Liverpool 23/24 Fantasy Flashback
- RobbieP (@ateamofcarras)
- Jul 14, 2024
- 10 min read
Before we look ahead to this season's prospects, let's first digest Liverpool's takeaways from the previous season in our 23/24 Fantasy Flashback series. In this year's 24/25 Draft Kit, we are featuring both a Fantasy Flashback and a Fantasy Forecast for every single Premier League team. The flashbacks will be available on Draft Kit launch day, while the forecasts will drop closer to draft day. Check the 24/25 Draft Kit main page often, as it's updated constantly!
In addition to reviewing top Draft PL fantasy contributors, Liverpool's Fantasy Flashback will highlight a breakout player and a fantasy flop, analyze the impact of any injuries suffered by Liverpool's players, and review the team's performance as a whole. Then, be sure to check out the Liverpool 24/25 Fantasy Forecast to find out whether last season was a fluke or if we predict more of the same.
Check out our 24/25 Draft Kit for all the pre-season information you could ever need: Draft Rankings, Team Previews, Mock Drafts, Strategy, Draft 101. We've got it all!
Liverpool 23/24 Fantasy Flashback
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23/24 Liverpool Player Performance
Let's review how Liverpool's players fared in 23/24, with an emphasis on their Draft Premier League fantasy assets. We'll also discuss any pertinent info regarding rotation, managerial tactics, and injuries below. What can we learn from their performance in the last campaign?
Note: The following table is interactive. Desktop users can apply the Filter, Group, and Sort buttons to arrange the data to their preferences. Mobile users can tap on a player card to view all data points. The table can be reset to its default state by refreshing the page.
As we've come to expect, Mohamad Salah led the charge for Liverpool in what was a tale of two halves. He unexpectedly bossed the first half of the season on 17.1 points per start (PPS) in 20 starts, making those who took Haaland or Bruno ahead of him look on wistfully. But a hamstring injury during AFCON (more on that later), saw him drop back to 7th overall, leaving a sense of disappointment.
In pre-season the headache was predicting how many starts each of the other Liverpool forwards would get. Luis Diaz was the safest bet given he was the only out and out left winger, and he duly delivered logging an impressive 32 starts. But it took him a while to get going, 7.4 PPS in 13 starts in the first half of the season was atrocious, but he finished the season much stronger at 13.5 PPS while starting every game. 5 goals and 5 assists during that period wasn't a huge return but he certainly moved closer to the electric form we saw from him in his first half season at Liverpool in 21/22.
Darwin Nunez vs Cody Gakpo vs Diogo Jota for the central forward spot was the other debate raging in pre-season, would Klopp go with the raw chaos of Darwin, the cultured movement and pressing of Gakpo, or the clinical poaching of Jota? On the face of it, despite a slow start Darwin managed to win the battle as the most valuable fantasy asset with 22 starts at a very handy 12.6 PPS. However, when fit Jota in his reduced starts (14) was the most productive at 14.1 PPS, and given his goal scoring form would likely have been the preferred option had he stayed fit. Gakpo was relatively useless as a fantasy asset for most of the season, but enjoyed a strong finish, displacing Darwin and putting up some very nice scores. Despite the good spells from these players, as feared before the draft, each of them didn't live up to their draft day value, simply through availability. Suffice to say we are not any clearer about the pecking order going into next season, particularly with a new manager coming in.
Under Klopp, the Liverpool midfield has rarely been a viable source of fantasy points, but the signings of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai in the summer changed all that. Szoboszlai was the darling of Klopp's new 'Liverpool 2.0' at the beginning of the season, on set pieces, looking extremely attacking and unfortunate to not have picked up more attacking returns. Yet after GW10 with an extremely healthy 13.1 PPS, his minutes started to get managed and his role became less prominent in the team, before succumbing to a few injuries, he just wasn't the same player. The opposite was true for Mac Allister, forced to cover the deeper 6 role he was irrelevant as a fantasy asset, but as Waturo Endo returned from the Asian Cup and made the 6 his own, Mac Allister came alive. Pushed further forward, in the no. 8 role and without Szoboszlai, he rekindled the form we saw at Brighton as he was given license to attack. He delivered 12.9 PPS in 17 starts to end the season, making him one of the standout free agent pick ups! Harvey Elliott also performed well in his limited starts, especially creatively in the no.8 role later in the season, more on him later, but he will likely be giving Szoboszlai a real fight to secure that spot in the Liverpool midfield.
