Aston Villa v Liverpool - A Not So Quick Liverpool Perspective

Aston Villa v Liverpool A Liverpool Perspective




The usual story, wrong team choices, wrong tactics, boring football, it is just copy and paste all season. The only real difference has been the scorelines. This time Slot decided to start with a back three, Jones bizarrely playing right wing-back. It, unsurprisingly, failed miserably and the team reverted to a back four, but there was an imbalance to the side. It does seem Slot has learnt nothing, as the formation has never been an issue and changing it achieved nothing other than to make the players uncomfortable. When the tactics are clearly the problem, but you stick with the same ones, with only the front four making any attempt to press, and that half-arsed at best, while the midfield get stuck in no man's land as the defence drops off as fast as Virgil can go. Until they play like a team, either dropping off together and holding positions or all squeeze up together, there will always be major problems.

When you add that to the dross when on the ball, that is so ponderous and tedious that the commentators got bored enough to start discussing a balloon that was floating across the pitch, it is little wonder that the club is in turmoil. I have not even mentioned the lack of fitness or players' revolt against Slot's turgid regime either. It is astonishing that LFC are anywhere near qualifying for the Champions League this season, the play has certainly not deserved it, the total lack of creativity from open play has not deserved it and the manager and players' part-time hours have definitely deserved nothing. It is little wonder Salah has spoken out, just a shame Slot's ego is so huge that he will never see the truth in anything said as it criticises him and he cannot take criticism at all.

The problem is that the stats guys will point at the two possible (in the case of Martinez in the second half holding onto van Dijk's shirt I would say probable as he held on for so long it was laughable) penalties for Liverpool and the possession statistics in order to make it seem like it was bad luck and/or poor officiating that cost them. It was not either of those though. It was, as always, lack of work (the distance the team is covering has fallen massively from the levels under Klopp), lack of fight and lack of teamwork, all of which is stemming from a manager who is failing miserably. How much longer before someone acts and puts us Liverpool out of our misery and removes Slot? How much longer do we have to put up with moronic mouthpieces in the media making excuses for his failings? If I have to listen to David James telling live TV that Slot has done brilliant in first two seasons, so much better than Jurgen Klopp managed in his first three, I fear I might explode or at least throw something through the TV!



Aston Villa


Villa are no mugs, they have qualified for UCL next season (thanks to this victory) and they are in the Europa League final and they played well. The most obvious thing was the style of play was so much more cohesive. They were dropping off as a unit and springing forward on the attack with pace. They were taking advantage of the spaces being left to run at Liverpool and not wasting time passing it sideways if there was a forward pass on. Where LFC were taking a lot of passes to go from back to front, they were taking just two or three. Often Rogers would just run it forward, using the space to get right at the defence. Liverpool were given no time to organise their defence to keep them out and they probably should have scored more.

One thing that did stand out about Villa was their set pieces, both for how good they were offensively and how poor they were defensively. Their set piece coach McPhee is very good at coming up with imaginative routines to get the ball into dangerous areas and create opportunities, but his ability to organise them to deal with Liverpool's set pieces has to be questioned. Especially as both Liverpool's goals came from van Dijk getting on to a set piece. Maybe set piece coaching needs to be even more specialised and there needs to be offensive and defensive set piece coaches?



Liverpool


Mamardashvili - I really do not understand why he was bought, he might look good on a spreadsheet, but the minute you watch him play you can see that he is useless for this style of play and not a top class shotstopper either. If he becomes first choice keeper, Liverpool are in real trouble. Nowhere near good enough in any area of play. Probably should have saved a couple of their goals as well. Someone needs sacking for bringing him in.


Gomez - ended up being the main provider of width on his side for long periods, as no one was ahead of him a lot of the time, with Jones wandering about all over the pitch.


