Opta Analyst look at why the champions are facing more long-distance passes than any other Premier League team<\/p>\n
Liverpool\u2019s title defence has hit turbulence, with opponents increasingly exploiting one clear weakness. David Segar of Opta Analyst<\/a> examines how long-ball tactics are unsettling the champions and what Arne Slot can do to respond.<\/p>\n Arne Slot was at pains to emphasise it was not a criticism.<\/p>\n There\u2019s an unwritten rule in football that if someone accuses your team of playing directly, especially deciding to hit a lot of long balls, that you must take it as a personal affront.<\/p>\n But Liverpool’s<\/a> head coach was merely pointing out something that was quite clearly true.<\/p>\n Teams are playing the long-ball game against the Premier League champions this season, and in the last four matches at least, it has worked an absolute treat for them.<\/p>\n It was something Slot brought attention to after Liverpool\u2019s 2-1 home defeat to Manchester United<\/a>, saying post-match: “If you play United, with so many quality players they have\u2026 and if they come to us in a low block, playing so many long balls, then the last thing you want is going 1-0 down, because that gives them even more belief.”<\/p>\n Sure enough, it was taken as a “snipe” by some, despite the fact 75 of Man Utd<\/a>\u2019s 294 passes at Anfield were long (at least 32 metres in length, excluding throw-ins, goalkeeper throws and crosses).<\/p>\n At 25.5 per cent, it was their greatest long-ball proportion in a Premier League match since December 2017 v Arsenal (27.9 per cent).<\/p>\n In fact, ahead of Matchday 10, Ruben Amorim\u2019s side have attempted more long balls than any other team in the Premier League in 2025\/26 (522).<\/p>\n It was far from the only game in which Liverpool have experienced such a bombardment, though.<\/p>\n In total, the Reds have faced 571 long passes in the Premier League this season, at least 46 more than any other team, while Bournemouth<\/a> (525) are the only other side to have even faced 500+.<\/p>\n Most long balls against in the PL 2025\/26<\/p>\n Those 571 long passes account for 20.5 per cent of their total passes against, which is also the greatest proportion faced by any side in the division in 2025\/26.<\/p>\n On an individual game basis, the three highest long-ball totals this season have all come against Liverpool \u2013 75 v Man Utd, 71 v Crystal Palace<\/a> and 70 v Bournemouth.<\/p>\n On top of that, the 67 long balls Liverpool faced against Chelsea<\/a> is the joint-seventh most, while the 64 they encountered at Brentford<\/a> on Sunday is joint 11th.<\/p>\n Most long passes attempted in a single PL match 2025\/26<\/p>\n Following their 3-2 defeat to the Bees<\/a>, Slot said: “It is definitely that teams have a certain playing style against us; it is a very good strategy to play. We have not found an answer yet.”<\/p>\n He will need to find an answer soon, though, because it\u2019s clear this is something opposition managers are aware of.<\/p>\n Liverpool started the season with five wins in the league, but none of them were particularly convincing, with the Reds often needing late goals to earn victory.<\/p>\n The needle moved the other way after that, and they\u2019ve now lost four in a row for the first time since February 2021.<\/p>\n The fine margins are there to see. Liverpool have not drawn a single game this season, but only one of their nine league games has been won by more than one goal (their opening-day success against Bournemouth<\/a>).<\/p>\n Even that only finished 4-2 because of a late strike from Mohamed Salah<\/a> that largely owed to the Cherries being stunned by Federico Chiesa<\/a>\u2019s 88th-minute goal to make it 3-2 at Anfield.<\/p>\n Watch: Liverpool v Bournemouth highlights<\/p>\n Liverpool’s next four victories against Newcastle United<\/a>, Arsenal<\/a>, Burnley<\/a> and Everton<\/a> were all by a single goal, as were their subsequent four losses to Palace, Chelsea, Man Utd and Brentford.<\/p>\n It goes to show how fine the margins are. This run has seen them go from five points ahead of Arsenal at the top of the table to seven points adrift of them.<\/p>\n Across the Premier League, there were an average of 93.4 long balls per game last season. That has gone up to 99.5 (49.8 per team) this season, though is not necessarily a sign of a changing trend, as the average per game in 2023\/24 was 101.3.<\/p>\n The opposition to play the fewest long balls against Liverpool in the league this season were Arsenal (50), meaning all nine of their opponents have attempted an above-average number of long balls when facing the Reds in 2025\/26.<\/p>\n By comparison, Aston Villa<\/a>, Burnley, Leeds United<\/a>, Nottingham Forest<\/a> and West Ham United<\/a> have only faced 50+ long passes on nine occasions between them this season.