The Liverpool defence recovered after a horrendous 22/23 season, led by Trent Alexander-Arnold who despite having some teething issues in the inverted full back role, put together one of the best spells we've ever seen from him before succumbing to injury. Virgil Van Dijk finally returned to the ghosting scene. His aerial numbers have been significantly down since the heady days of 18/19 and 19/20 where he was nearing 200, but 140 this season was a welcome return, despite the drop off at the end of the season. Given Trent's inverted role, hopes weren't too high going into the season for Andrew Robertson, but he put in some swashbuckling displays at 12.6 PPS. This did however, coincide with Trent's injury after Robbo came back from his own spell on the sidelines.
23/24 Breakout Player
Harvey Elliott
Position: Midfielder
23/24 Points: 239 (44th best MID)
23/24 Points Per Start: 12.6 (11 starts)
This category could have gone to a number of different players, both Jarrell Quansah and Conor Bradley had brilliant debut seasons. However, they both took advantage of injuries, while Harvey Elliott had a genuine fight on his hands with the new midfield recruits and Salah to gain a place in the XI. It's easy to forget his struggles after a horrendous ankle injury in the 21/22 season, and while he had some decent spells in 22/23, it seemed Klopp couldn't nail down how he wanted to use him. But things finally slotted into place at the end of this season where he eventually cemented his place in the XI based on excellent form. Klopp even admitted one of his biggest regrets was not giving him more game time earlier. He was largely used in the cup competitions in the first half of the season, but where he really thrived was in the no.8 role as a creative force with key passes and assists in full flow. He has put himself in a great position to kick on next season and has every chance of pushing for a regular starting spot, and at 12.6 PPS he's one worth keeping a close eye on.
23/24 Fantasy Flop
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Position: Defender
23/24 Points: 317.5 (4th best DEF)
23/24 Points Per Start: 12.3 (25 starts)
If you look through the Liverpool team there isn't any player which you think have seriously flopped based on expectations. However, the most disappointing surely has to be Trent Alexander-Arnold. Clearly some of of that was through injury with just 25 starts, but the guy you drafted in the middle of the first round ending up just 43rd in total FPts is not what you planned for. Yet its worth going a bit deeper into why, so we can evaluate his potential for next season.
Trent had an underwhelming start, short of the home game against Aston Villa where he put on a deep-lying passing master class, Trent really struggled to find a productive role as Dominic Szoboszlai dominated creatively from midfield. This meant less time in the inverted midfield role that was so productive at the end of the 22/23 season and Szobo even took over a significant number of set pieces, further stifling Trent's production. From GW1-10, Trent provided just 1 assist and his bread and butter key passes were down to just 1.7 per 90, resulting in a meagre 8.6 PPS (6.8 gPPS).
Things did pick up though, as Szoboszlai's influence and energy waned, Klopp trusted Trent to step into midfield more consistently. In GW11-20 he racked up the most FPts of any player by a significant margin at 185 with a whopping 18.5 PPS. Two goals and 3 assists did help, but his creativity skyrocketed, with key passes jumping to 3.8 per 90, boosting his ghost points to 14.1 gPPS! This was also borne out in the underlying data with his xA increasing from 0.14 to 0.4 per 90. Yet unfortunately this was the last time that Trent was a viable fantasy asset after a knee injury forced him out for over two months. He just wasn't the same player on returning posting just 8.0 PPS in 6 starts.
Calling him a flop may be harsh, but let's face it, Trent spent a quarter of the season unavailable, half the season at a paltry 8ish PPS, and just a quarter of the season as we have come to expect from him. It will have certainly driven down his draft day value for next season's draft.
Injury Impact
Liverpool ranked mid table for total number of games missed through injury at 156, but it was certainly the case that the injuries they had were to significant contributors, and at very inopportune moments.
The centre back situation was particularly challenging with a season ending injury for Joel Matip and Konate's on/off struggles, leading to his minutes being managed. This allowed Jarell Quansah significant game time and he really stepped up to the challenge. Something that could continue at the beginning of the season, especially given potential late arrivals back from the Euros.
