Liverpool’s season reached a new nadir at Villa Park as they slumped to a 4-2 defeat, their 19th across all competitions, while setting an unwanted club record of 52 Premier League goals conceded in a single campaign. The away end emptied long before the final whistle, mirroring the Anfield exodus against Chelsea, as supporters voted with their feet for the second week running. The sight of a contrite Dominik Szoboszlai apologising to the travelling faithful summed up the mood: another feeble performance, another record broken, and the Champions League place that once seemed assured now hanging by a thread.
Manager Arne Slot cited nine senior players missing through injury, but that explanation wore thin after his side had a full week to prepare for each of their past three matches—against Manchester United, Chelsea, and Villa—and delivered substandard displays in all of them. The defensive disarray was laid bare by Ollie Watkins, who netted twice and later admitted, “They’re disjointed at the back and I feel like there’s a lot of space for me to run into. I’m going to get chances against them.” His words echoed a glaring truth: excluding penalties, Liverpool have conceded 20 set-piece goals this season, the most in the division, and opponents routinely exploit the gaps between centre-backs and full-backs.
Slot’s post-match assessment was blunt: “After it went 2-1 we crumbled.” The crumbling was symbolic of a team bereft of confidence and cohesion. Jamie Carragher’s pre-match observation on Sky Sports that Liverpool “are very poor in possession and very poor out of possession” proved prophetic. Aside from a bright spark offered by 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha, none of the senior players stepped up to seize control. A midfield that once dominated was overrun, and a defence that conceded five at Old Trafford and then four at Villa Park has now leaked 32 goals in their last 18 league outings.
The fallout is not just on the pitch. Slot acknowledged the growing disconnect with the fanbase: “I can understand at this moment in time they don’t have confidence or a lot of feeling that things can be much better next season.” He urged patience, pointing to the transformative power of a summer transfer window, but skepticism is mounting. Former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp added weight to the unease: “They’re an educated fanbase, they don’t really turn on their managers—but you see it, you hear it, a lot of people are maybe going away from wanting him as the manager next year.” Redknapp, however, argued that winning the league title the previous season should earn Slot another year, even if performances must improve.
That title win now feels like a distant memory. Liverpool’s away record against the top nine is a damning played eight, lost seven, drawn one. A team that prided itself on pressing and control now struggles to impose itself in either phase of the game. The explanation from Slot that “we need a little bit of transition this summer” contrasts sharply with the scale of the rebuild many supporters believe is necessary. With Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson reportedly set to bid farewell after the final home game against Brentford, an era is closing, yet there is little sense of a coherent plan to replace it.
The consequences for this season are immediate. With one point from nine available, Liverpool’s hold on the final Champions League spot has become precarious. Bournemouth, four points behind, and Brighton, six adrift but with a superior goal difference, both have games in hand. If Bournemouth take points from their trip to Manchester City or Brighton win at Leeds, the race will go to the final day, when Liverpool face Brentford at Anfield. Should Bournemouth and Brighton both win their penultimate matches, Liverpool would begin the last round just one point clear of Bournemouth and three ahead of Brighton—a situation that could unravel with one more slip.
It is a situation entirely of Liverpool’s own making. The concession of 22 goals in their last seven matches betrays a fragility that opponents—from relegation battlers to European contenders—have exploited ruthlessly. Slot may pin his hopes on a transfer window, but the immediate fix must come from within a squad that still contains quality but appears drained of belief. As Redknapp noted, “There are mitigating circumstances from before the season,” referring to the injury crisis that has robbed the team of key figures, yet a lot of the blame, he insists, “is on him.”
The coming days will shape the narrative around Slot’s tenure. Victory over Brentford, combined with favourable results elsewhere, would spare some blushes, but the underlying issues—a leaky defence, a misfiring attack, and a fanbase growing restless—will not be solved by a single result. The summer may offer a reset, but for now, Anfield is a place of anxiety rather than anticipation. The final whistle at Villa Park was merely the latest chapter in a season that promised so much but is delivering a painful reckoning.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.
