Liverpool fans were critical of Caoimhín Kelleher’s performance against Fulham but he matches up well against several high profile Premier League goalkeepers.
Liverpool’s 4-3 win over Fulham was a statistical anomaly. The Reds needed to score four fabulous long-range strikes to secure the three points, yet they also generated four Opta-defined big chances.
It’s rare to have so many without converting at least one. In the last six seasons, Liverpool has only had 10 matches in which it had at least four chances “where a player should reasonably be expected to score” (as per Opta’s definition) and wasted them all. With sharper close-range finishing, the Reds would not have needed to be so lethal from distance.
The conversion rate was not the only issue. Fulham scored three goals, only the 30th time Liverpool has conceded at least that many in a Premier League match at Anfield. Stand-in goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher came in for criticism from fans and media alike for his part in proceedings.
He only picked up a 4/10 score in our post-match ratings, for starters, the second lowest of any player. The data from the game showed that Kelleher conceded three goals from chances valued at 1.8 in Opta’s post-shot model, which obviously puts his performance level at -1.2 for the league campaign.
While that is bad on a per 90 minutes basis, it’s only one game, too small a sample to prove anything. Look around the division and you’ll see Chelsea’s Robert Sánchez is on -2.3 while Manchester City’s Ederson is further back on -2.6 this term.
These are the first-choice goalkeepers at two of the last three Champions League-winning clubs and they are not performing to par. The City man has time to turn 2023/24 around but as things stand, he is underperforming for the third consecutive campaign, to the tune of 7.7 goals in total.
It’s hard to assess Kelleher fairly using the same metrics because 16 of his 28 Liverpool appearances have been in domestic cup competitions, where detailed data is unavailable. Per FBRef, in the league and Europe across his career, he has saved 1.2 fewer goals than expected. You’ll obviously notice that this figure matches his efforts against Fulham, meaning he was performing to par prior to that.
It’s difficult to speculate on what effect coming in and out of the side has on a goalkeeper. The obvious issue is the rustiness that must build up from not playing senior football on a regular basis. The matches against LASK and Fulham represent only the third time Kelleher has played consecutive games for the Reds, with each instance thanks to Alisson Becker being injured or ill
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