A shoulder injury on international duty saw Andrew Robertson's miss nearly 4 months and 13 matches in that period. Premium streamer Kostas Tsimikas was the initial beneficiary, but upon his own injury up stepped Joe Gomez. He managed 18 starts which is comfortably the most he's had since the 19/20 season. Filling in at left back and all over the pitch saw him become Klopp's trusted utility option and put up a very respectable 8.4 PPS.
As discussed above Trent Alexander-Arnold had a significant period out at the start of the new year and came back nowhere near the level we would expect from him. The main beneficiary was young Conor Bradley who had some storming games, racking up 11 starts with a few wild scores on the way to 15.3 PPS! He had a swashbuckling attacking style, more akin to how Trent and Robertson played in the past. One to look out for if new manager Arne Slot prefers Trent in midfield.
Thiago and Stefan Bajcetic effectively missed all season through injury, the former of which has now been released and wasn't particularly missed in Liverpool's new look midfield. Bajectic however was missed, especially as Liverpool struggled in the no.6 department earlier in the season. Curtis Jones had a great spell (in real life, fantasy was dire at 3.9 PPS), particularly as Szoboszlai began to struggle, but again he couldn't manage to stay fit the whole season and managed just 14 starts. One to keep an eye on how he could fit into Slot's new setup.
Mohamed Salah had what was his first major injury as a Liverpool player (short of Sergio Ramos' assaulting him in the Champions League final, but that didn't result in any missed game time). A significant hamstring injury while away at AFCON in the new year saw come home early and missed a total of 10 games. While the Egyptian was still decent fantasy-wise on his return (15.6 PPS), he had his minutes managed and wasn't immune to a benching. His overall play was still good, but he was so wasteful in his finishing. It will be difficult to trust him staying consistent next season, especially with a new manager coming in, but hopefully a summer with no international football will do him the world of good.
It fees like we say this every season, but what would have happened had Diogo Jota been fit for longer!? He was restricted to 14 starts through two separate injuries, one a hamstring injury in November and then a knee ligament tear in February. He eventually came back in April but suffered a recurrence that effectively saw him out for the rest of the season. He was absolutely electric when he was fit, scoring 10 goals and putting up 14.3 PPS, so we can only hope his luck will change next season.
Liverpool's Overall Team Performance
In reality there wasn't much hope going into the season that Liverpool could go for the title, but there was genuine hope that the new signings were putting Liverpool on the right track. With the revamp in midfield and Trent being inverted into midfield in possession, it was enough for Klopp to dub this team 'Liverpool 2.0', a team that could be capable of competing once again.
On the positive side, coming back off a lacklustre 22/23 season, expectations were low and Liverpool far exceeded them. There was a huge improvement in every aspect, but most notably in attack and while it wasn't perfect the wins just kept on coming. Yet even with Liverpool top of the table as late as GW31, there was always a lingering doubt as to how many times the attack could bail out the defence. Liverpool conceded first in 16 out of 38 matches and managed just 10 clean sheets. It was a wild ride, but making so many games that hard eventually took its toll as they fell away at the tail end of the season, crashing out of Europe and contention for the title, but comfortably finishing 3rd in the table. Injuries were an issue, losing Trent and Salah for significant periods was a huge blow, but in the end Liverpool lacked the control that their title rivals had in defence, which eventually cost them. Some may point the finger at Klopp's announcement mid-season that he was going to leave the club after nearly 9 years in charge, as a reason for the drop off. But the form stayed pretty strong in the immediate month or two after his announcement, it was pretty clear from the hyper transitional style of play that the results just weren't sustainable.
There were a lot of positives to take from the season, an unexpected title challenge, exciting young players breaking through into the first team and new signings that performed admirably, all the better for a season of bedding in. The departure of Klopp leaves a huge void in Liverpool given his influence and history at the club, but the building blocks are there for Arne Slot to work with, if he's up to the job.
More 23/24 Fantasy Flashbacks: Arsenal | Aston Villa | Bournemouth | Brentford | Brighton | Chelsea | Crystal Palace | Everton | Fulham | Ipswich Town | Leicester City | Liverpool | Man City | Man United | Newcastle | Nottingham Forest | Southampton | Tottenham | West Ham | Wolves
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