Plenty of Liverpool players failed to step up against Chelsea at Anfield, but the stunted performance of Jeremie Frimpong particularly caught the attention.
It was another afternoon of team-sheet roulette by Arne Slot, with Frimpong again shuffled to the right wing and Curtis Jones fashioned into a full-back behind him.
Business as usual for Liverpool, nothing seems to make sense these days. The £29.5 million full-back signed from Bayer Leverkusen now can’t feature as a full-back, even in all absence of an established one.
Nonetheless, Liverpool started well and made the breakthrough via Ryan Gravenberch‘s long-range effort, but it quickly became apparent that all cohesion among the red shirts was disintegrating.
Perhaps nobody more so than Frimpong highlighted this. The Dutchman looked lost and bereft of ideas on the wing, directionless in possession and often outmuscled in the duels.
Interestingly however, of his 46 touches during 90 minutes played, six of these were in the opposition box – the joint-most of any player.
As per FotMob, his heat map shows exactly what his remit was: to remain wide and very much advance towards the far corner of the pitch at any available opportunity.
But this is where Frimpong clearly loses his edge. The 25-year-old possesses pace to burn but isn’t an out-and-out winger in the conventional sense.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, May 9, 2026: Liverpool's Jeremie Frimpong and Chelsea's Jorrel Hato (R) during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Liverpool for years have operated at a very high level with a fluid front three in a 4-3-3 system. Frimpong therefore burning down the flank with little plan thereafter makes for an entirely sanitised experience.
Of his 24 passes, 18 were successful (75%), though only one of these was into the final third. Frimpong was getting the ball out wide and having to revert backwards.
The pace merchant, who was evidently tasked with getting past his man on the touchline and fashioning an opening, finished the match with an expected assists (xA) total of 0.03 and officially zero chances created.
Imitating Marc Cucurella failed miserably
LONDON, ENGLAND - Tuesday, April 4, 2023: Chelsea's Marc Cucurella during the FA Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC at Stamford Bridge. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Interestingly, his direct counterpart Marc Cucurella also registered the joint-most touches in the opposition box (six) but proved to be of much higher value to his team’s output collectively.
Slot set Frimpong up to mirror the positioning of the Spaniard, and it badly failed.
Cucurella prowled similar areas to Frimpong but enjoyed greater success getting in behind Liverpool’s makeshift defence, causing Jones and Frimpong to share heated words and for Ibrahima Konate to be dragged into the autopsy of failings.
The Chelsea full-back finished with 20 accurate passes out of 22 made (91%), with four of those penetrating through into the final third.
FotMob have Cucurella unblemished with zero times dispossessed, compared to Frimpong who surrendered the ball on three occasions.
It was in the reverse fixture, back in October, that Chelsea also enjoyed such gains from Cucurella down the flank.
On that occasion at Stamford Bridge, Mo Salah was targeted and later criticised for letting the Spain international in behind.
On Saturday, Slot had the option to set up a watertight guard on the right-hand side to combat this style of play and neutralise Cucurella from the off.
Instead, the decision to retain a Jones-Frimpong axis served only to encourage Chelsea further.
After equalising, Chelsea slowly saw Liverpool rise again in momentum, yet any further glimmer of hopes for those in blue repeatedly came down their left-hand side, targeting Liverpool’s right.
Joao Pedro quickly learned that doubling up out wide with Cucurella and causing miscommunication with Jones and Frimpong would bear fruit, with a dubious penalty decision narrowly avoided in the latter stages.
Whatever Slot decides is appropriate for Frimpong going forward, a repeat of his Chelsea checklist will not be required.
FotMob is the essential app for every fan to keep up to date with their team or follow football worldwide, with new features including heatmaps for players.
• You can download the FotMob app here.