It’s been a sensational week for Liverpool. Probably one of the best in Jurgen Klopp’s era at the club. And we don’t say this lightly. But considering the amount of players missing, and the amount of impressive results – it’s not an understatement.
Liverpool won a major trophy at Wembley, got an important win in the Premier League, and made history in the FA Cup as well. As weeks go, you can’t get any better than that. Especially, since Liverpool achieved all of this without the likes of Alisson Becker, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
If any other team lost so many valuable players, they wouldn’t be able to weather the storm as well as Liverpool. The Reds were simply fantastic. Every single player stepped up and delivered truly excellent performances.
Which means the Reds are still competing on all four fronts. And out of all the players, one 25-year-old in particular has played a key role in ensuring that has remained the case.
Caoimhin Kelleher has been Liverpool’s best player
The fact that Caoimhin Kelleher has been able to go all three games without conceding a goal is simply remarkable. Especially since Liverpool’s defence hasn’t exactly been great during the period.
Against Chelsea, for example, Liverpool conceded 15 shots inside their own penalty area in the Carabao Cup final. But Kelleher stood up to the test and made nine saves from inside the box. And he went 120 minutes without conceding a goal from open play for the second time in a row at Wembley.
Then against Southampton again, Kelleher conceded plenty of chances, but he kept his cool and made some important saves. It was the same against Nottingham Forest as well with Kelleher coming up trumps on several occasions.
In total, during the three games, Kelleher conceded 5.76 xG, which is an incredibly high amount. That means according to the data, Liverpool should have conceded at least 4-5 goals – if not more. Yet thanks to Kelleher it was actually zero.
Based on those numbers, you cannot deny that the 25-year-old has been Liverpool’s best player in this period by far. He’s simply kept Liverpool in with a fighting chance in every game. Without him, the Reds may never have been able to go through this period unscathed. Yet despite his invaluable contributions, no one has really noticed. There aren’t many pundits signing his laurels. But they should be.