 Bundesliga goals across two seasons with RB Leipzig too, so an improvement on his four league goals to date with Liverpool would appear possible too.

And Takumi Minamino looks ready to contribute more after a challenging first half-season in England. He didn’t net for his new club in that time, but only had one decent opportunity to do so (against Southampton in a 4-0 win at Anfield).

Presented with clear-cut chances against Arsenal and Blackpool this summer, the Japan international was able to put the shots away and that should give him confidence ahead of 2020/21.

While the standard is obviously higher in the Premier League, Minamino has hit double figures for goals in the Austrian Bundesliga twice before, so fans can expected him to chip in with a few goals this term.

The departed Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren only scored one league goal between them in 2019/20 – albeit it was hugely important – so Liverpool look well set to have added goals as long as their bit-part players from last season step up. Their records suggest they can.