<\/p>\n Liverpool are not being dominated in the air, though. They have contested 317 aerial duels this season in the Premier League, winning 179 of them (56.5 per cent).<\/p>\n Only Everton have won more (191 of 352 \u2013 54.3 per cent) while only Man City<\/a> have won a higher percentage (58.4 per cent \u2013 129 of 221).<\/p>\n Virgil van Dijk<\/a> has won at least seven more aerial duels than any other player in the Premier League this season (46 of 59 \u2013 78 per cent).<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Van Dijk’s centre-back partner Ibrahima Konate<\/a> has won the third most (35 of 50 \u2013 70 per cent).<\/p>\n It\u2019s second balls where Liverpool are often falling short, failing to mop up after their centre-backs have dealt with the initial danger.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that long balls always directly lead to chances for their opponents \u2013 no team have recorded more than 29 successful long balls against Liverpool in the Premier League this season.<\/p>\n But it helps to briefly force them out of their shape, and it seems they are struggling to cope when that happens, especially with a new left-back in Milos Kerkez<\/a>, and an unstable rotation of right-backs on the other side.<\/p>\n Liverpool aren\u2019t the only team being targeted, though.<\/p>\n Bournemouth have also faced 50+ long balls in every Premier League game this season but are coping with it far better than Liverpool at the moment.<\/p>\n Andoni Iraola\u2019s men have made the second-most high turnovers (71) in the league behind only Brighton and Hove Albion<\/a> (76) and have allowed the lowest PPDA (opposition passes per defensive action) of all Premier League teams (9.8) this season. Their press is clearly still working, despite their opponents\u2019 best efforts to play over it.<\/p>\n The same cannot be said for Liverpool, who are fifth for PPDA (10.6) and have only made 54 high turnovers \u2013 half the league has made more.<\/p>\n By comparison, leaders Arsenal have faced over 50 long balls in just five of their nine league games, including in their 1-0 win over Crystal Palace <\/a>on Sunday (63). However, only 19 of the Eagles\u2019 long balls were successful, with Arsenal largely dealing well with them.<\/p>\n The most long balls Arsenal have faced was in their 1-0 win at Man Utd<\/a> on the opening weekend \u2014 67, of which 41 were successful in a game that was arguably the most flustered Mikel Arteta\u2019s side have looked all season.<\/p>\n That remains the most long balls completed by a team in a Premier League game in 2025\/26.<\/p>\n Back to Liverpool, this is not an entirely a new thing for them. In Jurgen Klopp\u2019s final season as manager in 2023\/24, the Reds faced at least 50 long balls in 28 of their 38 Premier League games.<\/p>\n Everton were the only team to face 50+ in as many games (28).<\/p>\n Slot began his time in England last season with wins against Ipswich Town, Brentford and Man Utd, but in his fourth game at home to Forest, there was a different test.<\/p>\n The visitors attempted 64 long passes, at least 17 more than Liverpool had faced in the previous three games, and it perhaps played a part in Forest\u2019s shock 1-0 win at Anfield.<\/p>\n The Reds also faced 58 long balls at Palace a few weeks later, when they earned a hard-fought 1-0 away win, but those were the only two times in their first 16 league games of 2024\/25 they faced 50+ long passes.<\/p>\n After that, they faced 50+ long passes nine times in their remaining 22 games.<\/p>\n Liverpool didn\u2019t always struggle against it \u2013 winning six of the 13 games they faced 50+ long balls in last season \u2013 but they certainly seemed to find it easier when teams didn\u2019t go down that route.<\/p>\n Prior to clinching the title in April, Liverpool only dropped points in three of the 22 games in which the opposition attempted fewer than 50 long balls, which were draws away to Arsenal, Newcastle and Villa, all tricky games regardless of styles.<\/p>\n It is therefore little surprise that, nine games in, Liverpool are yet to face anyone in the league this season who\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0frequently gone long.<\/p>\n Long balls faced by Liverpool in PL 2025\/26<\/p>\n Even in the Champions League, they faced 54 long balls in their late 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid, and 63 in their 1-0 loss at Galatasaray.<\/p>\n It probably isn\u2019t a coincidence that the game in which Liverpool have faced the fewest long balls this season was their recent 5-1 Champions League victory at Eintracht Frankfurt (38), easily their best performance and most comfortable win of the campaign to date.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for a reason why teams have gone down this route, it likely has something to do with high turnovers.