Luis Diaz: Klopp’s Newest Toy
AN ARTICLE BY MATTY
For the way we signed him alone, the transfer of Luis Diaz to Liverpool will go down as one of the more exciting transfers in the club’s history. Beating Spurs and United to the punch, making Daniel Levy threaten us (we know the big potato sack hasn’t got the balls to do anything), it’s all good and fun. But why did we feel the need to go against our usual practices to splash the cash late in January? In this case, much like Konate, it feels like Klopp just couldn’t live with the second option, he had to get his man and Diaz was that man. But what is it that makes Diaz not only such a great player, but so fun to watch? He’s quick, he’s got a ton of flair (if they had a nutmegs per 90 stat, Diaz would lead all players), he’s been described as “pure joy on a football pitch”. He had evolved from a scrawny kid into the best player in Portugal before coming to Liverpool. Let’s now see what made him great.
The 25-year-old Colombian, quite simply, stands out as a perfect Klopp winger. Firstly, and most importantly, the goals. This season, after having mastered the art of dribbling past people and carrying the ball from one end of the pitch to the other as Porto’s outlet on the counterattack, he finally added the goals to round himself out as a complete offensive weapon on the wing. He’s scored 14 goals in 18 games this season in Liga NOS, and also another 2 goals in the Champions League as he was far and away Porto’s best player in the group stages. This comes after scoring 12 goals combined in the previous two seasons in Liga NOS, but it must be said he only started 13 of the 36 games he played in during this time so he didn’t always have the chance to make a big impact. Plus, he wasn’t really used all that much as a forward either. Porto often played with a flat 4-4-2, with Diaz often camped out on the left side of the midfield four. His task wasn’t to score goals, but to carry the ball into scoring areas and then try to set up teammates with either cut back manoeuvres (very similar to his first assist in Liverpool colors yesterday) or crosses. His dribbling stats support this notion, as he averaged about three successful dribbles per game this season while in a role more suited to getting goals from him. This is consistent with last season’s numbers too, where he averaged about 2 dribbles per game. Needless to say, Diaz’s pace on the wing allows him to glide past defenders with ease, much like Mane does. In fact, I’d argue Diaz is very similar stylistically to Mane, which hopefully means the two of them can rotate and keep each other fresh and sharp.
Of course, scoring goals is what forwards are supposed to do, and Diaz has been a very accomplished goal scorer this season. However, the defensive numbers stand out more for Klopp wingers than most forwards, as Klopp demands a lot of pressing from the front three in order to keep the opposition pinned back and unable to start attacks. Diaz’s pressing statistics are, quite simply, remarkable. A statement that is true and will make your jaws drop: this man manages to average more pressures per game than Bobby Firmino, who is literally the king of the press among forwards. He ranks in the 98th(!!!) percentile among forwards in tackles per game, the 92nd percentile in successful pressures per game, and the 90th percentile for ball recoveries. Again, look at what led to his first assist for us: pressing almost unreasonably high up the pitch to win the ball off the defender in the defender’s own penalty area, using his deft footwork to keep the ball in play, and then using the cut back as a means to find Jota, who then flicks it back to Minamino for Taki to score the second goal. So, yeah, looking at that I can easily understand why Klopp wanted him so badly. Luis Diaz is basically as perfect of a fit for the way we play as you could possibly get.
It’s a bit of a shorter article for you guys this time, but it is purely analytical and only about one guy. Hopefully this in-depth analysis helps to show why Luis Diaz was signed. I think it’s because everything he’s done this season proves he is a fit for the way our forwards play and he is a brilliant guy to have as we continue to evolve the team. Plus we now have five world-class forwards that are on par with anyone in the world. That’s always nice too.
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