'Slot-age time' - breaking down Liverpool's late success
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Image source, Getty ImagesWhen Marcos Llorente scored his second goal to equalise for Atletico Madrid against Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday, his team-mates and their coaching staff flooded on to the pitch to celebrate.
Fair enough, surely?
After all, there were less than 10 minutes remaining and the Spaniards had survived a flurry of missed chances before drawing level in a game in which they were second best.
But this was Arne Slot's Liverpool, who have made a habit of scoring late winners.
By the time captain Virgil van Dijk planted home a powerful header to snatch a 3-2 victory, the stoppage-time winner felt as inevitable as it did thrilling for the home fans.
Liverpool have scored late winners in all five of their competitive matches this season:
4-2 v Bournemouth (H, Premier League) - Federico Chiesa 88' and Mohamed Salah 90+4'
3-2 v Newcastle (A, Premier League) - Rio Ngumoha 90+10'
1-0 v Arsenal (H, Premier League) - Dominik Szoboszlai 83'
1-0 v Burnley (A, Premier League) - Mohamed Salah (pen) 90+3'
3-2 v Atletico Madrid (H, Champions League) - Virgil van Dijk 90+2'
That means the average point at which Liverpool's match-winning moments are happening this season is after 91 minutes.
In 2024-25, the average time they scored the winning goal in matches they won by a single goal was 70 minutes.
The run of late winners is a marked difference from last season, when Liverpool only scored four stoppage-time goals in 48 matches across the Premier League and Champions League - with two in the same game at Brentford.
They did score 13 times after the 80th minute during that Premier League season - but four teams managed more.
None of Liverpool's rivals score late winners at nearly the same rate.
Looking at the other Premier League teams competing in the Champions League this season, Arsenal have the next best rate for winning goals after the 80th minute, but you have to go back 64 games (and 16 months) to reach the five Liverpool have scored in their past five matches.
And Liverpool's flurry of late winners is already the longest in Premier League history.
Slot, who replaced Jurgen Klopp last summer, thinks self-belief and fitness have been key to Liverpool's run.
"There will be games where we are 2-0 up after six minutes, then we will score a third and won't need stoppage time to get a late winner," he said on Wednesday.
"There will also be games where we need one in the last minute and we won't get it.
It's also about how fit and how well prepared we are that we are able to push one more time."
Slot is already among the managers with the highest percentage of late wins in Premier League history.
Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson were widely regarded as the masters of the late winner.
And it's no surprise to see Ferguson holds the record for most winning goals scored after the 81st minute, though his old foe Arsene Wenger is not far behind.
But even Ferguson's United only managed a longest run of two consecutive Premier League matches with winners scored after the 80th minute - doing so four times.
Slot has also increased Liverpool's lead at the top of the rankings for Premier League teams who have scored the most winners in the 90th minute or later.
The Reds have now scored 47, with Arsenal on 34 and United on 33.
The Reds' late wins this season have come about in a variety of circumstances.
Against Bournemouth and Atletico they were comfortably on top and built a two-goal advantage, before throwing away cheap goals and ultimately rectifying the situation after piling on the pressure.
At 10-man Newcastle they also threw away a two-goal lead - but their late winner came against the run of play.
And against Arsenal and Burnley they struggled to create clear-cut opportunities against resolute defences, ultimately prevailing thanks to set-pieces.
There is no blueprint by which Liverpool are earning these victories, then.
But looking at the way the goals have come about perhaps gives some insight into why they're happening.
Liverpool's squad has been significantly overhauled since Klopp set about revamping their midfield in the summer of 2023.
Only nine members of the first-team squad that finished the 2022-23 season remain.
The revitalised group is led by a small collection of senior players who won every trophy on offer under Klopp - Alisson, Van Dijk, Andy Robertson, and Salah.
The last of those has generated the most goal involvements for this season's late winners - scoring twice and assisting once.
In fact, despite the average age of Liverpool's squad being 26.2, more than half of the late-goal involvements have been from players aged 32.5 or above.
The average age per involvement of those who have scored or assisted Liverpool's late goals is 28.9 - and would be significantly higher (30.4) were it not for 17-year-old Ngumoha.
Whether it is Slot or those on the pitch, then, it is largely Liverpool's wisest heads who are making the difference in the key moments.
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