Liverpool dominate ‘best in the league’ list, but one weakness is hard to ignore
Liverpool’s squad depth has been under the microscope for months, but a new breakdown of the Premier League’s “best and worst players” at specific skills has landed as mostly positive reading for us.
The piece, written by Ryan O’Hanlon, uses a “fine-grain dataset” from Gradient Sports to hand out superlatives across the league, and Liverpool players keep appearing in the categories that usually correlate with control, athleticism and repeatable performance.
The only sting in the tail is that Mo Salah and Ibou Konate also feature in sections you would rather avoid, even if the context makes the overall picture far less dramatic than the headline of “worst” might suggest.
Liverpool’s best-in-league mentions show why Slot trusts this group
O’Hanlon names Ryan Gravenberch as the league’s best ball carrier, and the detail is not subtle.
The ESPN piece says the 23-year-old Dutch midfielder is “leading the league in the ball-carry grade for the second straight year” and highlights how often Ryan Gravenberch opens his body to receive the ball under pressure, which speaks to technique as much as bravery.
That aligns neatly with Virgil van Dijk’s recent praise for Gravenberch being among the young players he can see reaching the very top level, a point that will read as even more relevant when the data has him separating himself from the rest of the division.
Dominik Szoboszlai also lands a headline-friendly tag, being labelled the best shooter in the league by this model.
The write-up notes the Hungary international’s free-kick quality and then argues that once every attempt is “roped in”, Szoboszlai grades out as the top shooter overall, which is the sort of backing that makes Steven Gerrard’s earlier “player of the season so far” pick sound more like validation.
Then comes the one that will make Liverpool supporters nod rather than debate, because Van Dijk is labelled the best ball winner in the league.
The Netherlands captain is described as facing more contested balls than ever before at Liverpool, with the piece admitting there have been more mistakes than usual, but still concluding that the No.4 is more successful in these situations than anyone else in the Premier League.
Liverpool players mentioned in ESPN’s skills list
| Skill category (ESPN / Gradient) | Liverpool player named | What ESPN said |
|---|---|---|
| Best ball carrier | Ryan Gravenberch | League-leading ball-carry grade for a second straight year |
| Best shooter | Dominik Szoboszlai | Top shooting grade overall, plus elite free-kick output |
| Best ball winner | Virgil van Dijk | League-leading “challenge” grade in contested possession moments |
| Worst ball winner (50-50s) | Mo Salah | Low grade in 50-50 ball situations |
| Positional mistakes (centre-backs) | Ibou Konate | Named as the centre-back “leader” for positional mistakes per 30 mins |
Why Salah and Konate being flagged is worth noting, but not panic
Salah being called the “worst ball winner” in 50-50 situations is not especially shocking if you watch Liverpool week to week.
The Egyptian winger has never built his game around flying into duels, and a forward’s value is usually in what happens after we regain the ball, not in trying to win it like a centre-back, so this feels more like a stylistic quirk being quantified than a new problem being discovered.
There is also a reasonable argument that Salah’s selective approach to physical contests is part of how the 33-year-old stays available, because players who chase every collision tend to miss more matches, and Liverpool have benefited from his durability for years.
Konate’s mention is the one to keep an eye on, because centre-back positioning is far less “optional” than duels for a wide forward.
ESPN notes that among centre-backs, our No.5 is the “leader” for positional mistakes per 30 minutes out of possession, and even if that is partly shaped by system demands and the sheer volume of defending we have had to do in certain phases, it is still a flag worth taking seriously.
With the City Ground trip coming up and Forest arriving with renewed confidence, small details like defensive spacing and decision-making can be the difference between controlling a game and getting dragged into it.
Overall though, the main takeaway is simple: the data-driven superlatives paint Liverpool as a side stacked with high-end performers in the core skills that underpin Slot’s football, even if there are a couple of rough edges that need managing.
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