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By Jack Lusby, ThisIsAnfield.com
Five games into the new Premier League campaign and Liverpool have a surprising name as their top scorer. Luis Díaz’s double against Bournemouth lifted him to five goals in five league outings – and six in all competitions – to sit above Mohamed Salah (three) and five others (all on one).
Erling Haaland is the only player to have found the back of the net more times in this season’s Premier League, albeit with Manchester City’s freakishly prolific striker having done so twice as often.
For an attacker whose output for Liverpool prior to the current campaign was to the tune of 24 goals and 13 assists in 98 games, Díaz’s record of five goals and an assist in six appearances this time out is one worth applauding. Though the sample size is much smaller, he is currently averaging a goal or assist every 63.8 minutes compared to one every 200.8 minutes last season.
It comes after a summer of speculation over not only Díaz’s role in the side, but also his future at the club, after a promising end to the campaign for Cody Gakpo and concrete interest in Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon.
With Gakpo finally given an opportunity in his natural role on the left flank in the final months of Jürgen Klopp’s reign, and taking his form into the Euros with the Netherlands, there was a justified belief that he would take another step under a fellow Dutchman in Arne Slot.
And with Liverpool agreeing a deal with Newcastle that would have seen Joe Gomez head to St James’ Park with Gordon moving the other way, only for that transfer to break down early in the summer, all signs were that Díaz’s position was under threat.
Given his hit-and-miss form since returning from two serious knee injuries and ongoing links with both Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, fans could be forgiven for contemplating life after their No. 7.
But since the appointment of Slot as Klopp’s replacement, Díaz has looked an entirely different player; an attacker reborn, again showing the quality that made him such a seamless successor to Sadio Mané following his arrival from Porto in 2022.
Díaz’s five goals in the Premier League have seen him vastly outperform his rate of xG (2.5) with, again, Haaland (+4.2) the only player with a higher differential between actual and expected goals.
That shows the quality of his shooting, too, with no Liverpool player producing a higher rate of xGOT than the Colombian (4.0), while only Salah (2.4) is averaging more shots on target per 90 in the league (2.0).
The left-sider is also tied with Salah for the most xG and xA combined per 90 (0.8), while only Cody Gakpo (2.7) has averaged more successful dribbles (2.5) and only Alexis Mac Allister (1.1) has won possession more times in the final third on average than Díaz (0.7).
For a player who woefully underperformed his xG in last season’s Premier League, with his differential of -3.9 second-worst only to Darwin Núñez (-5.3), there has been an impressively crisp level of end product from Díaz so far.
Much of that could be attributed to the change in the dugout, with the arrival of Slot coinciding with a shift in fortunes for a number of players.
Klopp was and remains a legend around Anfield, but there is a sense that the players have embraced the transition from his reign to a more modern approach under Slot, with Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s comments after the 3-0 win over Bournemouth emphasising this.
“We agreed that he will be harsh on me. Any time an attacker gets past me he will call it out in meetings and individual meetings and say this cannot happen,” the vice-captain revealed.
“It is really refreshing to have a manager who will help and guide and teach me how to be better. I am someone who wants to learn, someone who strives to be the best ever.”
Though Alexander-Arnold will have meant no slight on the manager who nurtured him from academy prospect to one of the best players in the world, his praise for Slot’s style of coaching was telling.
While Klopp was a supreme man-manager who delegated much of the coaching to his staff – leading Pepijn Lijnders to earn the Red Bull Salzburg job over the summer – his Dutch successor is very much hands on when it comes to the training ground.
Along with leading his players through sessions on the training pitches, Slot has also increased the number of meetings, both with the team and individuals, with Alexander-Arnold explaining that “any time an attacker gets past me he will call it out.”
That has been necessary as Slot implements a shift towards a more possession-based system, and that has led to many roles on the pitch being tweaked.
While Díaz often found himself running down blind alleys on the left flank under Klopp – perhaps through more fault of his own than the manager – his movements are more complex and effective within Slot’s system.
His opening goal against Bournemouth was the perfect example, with a diagonal run across the 18-yard box seeing him latch onto Ibrahima Konaté‘s long pass, chest the ball down and, with Kepa Arrizabelaga stranded, fire into the back of the net.
It was the third time Díaz has opened the scoring in five Premier League games so far, with all five of his goals coming in the first half; he has been Liverpool’s difference-maker, rather than a wild card struggling for a place.
The objective now will be ensure this is more than just a purple patch, and if Slot is capable of pulling it off, he may have solved another potential problem position without needing the transfer market.
(Images from IMAGO)
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