Konate - he is absolutely disastrous in this set up, he has no concentration level, he just wanders around aimlessly chasing players, rather than looking to be in position. At least with a high press, the rest of the backline could push up and mitigate the problem somewhat by closing up the space, giving him less room to roam. When they drop off, it just means that he tries to cover huge empty swathes of grass. His weak attempt to try and pretend to have passion, after throwing himself to the ground so pathetically under the slightest push by Watkins, was just embarrassing. The only place he really shows passion is in the local fashion boutiques getting the latest trash off the catwalk. His one-on-one defending is shocking, and basically consists of holding on and hoping the referee does not notice.


van Dijk - he is one of the biggest problems in the team and I am not referring to his support for Slot's disastrous reign. I am talking about his defending, or rather lack of it these days. It is he who sets the line and it is up to the others to take their position from it, but he is just cowardly now. He has lost his stellar confidence and just drops off straight away, even if the front players press. Those moments when he should be holding or even pushing up, he is busy running away back towards his goal. That is a huge problem as it is creating the huge gaps which leave the midfield in no man's land.


Kerkez - I feel sorry for him, he makes run after run after run forward and just gets ignored constantly. The one time he did get a pass, he produced a good cross but no one tried to attack it. It is really disturbing how must effort he is putting in for his teammates for such little return. Every wide player just cuts in and wastes possession, while he is there in acres of space just waiting. One of the few to show fight as well.


Szoboszlai - unfortunately for him, his game will be remembered for a hit and hope from miles out and a slip leading to a goal. It is a shame as once again he was all over the pitch trying to make things happen for the team. If only the rest of the team gave as much as the two Hungarians, we would look a lot better as a team. Though we would still be stuck with Slot's abysmal tactics....


Mac Allister - how is he not embarrassed by his pathetic cheating antics? Just please get rid of him (yes, I did have to retype this a few times to remove the swearing!), he is a hindrance. He is not even trying to hide his diving.


Gravenberch - when he was just sweeping up in front of the back four last season, he was excellent, but now he is just wandering about the pitch having little to no impact. He has no idea of when to get forward and when to stay back, no football brain at all.


Jones - he has flashes of good play, but that is all. He has no positional sense, he does not ever take a game and impose himself on it, he just flits in and out constantly.


Ngumoha - gets the ball, runs, waves his feet, maybe beats a couple of players but always ends up running into dead ends. Is nobody coaching him to vary his game? To make runs outside sometimes instead of always cutting in or to play the full-back in who overlaps him? He is way off being anything near a Premier League player right now and it shows how bad the team is playing that he is creating such excitement by doing so little of real value yet. It is not like when Fowler or Owen broke through and just lit up the team. It is worrying as the coaching right now at the club is so bad that he shows no sign of anything improving and he is being given no platform to get the most out of what he does have either. He reminds me a lot of Sterling, but Sterling made massive improvement by being played out of position at full-back, to teach him the game, I think he might need a similar treatment. Something certainly needs to be done to improve on his defensive awareness, one of the Villa goals he just stood and watched the player take his time before shooting, making no effort at all to put pressure on the ball. He is a bit on the lazy side defensively, it must be said, when you would expect a youngster desperate to make an impression overdo it, if anything. I think the promises of first team football to get him to sign are a big mistake, he is playing like a player who expects his place, rather than one looking to earn a long term place. His pressing is abysmal currently, he makes no attempt to actually close anything off, just gets in the general vicinity, while leaving loads of space to be played around.


Gakpo - abysmal performance, I know he is not a central striker but he should still be able to make a decent fist of it, he certainly has enough experience in the role. Oh and his understanding of offside is far worse than Darwin Nunez's ever was.


Chiesa - replaced Gomez in the 66th minute. Worked hard but got little service and spent large periods chasing back trying to help out.


Wirtz - was brought on in the stead of Gravenberch in the 66th minute. Never really got into the game, which was running away from Liverpool.


Salah - took the place of Gakpo in the 74th minute. The first question that needs to be asked is why he did not come on earlier? It is clear that the issue between the two is affecting Slot's decisions and he does not want to use him if possible. Still, it could be worse, despite the team losing so badly, he refused to even bother using anyone else off the bench, even though it was clearly needed.

Written by Tris Burke May 19 2026 09:06:22