Liverpool ‘need criminally underrated’ Harvey Elliott to revive title charge
Liverpool star Harvey Elliott has struggled to make an impression under Arne Slot this season.
The 21-year-old has featured 10 times for a total of just 237 minutes this campaign across all competitions.
The 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest on 14 January seemed like the perfect time to throw the playmaker into the mix as the Reds attempted to win against Nuno Espirito Santo’s low block.
However, he stayed on the bench and Slot brought Curtis Jones on instead and the Reds’ margin at the summit of the Premier League was reduced to four points.
Does Liverpool boss trust Harvey Elliott?
Elliott was expected to play an important role for the new head coach after a criminally underrated campaign last season in which he established himself as one of the most creative midfielders.
In the 2023-24 Premier League season, he ranked in the top three per cent in his position for assists (0.40), passes into the penalty area (3.00) shot-creating actions (5.19) and carries into the final third (3.33), according to FBRef.
However, the England Under-21 international suffered a broken foot at the start of the season and was out for two months.
Before the 4-0 FA Cup win against Accrington Stanley, Slot explained that this is the reason that Elliott has struggled for game time, saying: “He was very unlucky that after two games he got injured, was out for a long time.
“From what I’ve seen until now, with almost all of our players that have been out for quite a while, in this league, in this tempo, in this intensity, and the quality we have, the other teams have as well, it is not so easy to come back and be at your best immediately.”
In that clash against the League Two side (11 January), he recorded a 90 per cent pass accuracy, made seven passes into the final third and created two chances for an expected assists figure of 1.26. [Fotmob]
He had six touches in the opposition box, completed two dribbles for a 100 per cent success rate and was accurate with eight out of nine attempted long balls for an 89 per cent success rate.
Defensively, he made three recoveries and won all five ground duels that he contested for a 100 per cent success rate.
That is an encouraging performance, despite the poor quality of the opposition and the Anfield faithful should expect to see more of Elliott as the season progresses to reduce the workload on Dominik Szoboszlai.
The only concern would be his physicality and defensive workrate in comparison to the Hungarian, the young midfielder ranked in the bottom 45 per cent last season for recoveries (5.19), the bottom ten per cent for interceptions (0.40) and the bottom 36 per cent for tackles (1.80) but that should not be a problem against the smaller teams. [Fbref]
The Reds have dropped points in four of their last seven league games but he could be Slot’s secret weapon as he seeks to revive their title charge in his first season in English football.
In other Liverpool news, Jamie Carragher has given his verdict on the Reds’ plans in the winter transfer window.
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