Whenever Jurgen Klopp’s time at Liverpool finally draws to a close, there will be quite the book to be written on his journey with the Reds.
The name Oleg Kuzmin is unlikely to feature highly, if at all, in such a tome. But he holds a small place in Klopp’s history with the Reds.
In the German’s first match at Anfield, Kuzmin collected two yellow cards to become the first player to be sent off against Klopp’s Liverpool in a 1-1 draw.
In the 1-0 defeat to Inter Milan on Tuesday, former Arsenal and Manchester United forward Alexis Sanchez became the 15 th opposing player to go for an early bath since Kuzmin set the ball rolling in October 2015.
As Klopp has managed Liverpool in 362 matches, this means an opponent has seen red against them roughly every 23 games.
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With the Reds as dominant as they are in the majority of their matches, particularly in the last four years or so, that average of a little over two per season seems low.
But the really strange aspect of Liverpool’s opposition disciplinary record is that half of the total has occurred in 2021/22.
In other words, eight opponents were sent off in Klopp’s first 320 matches at the helm, and eight have been sent off in the 42 which followed.
The run started with Reece James being shown a red card – following VAR review – for handling the ball on the line in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea in August.
Pascal Struijk was then dismissed in the following match after his challenge led to Harvey Elliott suffering a severe injury.
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One month later, opposing players were sent off in successive games once again, in this case Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba for Atletico Madrid and Manchester United respectively.
Atleti then went down to 10 in the return match at Anfield when Felipe was shown a first half red, before Arsenal lost Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey in each leg of the League Cup semi-final.
Even allowing for the latter picking up his red in the 90 th minute at the Emirates, Liverpool have faced 10 men for a total of 289 minutes this season, compared to 234 across the six years under Klopp prior to that.
And let’s not forget Aaron Cresswell and Harry Kane could easily have also been sent off against Liverpool in 2021/22, which would’ve added another 152 minutes to the 10-men total.
As Liverpool lost at West Ham and drew at Tottenham, the Reds might have picked up another five points from those matches, which would have tipped the title race in their favour.
In light of the record between 2015/16 and last season, the total of eight opponents sent off in this campaign may seem absurdly high.
Yet, as an example, Aston Villa saw seven opposition players dismissed in the league alone in each of the previous two seasons.
Fourteen Premier League opponents dismissed in under two years when only nine men have seen red against Liverpool in that competition since Klopp breezed into town.
Perhaps the most curious aspect of that record is that only once has an opposing player been sent off for two yellow cards in the league against the Reds in the last seven seasons, and it happened to be Sadio Mane in Klopp’s first league game at Anfield.
There have been 349 yellow cards issued since then, and not one of those players has earned an early bath with a second infraction.
Seems a little unlikely, doesn’t it? Even the relative lack of straight reds seems odd in light of Liverpool’s dominance.
Nobody was sent off against them in the remarkable period in which they won 36 and drew two in a stretch of 38 matches, and they have also averaged the second or third most possession in each of the last four seasons.
Sanchez may have added to an unlikely looking disciplinary record in the Champions League last 16 match at Anfield, but it’s really what occurred in the seasons prior to this which now appears strange.
