Aston Villa suffered a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday night, as we slipped to four consecutive losses across all competitions.
Goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah in either half secured all three points for the hosts, who took advantage of two counter-attacking opportunities to prise us open.
From a Villa perspective, this was a big improvement in terms of performance compared to our efforts against Tottenham and Club Brugge, and so there will be positives to take from it.
That said, there is a real sense of frustration too given our inability to be clinical in key moments and make the most of posing a threat, but the focus now is on regrouping over the international break and getting back on track.
Aston Villa player ratings vs Liverpool:
Emiliano Martinez, 6 – Didn’t have a great deal to do as we defended diligently for the most part, but was unable to prevent Liverpool in 1v1s for both of their goals.
Ezri Konsa, 7 – Did well to keep Diaz quiet for most of the game as he continued at right-back, and he capped off a strong defensive display with a brilliant last-man intervention to deny a potential goal.
Diego Carlos, 6 – Put in a decent defensive shift as he used his physicality well to limit Liverpool’s threat through the middle, but was often wayward with his passing which invited pressure.
Pau Torres, 6.5 – Similarly to the rest of the backline, he did well defensively while also posing a threat in the opposition box. Frustration that he wasn’t awarded a penalty for a clear shirt pull.
Lucas Digne, 6.5 – Worked tirelessly to keep Salah in check, albeit he did get too tight at times. Got forward and produced some dangerous deliveries into the box too before coming off in the latter stages.
Amadou Onana, 6.5 – Went close to getting on the scoresheet in the first half, but played a key role in midfield as he did well to break up Liverpool’s play and regain possession to give us a foothold before coming off in the second half again.
Youri Tielemans, 6.5 – Unclear how much of an issue his knee pain is, but he produced a better display in this one as he distributed possession effectively and showed tenacity off the ball to help us gain control at times.
Leon Bailey, 5 – Still searching for form frustratingly, as although he continues to work hard and puts in a shift for the team, it’s just not clicking for him in attacking areas to give us a decisive dynamic down the right flank.
Morgan Rogers, 6 – Once again showed great power and speed to pose a threat in the final third, but his end product was missing. Got that final pass wrong and missed a glorious chance at the start of the second half which could have changed the game.
Jacob Ramsey, 6 – Showed real intelligence and positional awareness to find pockets of space and lead our threat in counter-attacking moves. Similarly to Rogers though, didn’t have a clinical end product to his play before he was unfortunately forced off with a hamstring injury.
Ollie Watkins, 6 – Always going to be a difficult task going up against the two Liverpool centre-halves, but imposed himself well and worked tirelessly off the ball up top. He’s still lacking a killer instinct with his finishing though as we miss his clinical presence in front of goal.
Substitutes:
John McGinn, 6 – Better from the Villa skipper as he came on and had a positive impact after losing his starting place. Worked hard defensively and was involved in our build-up play to add rhythm and direction.
Jhon Duran, 5 – Didn’t have much of an impact in the latter stages as he’s not quite as impactful off the bench recently.
Jaden Philogene, 5 – Needs to play with more conviction and confidence. Got himself into a dangerous situation in the box, but took too long and the chance came and went.
Ian Maatsen, N/A
Boubacar Kamara, N/A