Liverpool Player Ratings: Ngumoha Shines as Villa Expose Slot’s Side Again
Liverpool collapsed to another damaging defeat away to Aston Villa and, once again, the same issues haunted Arne Slot’s side.
Defensively fragile, lacking intensity and completely unable to deal with pressure in the second half, Liverpool now head into the final game of the season still needing points to guarantee Champions League qualification.
Here’s how the players rated after another miserable evening.
Giorgi Mamardashvili – 6
Still doesn’t fully look comfortable in a Liverpool shirt.
There’s something strange about how such a huge goalkeeper can still seem slow getting across goal at times, and that was noticeable again for Villa’s opener.
To his credit though, he made some excellent reflex saves and actually kept the scoreline from becoming even more embarrassing in the second half.
The problem is he simply isn’t getting enough protection from the players in front of him.
Joe Gomez – 4
Tried to get forward and offer width but defensively Liverpool looked vulnerable throughout.
You can’t really question his effort, but Liverpool still look unbalanced in that position.
Ibrahima Konaté – 4
Didn’t look composed at all.
The communication across Liverpool’s back line was poor and Villa exposed it repeatedly.
Once Villa gained confidence, Konate looked all over the place.
Virgil van Dijk – 5
A strange game from the captain.
Scored twice and briefly dragged Liverpool back into the match, but defensively looked unusually passive at times and gave far too much room to Villa’s attackers.
Still one of Liverpool’s best players overall, but even he now looks dragged down by the chaos around him.
Milos Kerkez – 4
Energetic going forward and tried to work with Ngumoha down the left side, but looked shaky defensively once Villa increased the pressure.
Like most of Liverpool’s defenders, confidence disappeared quickly.
Alexis Mac Allister – 3
Completely off the pace again.
Slow in possession, frustrated throughout and looked nowhere near his best physically or mentally.
Right now he looks like a player desperately needing a reset.
Ryan Gravenberch – 3
Second best all night in midfield.
Villa completely outran Liverpool in central areas and Gravenberch struggled badly with the intensity of the game.
Substituted after another difficult performance.
Dominik Szoboszlai – 5
Actually carried the ball well during parts of the match and his delivery for Van Dijk’s first goal was excellent.
But his awful slip that gifted Villa another goal summed up Liverpool’s night perfectly.
One good moment followed immediately by disaster.
Curtis Jones – 5
Worked hard and helped Liverpool during their better moments in the first half.
But like many others, faded badly once the game turned against them.
Rio Ngumoha – 8
By far Liverpool’s brightest player.
Fearless, direct and constantly willing to take responsibility when senior players around him disappeared.
Very unlucky not to score after hitting the post with a superb effort.
The fact a teenager looked Liverpool’s biggest threat says everything about this team right now.
Cody Gakpo – 3
Completely ineffective up front.
Liverpool persist with using him centrally despite it clearly not working, and Villa handled him comfortably all game.
Substituted after offering almost nothing.
Substitutes
Federico Chiesa – 4
Never really got into the game and looked positionally uncertain after coming on.
Florian Wirtz – 4
A few classy touches but arrived into a game Liverpool already looked mentally beaten in.
Mohamed Salah – 5
Still looked short of fitness.
Sad to potentially see one of Liverpool’s greatest ever players involved in performances like this during the final stage of his Liverpool career.
Arne Slot – 3
Another terrible night for the Liverpool manager.
The team looked passive from the start, collapsed again under pressure and defensively appeared completely disorganised.
That has become the story of Liverpool’s season.
Twelve league defeats now is simply unacceptable for a side that entered the campaign as defending champions.
At this point, Liverpool don’t just look low on confidence — they look badly coached.
And that’s why the pressure around Slot’s future is only growing stronger with every passing week.
Jamie (The Kopite View)
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