<\/p>\n Last season, Bournemouth (68) and Liverpool (60) had the most shots from high turnovers in the Premier League, and along with Forest, scored the most goals from them (10).<\/p>\n This season, Bournemouth are fourth (14) and Liverpool joint sixth (10) for shot-ending high turnovers, though both are among the five teams to have scored twice from them.<\/p>\n That Liverpool have scored the joint-most goals from high turnovers despite being in the bottom half for overall high turnovers is perhaps a sign of their potential threat from them, and why opponents are trying to nip them in the bud.<\/p>\n And that bud nipping seems to be working. Liverpool averaged 8.1 high turnovers per game last season, but after nine games in 2025\/26, that has dropped to 6.0.<\/p>\n Teams don\u2019t want to give Liverpool opportunities to press them and win the ball high, so they\u2019re happily sending long balls forward to deny them while also either stretching the pitch or at least creating even more work for the Reds\u2019 centre-backs, with second balls then there to be won.<\/p>\n The aerial route has not only been successful in open play against Liverpool, but from dead balls as well. Liverpool have conceded seven goals from set-pieces already in the Premier League this term; only Forest and West Ham (both 10) have allowed more. The champions only conceded 10 set-piece goals in the whole of 2024\/25.<\/p>\n Three of the seven set-piece goals against Liverpool this season have come from throw-ins, more than anyone else in the Premier League.<\/p>\n In the entirety of last season, Liverpool conceded just once from throws, though the fact there are significantly more long throws in England\u2019s top flight this season is obviously a factor.<\/p>\n They host Palace in the EFL Cup on Wednesday, but there is the potential for some respite next weekend when they face Villa.<\/p>\n Villa have attempted the second-fewest long balls in the Premier League this season (401), behind Man City (327), and only attempted 60 in total (34 at Anfield, 26 at Villa Park) against Liverpool in their two league meetings last season.<\/p>\n It is possible that facing so many long balls is a big reason why it feels like Liverpool are not in control of games the way they were so impressively last season as they strolled to the Premier League title, especially in those early matches when, as we\u2019ve established, they didn\u2019t face as many.<\/p>\n\nRank
\nTeam
\n\u00a0Games
\nLong balls faced
\n<\/tr>\n\n 1<\/td>\n Liverpool<\/td>\n 9<\/td>\n 571<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2<\/td>\n Bournemouth<\/td>\n 9<\/td>\n 525<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3<\/td>\n Newcastle United<\/td>\n 9<\/td>\n 496<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 4<\/td>\n Manchester City<\/td>\n 9<\/td>\n 479<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 5<\/td>\n Brighton & Hove Albion<\/td>\n 9<\/td>\n 475<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \nMatches
\nLong passes
\n<\/tr>\n\n Man Utd v Liverpool<\/strong><\/td>\n 75<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Crystal Palace v Liverpool<\/strong><\/td>\n 71<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Bournemouth v Liverpool<\/strong><\/td>\n 70<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Everton v Brighton<\/td>\n 69<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Crystal Palace v Bournemouth<\/td>\n 69<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Nottingham Forest v Bournemouth<\/td>\n 69<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Chelsea v Liverpool<\/strong><\/td>\n 67<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Man Utd v Arsenal<\/td>\n 67<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Burnley v Man Utd<\/td>\n 67<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Wolves v Newcastle<\/td>\n 66<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \nOpponent
\nLong balls attempted
\n\u00a0Successful long balls
\n<\/tr>\n\n Bournemouth<\/td>\n 70<\/td>\n 24<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Newcastle<\/td>\n 51<\/td>\n 12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Arsenal<\/td>\n 50<\/td>\n 25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Burnley<\/td>\n 62<\/td>\n 15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Everton<\/td>\n 61<\/td>\n 23<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Crystal Palace<\/td>\n 71<\/td>\n 23<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Chelsea<\/td>\n 67<\/td>\n 29<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Man Utd<\/td>\n 75<\/td>\n 18<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Brentford<\/td>\n 64<\/td>\n 22<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n