Liverpool were humiliated by Aston Villa on Friday night, tumbling to a 4–2 reverse at Villa Park which left Arne Slot’s side considering how much worse this disastrous campaign could still get.
A second-half rout from the hosts saw Villa leapfrog Liverpool into fourth in the Premier League table, leaving the beaten and battered Reds just four points above sixth-placed Bournemouth, who have a game in hand on their rivals for Champions League qualification.
Slot’s fallen title winners can still guarantee a spot at Europe’s top table with a win against Brentford on the final day of the season, yet, any performance vaguely resembling the whimpering mess which unraveled in front of a baying Holte End would be punished by any Premier League side.
Heroes and Villains
Hero
The one flicker of welcome light amid Liverpool’s raging dumpster fire of a season, Rio Ngumoha was once again his side’s standout player. The phlegmatic teenager wriggled at, around and often beyond Matty Cash throughout an enigmatic display, cruelly denied a goal his performance warranted by a stubborn post.
Ngumoha was making his 18th Premier League appearance of the season on Friday, equaling Michael Owen’s club record for top-flight outings while under the age of 18. If the impish trickster can come anywhere near the apex of Owen’s prodigious talent, Liverpool have a world-beater on their hands.
Villain
Dominik Szoboszlai may have stumbled to gift-wrap the first of Ollie Watkins’s two goals which put Villa into a lead that they never again relinquished, yet the fingerprints of this demise, and Liverpool’s collective malaise this term, belong to a figure higher up the club’s foodchain.
Slot sent out an odd XI stuffed with players comfortable on the ball and still saw his side constantly give up possession cheaply while getting cut through in transition.
Once Villa took a 2–1 lead shortly before the hour mark, the Dutch boss fell into his favorite trap of dispensing with any defensive coherence by tossing on every available forward. Yet again, these changes only served to leave Liverpool wildly exposed and not that much more threatening going forward.
Liverpool Player Ratings vs. Aston Villa (4-2-3-1)
GK: Giorgi Mamardashvili—5.0: Offered little assurance with the ball at his feet or when venturing beyond his penalty area. Stopped Watkins from running away with the match ball but hardly covered himself in glory.
RB: Joe Gomez—5.8: Tucked in to form a back-three when Liverpool had possession, leaving all the attacking width to be provided by his unequipped teammate.
CB: Ibrahima Konaté—5.4: Seemed to be playing with a case of vertigo, constantly off balance and unsteady.
CB: Virgil van Dijk—8.0: Undoubtedly the worst brace of his career. From the first whistle, Liverpool’s captain was well and truly rattled by Watkins, who seemed to be playing at a different frame rate compared to the slow-motion skipper.
LB: Milos Kerkez—5.7: Up against a player who prides himself on the size, power and useful of his backside, Kerkez was repeatedly pinned down at the back of John McGinn who was always in complete control.
CM: Ryan Gravenberch—6.1: Sauntering around the pitch on a balmy late spring afternoon, there was a lazy layer of doziness to Gravenberch’s game.
CM: Alexis Mac Allister—5.9: A thoroughly underwhelming outing was epitomized by Mac Allister’s failed and embarrassing attempt to get Ezri Konsa sent off.
AM: Dominik Szoboszlai—7.8: The Hungarian was not the only player to lose his footing but his slip proved to be the most costly. Balanced his performance with two assists for Van Dijk.
RW: Curtis Jones—7.7: Shunted out onto the right wing, the natural midfielder was tasked with getting chalk on his boots to stretch the pitch as much as possible, yet all that did was take him out of the action.
ST: Cody Gakpo—6.0: Each chance Gakpo was afforded seemed to be just another opportunity for his confidence to take another dent.
LW: Rio Ngumoha—7.2: Constantly demanded possession and used every touch of the ball to drive directly towards goal.
SUB: Federico Chiesa (67’ for Gomez)—6.1
SUB: Florian Wirtz (67’ for Gravenberch)—6.1
SUB: Mohamed Salah (76’ for Gakpo)—6.1
Subs not used: Freddie Woodman (GK), Andy Robertson, Trey Nyoni, James McConnell, Mor Talla Ndiaye, Will Wright.
What These Ratings Tell Us
- This was Gakpo’s eighth Premier League appearance of the season as a striker. His record stands at one goal and as many wins, capturing the individual and collective struggles which come when the left winger lines up through the middle. If Gakpo had the instincts of a striker, he would not have been cheaply caught offside when denied the opening goal midway through the first half.
- Slot took a leaf out of Unai Emery’s tactical playbook by fielding a natural central midfielder on the flanks in the form of Jones. It did not have the same effect, with the academy graduate almost entirely ineffective from his perch on the wing.
- Unai Emery is rarely fooled once, let alone twice. When Villa traveled to Anfield in November during Liverpool’s bleakest run of the season, they offered the Reds a mirage of comfort by playing into their hosts’ hands, quite literally. After watching so many sides get the better of the fallen Premier League champions by going long, Emery bizarrely instructed his side to play short passes straight into Liverpool’s press. But not on Friday. Emi Martínez was given a clear brief of knocking the ball over the top of the scurrying white shirts, which repeatedly set Watkins on his way to terrorize Liverpool’s befuddled backline.
The Numbers That Explain Liverpool’s Meek Defeat
- Villa’s set-piece coach Austin MacPhee earned a high-five from Morgan Rogers for his role in orchestrating a well-worked short corner to break the deadlock on Friday, but it hasn’t taken so much craft to deceive Liverpool from these scenarios this season. The Reds have conceded a division-high 19 Premier League goals from set pieces in 2025–26, more than double the tally they shipped while winning the top flight last term (nine).
- It was a largely even affair in the first half which ebbed and flowed, yet Liverpool wilted like cardboard in the rain after the interval, giving up a ridiculous seven shots on target and five big chances.
- Overall this season, Liverpool have shipped more than 50 league goals for the first time ever in a 38-game Premier League campaign. The last time the Reds boasted a worse defensive record was all the way back in 1993–94.
| Statistic | Aston Villa | Liverpool |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 45% | 55% |
| Expected Goals (xG) | 1.91 | 1.55 |
| Total Shots | 14 | 16 |
| Shots on Target | 9 | 5 |
| Big Chances | 5 | 4 |
| Passing Accuracy | 83% | 87% |
| Fouls Committed | 3 | 1 |
| Corners | 4 | 9 |
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Liverpool Player Ratings vs. Aston Villa: Doomsday Scenario Looms.
