Dan Kennett, a professional data analyst, has collected data that suggests Liverpool’s luck this season has largely deteriorated from the prior one.
The data uses an older metric known as PDO, which, in Kennett’s words, “is a brilliant proxy for being ‘good/bad/lucky/unlucky’ in both boxes.”
As such, there is the likely possibility that the Reds’ poor run of results is largely just due to poor performances rather than bad luck.
That being said, one might reasonably surmise that the growing injury list would factor in to the quality of such outings, with our overall team structure being rocked by the absence of key names.
Factoring in how Liverpool remain the most hard done by side when it comes to VAR in the Premier League, luck starts to become a prominent factor once more.
Nonetheless, in reality, we would not be faced with a struggle to reach the top four this term were it not for our ongoing injury struggles, unprecedented in number since Virgil van Dijk was ruled out for the long-term last October.
Our situation will instantly improve once the likes of Fabinho and Diogo Jota return to the squad, but a title challenge will have to be put on hold until the next season, in which our first-choice centre-half pairing will be available once again.
You can catch the full thread below:
[Revised Thread] I made an assumption in the other thread that this was the lowest 11-game PDO under Klopp. After updating my Klopp dashboard it turns out it's not…the journey has been pretty wild https://t.co/MrL4nZCZ3J pic.twitter.com/nI5hXptbSJ
— Dan Kennett (@DanKennett) February 23, 2021
821 Nov 2017. Bad start to 2017/18 season including Spurs 1-4 at Wembley
839 February 2021 NOW
846 Jul 2020. Poor run from winter break (Norwich A) and into dead-rubbers— Dan Kennett (@DanKennett) February 23, 2021
There have also been some skyscraper-like peaks:
1305 15th Feb 2020 The run from Everton 5-2 to Southampton 4-0
1280 1st Sep 2019. Start of 19/20 plus run-in from 18/19
1251 Boxing Day 2018 covering Oct-Dec winning streak— Dan Kennett (@DanKennett) February 23, 2021