Liverpool have suffered another defeat, this time against Aston Villa. The 4-2 loss marks their 19th defeat of the season across all competitions. Plenty inside the away end at Villa Park had seen enough and were out long before full-time. Dominik Szoboszlai apologised to the remaining travelling fans after his mistake.
Manager Arne Slot spoke before the game about having nine players missing, but that is no excuse for yet another feeble performance from his team. As Jamie Carragher said pre-match on Sky Sports: “They [Liverpool] are very poor in possession and very poor out of possession.”
Away Day Woes Continue for Liverpool
Liverpool’s record away from home against the rest of the top nine is played eight, lost seven, drawn one. This latest defeat means Liverpool have now conceded more than 50 goals in a 38-game Premier League campaign for the first time (52). Excluding penalties, they have conceded the most goals from set-pieces in the Premier League this season (20).
“We’ve conceded far too many goals – but I think we’ve also scored not enough goals,” Slot told Sky Sports. “We were fully in the game, fully able maybe to get a result but I agree that after it went 2-1 we crumbled.”
Ngumoha a Rare Spark in Lacklustre Performance
In Birmingham, Liverpool’s only real threat all evening came from 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha. Credit to the teenager for being one of the rare sparks of joy this season, but Liverpool needed senior players to step up. In midfield and defence, Liverpool have been poor.
Slot Acknowledges Need for Change
Slot says Liverpool only need a little bit of transition this summer and he has every reason to believe he will be the manager next season, but his side are a mess.
“I can understand at this moment in time [the fans] don’t have confidence or a lot of feeling that things can be much better next season, but I think they are underestimating what a transfer window can do, what a new start can do,” Slot said.
Regardless of the injury crisis, Liverpool have had a full week to prepare for each of their past three games against Manchester United, Chelsea and Villa and still delivered three poor performances. At Old Trafford, United gifted them a way back into the game which Liverpool still lost, then against Chelsea, Slot’s men failed to beat a side that had lost their previous six league matches.
Champions League Spot in Jeopardy
With one point in the past three games for Liverpool, the chance is still there for Bournemouth or Brighton to capitalise and take the last Champions League spot.
It is entirely Liverpool’s own doing that they cou