And it was all going so well. A little over a week ago, Liverpool were the favorites to win the Premier League and the Champions League. Today, they’re relative longshots to win either one — let alone both of them. What happened? They pressed aggressively, which created plenty of opportunities for opponents to break the press. They allowed a lot of opposition touches in the penalty area, which created plenty of opportunities for opponents to generate chances. And they allowed a decent number of opposition chances, which created plenty of opportunities for opponents to score goals. But Liverpool were so effective at every level -- snuffing out counter-attacking opportunities with the press, controlling the counter-attacks that reached the penalty area with great defending, and saving the counter-attacks that turned into shots with great goalkeeping -- that despite having less control of matches than their rivals, they were still conceding goals at the same rate.

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