Stupidity, chaos and ineptitude reigned in defence as Liverpool gave up a two-goal lead late on to only take a 3-3 draw from a trip to Aston Villa in Jurgen Klopp‘s final away game.
Aston Villa 3-3 Liverpool
Premier League (37)
May 13, 2024
Goals: Tielemans 14′, Duran 84′ 88′; Martinez OG 2′, Gakpo 22′, Quansah 48′
Alisson – 6 (out of 10)
Not his best game. Beaten by a fierce hit from Tielemans and then again by Diaby from a narrow angle, with Ali seemingly diving outside his post on that occasion – but Carlos sent it wide that time thankfully.
Have to say, our No.1 was given next to no protection by a defence which was a fairly frequently shambles, but even so he seemed to be squirming around on the deck an awful lot as the shots rolled in beyond him, flagged offside and otherwise.
Poor pass out against Watkins made one of them too, before he was beaten twice late on and made a phenomenal injury-time stop.
Trent Alexander-Arnold – 4
Pretty quiet save for the odd burst forward. One shot flew a bit wide, then one errant pass let Diaby in for what should have been a goal.
Not solid defensively, not often seen marauding on the overlap. Timid in the challenge. Basically a fairly end-of-season game where it didn’t matter and he didn’t care.
Jarell Quansah – 6
Beaten too easily down the right channel by Ollie Watkins for Villa’s equaliser – but this is what his run in the team is for at the end of the season.
We (and he) need to know what he’s capable of both on a regular basis and against better sides and attackers than he faced in the Europa League and the top flight’s lesser lights.
Pleasingly he bounced back to stop the exact same player the very next time, racing across to block Watkins who was played in one on one. Started the second half by looping in a header for his first league goal, but still some wild and wacky defending at the other end too.
Virgil van Dijk – 5
Pretty good in duels when the ball actually went near him, but Villa did a fairly good job of keeping play away from him for the most part.
Even so, the lack of importance on this game was visible in how often he stayed flat-footed rather than surging out to intercept or block – see Duran’s first. Part of a very messy defence after the break.
Joe Gomez – 5
Beaten by Diaby a few times after being restored to left-back in Robertson’s absence, but made a lovely overlap and low cross (definitely not a shot, right?!) to tee up Gakpo to restore our lead.
Defensively bad second half. Muddled and messy, chaotic and rarely in line, last-ditch too often.
Wataru Endo – 5
Alright on the ball, absent off it. Villa tend to be fairly channel-centric in terms of build-up play to be fair, so he can be mildly excused for not always being in the thick of it, but he wasn’t exactly fizzing into challenges centrally either.
Moved it neatly and made a few recoveries but not a game where he gave the Reds lots of control, by and large. A huge upgrade is needed this summer.
Alexis Mac Allister – 5
Like too many of his teammates, was capable of a few sublime passes but far more moments of zero concentration, summed up by him gifting Villa a chance, goal and momentum late on when the result should have been wrapped up.
Had a great run of form earlier in the year but that’s well gone at this stage.
Harvey Elliott – 6
First run down the right ended in a cross which was fumbled in for an assist, technically. A few more buzzing runs created moments of danger without the right pass at the end soon after.
Faded as the game went on in terms of attacking impact but at least the running and effort was mostly in place. A player who has taken all his opportunities this season, unlike some.
Mohamed Salah – 4
One curling effort was deflected just wide early on and then most of the rest of his game was about near misses, mostly teammates’ passes missing him.
Marginalised by a lack of control of the game. Possibly scored one – might have been Elliott – but the offside flag was up anyway.
Two goals in eight games now.
Cody Gakpo – 7 – Man of the Match
Seems to have been handed a late-campaign chance to impress ahead of next season and continued his recent impactful performances by tapping in for 2-1 from close range.
A few good moments where he used his new-found physicality and speed to knock defenders out of the way and definitely benefited by the fact neither team opted to defend at all tonight.
Decent enough impact, more consistent than the two alongside him.
Luis Diaz – 5
Involved in the Gakpo goal with a nicely weighted pass, but then should have assisted Salah with a routine through-ball – woefully over-hit it.
Kept running into danger or into closed off avenues. Didn’t really have the final touch he needed but you could say that about most players on the night. Slows down play too often.
Substitutes
Dominik Szoboszlai (on for Diaz, 75′) – 5 – One shot after running down the right. Not a lot else. Never been used correctly by Klopp.
Darwin Nunez (on for Gakpo, 75′) – 5 – Showed great composure to score – but was typically offside.
Curtis Jones (on for Endo, 75′) – 5 – Nothing of note.
Ryan Gravenberch (on for Elliott, 75′) – 5 – Looked suitably furious at the concession of goals after he came on, while doing very little to help prevent them.
Subs not used: Kelleher, Konate, Tsimikas, Bradley, Bajcetic
Jurgen Klopp – 5
Avoided the yellow card which was much-talked about that would have seen him banned for his farewell match at Anfield. Even if it was Simon Hooper in the middle, there wasn’t anything resting on the game so no real danger there.
Team selection wise, it was more of the same as recently, meaning he kept the chances coming for Quansah and Elliott in particular – plus Gakpo in attack.
It’s hard to think of all this as anything other than giving a few a chance to impress the next set of coaching staff, given there’s nothing riding on anything as far as results are concerned.
Still, we got a fairly entertaining encounter thanks to some still-present capacity to attack well and in numbers, but the defending was a bit of a joke. Concentration levels sadly lacking, it seems.
With nothing to change, chase or really be concerned about, this was just about getting through, hopefully winning and moving on to the final, farewell week of Jurgen Klopp‘s time at Liverpool – but his subs again swung the game the wrong way and it’s a late limp to the end of the campaign instead. Didn’t bother making a fifth sub.
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