Stumbling block: Wirtz's and Liverpool’s costly struggles against tight defences

Credit to Arsenal for restricting opportunities at Anfield but Iraola will need his side to learn to unpick low backlines

Liverpool failed to have a shot on target in their 1-0 defeat against Arsenal on Sunday, the first time they have drawn this type of blank in a Premier League game at Anfield since records began in 2003-04. They did not find the target in a goalless draw at the Emirates Stadium this year either, though in both games they struck the woodwork. The margins tend to be fine when recording statistical outliers.

If Alexis Mac Allister’s floated ball from 40 yards into David Raya’s waiting arms had actually counted as a shot, would Andoni Iraola’s side have delivered a markedly better attacking performance? Far more concerning for the Spaniard will be that his team had 52 touches in the Arsenal penalty area (which is good) to create only one Opta-defined big chance (which is bad). The Premier League average this season is five times more efficient; 10.3 box touches per big chance.

Credit to Arsenal for restricting the quality of Liverpool’s opportunities despite them getting repeatedly within range of their goal. Most teams have been able to do this, though. While 12 teams have had fewer touches in opposition penalty boxes than Liverpool, only Coventry with 11 have generated fewer big chances this season than Liverpool’s 12. Everton’s Thierno Barry alone has had 15, while Erling Haaland has also had more than Liverpool with 14.

Liverpool have not had this issue in Europe. They have 12 big chances in the Champions League in just three matches. As two of their opponents, Lask and Villarreal, are rated by Opta as being of lower standard than any side in the Premier League, this is little surprise. The relatively low-stakes of a given game in the league phase of the Champions League encourages those matches to be more open, too.

This has not been the case in the 2026-27 Premier League for Liverpool, who have spent more time building up against low defensive blocks than any other team. This is, in part, a problem of their own making as they have conceded first in five of their eight matches. Only against Ipswich and Brighton have they held two-goal leads, meaning opponents have rarely had compelling need to significantly loosen their defensive grip.

Iraola spoke of embracing the challenge set by deep-lying defences in his first Liverpool press conference. “I prefer to face low blocks in terms of: ‘OK, we will be in control of the game, probably we will concede less chances, we will spend a lot of time in the opposition half and those are the scenarios that we have to find,’” he said. Only four teams have had more touches in the opposition half or attempted more final third passes than Liverpool this season, but such dominance has not led to higher value chances.

This is where Florian Wirtz should be making an impression. He has the ability to unpick the tightest of backlines. Yet he has not created a big chance in the league this season. If his low total of five in his debut campaign was understandable with the problems Liverpool faced on-and-off the pitch, he trailed distantly behind Dominik Szoboszlai (14), Mohamed Salah (11) and Cody Gakpo (10). Wirtz is frequently involved in dangerous areas, as his ranking of ninth in the division for final-third passes completed will attest. His contributions have been far more geared towards ball retention and circulation rather than incision, however.

Iraola will want Liverpool to make more productive use of their high press. Most of their big chances in the league have come via corners or open play crosses. Bradley Barcola has had moments; he recovered possession to go clean through on goal at Brentford, before pouncing on an opposition mistake to assist Alexander Isak against Brighton. But Liverpool have only produced shots from 16.7% of their ball recoveries in the final 40 yards of the pitch, which is below average (18.4%) and the seventh-worst rate in the Premier League. Improvement here will help significantly.

Big chances account for 18.1% of shots in the Premier League this season but 59.5% of the goals. They are vitally important. Liverpool’s ambitions for Iraola’s first campaign will be severely limited unless they start fashioning them far more easily.