When is a cross not a cross? When it’s a shot.
If a player attempts a cross but it deceives everyone – not least the player themselves – and finds the back of the net, it goes down in the stats as a shot.
Liverpool’s winning goal against West Ham on Saturday came about through somewhat similar circumstances when a cross-shot from Trent Alexander-Arnold was steered home by Sadio Mane.
Andy Robertson shared his thoughts on the matter after the match, asking: “That one was a miss-hit shot, wasn't it?”
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“They all count, they all count,” was Alexander-Arnold’s response, and he was not wrong.
After all, the Reds scored a near-identical goal against Atletico Madrid earlier this season and it even involved the same two players at the same end of Anfield.
But we shouldn’t be surprised that history repeated itself against the Hammers, as Alexander-Arnold has taken more open play shots from the zone to the front right of the penalty area than any other player in the Premier League this season.
While his efforts from there have worked out well for Liverpool, profiting from them is unlikely to be a sustainable strategy.
However, that doesn’t particularly matter thanks to other members of Jurgen Klopp’s squad dominating the higher value areas of the box.
Perhaps most impressive is the record of Diogo Jota, who has shot from one particular zone more than anybody else has from any of the other segments on the pitch.
The Portuguese forward has had 17 attempts from the hexagonal area which holds the penalty spot at its centre, scoring goals against Tottenham, Leicester, Burnley and Norwich from there in the process.
Jota has been even more lethal on the left side of the six-yard box, another area of the pitch from which he leads the league for shots taken.
His 12 efforts in that zone have resulted in goals against Manchester United, Newcastle and a pair against Southampton.
While he has played for 500 minutes more, the fact Jota has had more shots from these two small but vital areas than Romelu Lukaku has had in total speaks volumes for the relative success of the two signings at this point.
As Mane has had the fourth most shots in the Premier League so far this season, it is slightly surprising that he has only dominated one of the zones of the pitch.
But then his movement in-and-around the penalty area means he has taken high value shots from areas in which you may not expect to find a left-sided forward.
In any case, Liverpool also have Mohamed Salah and the Egyptian has proven adept at leading the league in multiple areas of the pitch.
In the graphic designed by Jon Ollington, there are 20 zones which are at least some part inside the penalty box, and Salah has had more shots than anybody else in seven of them.
There are nine sections in which you wouldn’t expect a forward starting on the right of the attack to dominate too.
And there’s an eye-catching name in one of the few on the right of the box for which Salah is not the top flight’s most dominant player: Jarrod Bowen.
The West Ham man has long been linked with a move to Liverpool, and it while it would obviously take more than this for the Reds to try to prise him away from east London, it’s interesting that he has carved out a niche in what is firmly otherwise Salah territory.
With Luis Diaz having taken at least four shots in every start he’s made for the Reds, perhaps by this time next season he will be the dominant force on the left side of the box.
If that happens, there may not be a player from any other club in charge of a zone of the penalty area and that would only be a good thing for Liverpool.
