Harvey Elliott and Dominik Szoboszlai lead the way among European midfielders in a key stat this season.
It’s been a rapid turn-around at Liverpool. Last season, Jurgen Klopp’s midfield options had waned. The German desperately needed a change.
He got that in the summer by bringing in four new midfielders. But it hasn’t just been new midfielders who have revived Liverpool’s midfield.
His more experienced players in the squad have also stepped up. Including a 21-year-old in Harvey Elliott who has made over 100 appearances for Liverpool under Klopp.
Together with the new midfielders, an exciting team has been built. A team that is leading the rest of Europe in key stats. Including Dominik Szoboszlai and Elliott.
Harvey Elliott and Dominik Szoboszlai leading Europe’s midfielders in key stat
The truth is that while both Elliott and Szoboszlai have made impressive impact for Liverpool this season, Szoboszlai notably at the start of the season, meanwhile Elliott more recently, they actually haven’t played a lot minutes on the pitch together.
In total, they have played just 668 minutes together for Liverpool so far. Klopp has actually preferred to use one or the other rather than both of them at the same time.
They’ve actually started just three games together for Liverpool so far, and out of those two games only one was when they both played in midfield together – a 2-2 draw against Brighton.
But that may be because they offer very similar things – energy and creativity. The latestCIES Football Observatory data is proof of that.
At the moment, Elliott and Szoboszlai lead the way among European midfielders from the top 10 leagues for top sprinting distance per 90.
What does the latest data mean?
Elliott ranks top for the metric with 316m per 90 minutes. Meanwhile, Szoboszlai is second with 306 per 90 minutes.
What this essentially means is that they both play the game at a great intensity, which is exactly what Klopp wants from his gegenpress.
Elliott and Szoboszlai’s energy and ability to press, maintain high speeds and cover a lot of distances is why Klopp values both of them so much.
Why they haven’t played together is moot. Although perhaps it’s just a simple case of Klopp wanting to preserve one or the other.
There aren’t many other profiles in the Liverpool midfield who can play with the intensity of Elliott and Szoboszlai.