Aston Villa 3-3 Liverpool: Player Ratings – Liverpool FC

Stupidity, chaos and ineptitude reigned in defense as Liverpool gave up a two-goal lead late on to only take a 3-3 draw away to Aston Villa in Jurgen Klopp’s final away game.

Aston Villa 3-3 Liverpool

Premier League (37)
May 13, 2024

Objectives: 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 strike from Tielemans and then again by Diaby from a narrow angle, with Ali appearing to dive wide of his post on that occasion – but Carlos dispatched on that occasion, thankfully.

I have to say that our No.1 was given almost no protection by a defense that was quite frequently rattled, but even so he seemed to writhe horribly on the deck as shots went past him, marked for offside and otherwise.

Poor pass out against Watkins did one of them, too, before he was beaten twice late on and made a phenomenal stop in injury time.

Trent Alexander-Arnold – 4

Pretty quiet save for the odd burst ahead. A shot flew wide, then a stray pass let Diaby in for what should have been a goal.

Not solid defensively, hasn’t been seen rooting on the overlap often. Shy in the challenge. Basically a pretty late season game where he didn’t matter and didn’t care.

Jarell Quansah – 6

Beaten too easily down the right channel by Ollie Watkins for Villa’s equalizer – but that’s what his late-season team-up is all about.

We (and he) need to know what he is capable of both on a regular basis and against better teams and attackers than he has faced in the Europa League and the lesser lights of the top flight.

He happily returned to stop the exact same player the very next time, running to block Watkins, who was played one-on-one. He started the second half by putting in a header for his first league goal, but he still defends it wildly and madly at the other end as well.

Virgil van Dijk – 5

Fairly good in duels when the ball came to him, but Villa did a pretty good job of keeping the play away from him for the most part.

Even so, the lack of importance in this game was visible in how often he was left with his feet rather than rising to intercept or block – see Duran’s first. Part of a very disorganized defense after the break.

Joe Gomez – 5

Beaten by Diaby a couple of times after being restored at left-back in Robertson’s absence, but produced a lovely overlap and a little cross (definitely not a shot, eh?!) to set up Gakpo to restore our lead .

Bad second half defensively. Messy and messy, chaotic and rarely in line, last ditch too often.

Wataru Endo – 5

Good on the ball, absent from it. Villa tend to be quite channel-centric in terms of build-up play, to be fair, so he can be easily excused for not always being in the middle of it, but he hasn’t exactly been in central challenges either .

He moved it around with care and made a few rebounds, but not a game where he gave the Reds much control overall. It needs a huge upgrade this summer.

Alexis McAllister – 5

Like too many of his colleagues, he was capable of some sublime passes, but far more moments of zero concentration, summed up by giving Villa a chance, a goal and a late boost when the result should have to be concluded.

We had some great form at the start of the year but that has gone well at this stage.

Harvey Elliott – 6

The first run down the right ended with a cross that was kicked for an assist, technically. A few more noisy runs created moments of danger without the right pass at the end soon after.

It faded as the game went on in terms of attacking impact, but at least the running and effort was mostly on point. A player who has taken advantage of every opportunity this season, unlike some.

Mohamed Salah – 4

A curling effort was deflected early on and then most of the rest of his game was close misses, with most of his teammates’ passes missing him.

Marginalized by the lack of control of the game. He might have scored one – it would have been Elliott – but the offside flag was up anyway.

Two goals in eight games now.

Cody Gakpo – 7 – Man of the match

He was seemingly given a chance at the end of the campaign to impress ahead of next season and continued his recent impact performances by netting 2-1 from close range.

Some good moments where he used his new-found physicality and speed to take defenders out of the way and he certainly benefited from the fact that neither team opted to defend at all tonight.

Decent enough impact, more consistent than the two next to it.

Luis Diaz – 5

Involved in Gakpo’s goal with a well-weighted pass, but then should have helped Salah with a routine through ball – hit him miserably.

He continued to run into danger or on closed streets. He didn’t really have the finishing touch he needed, but you could say that about most players on the night. It slows down the game too often.

Substitutes

Dominik Szoboszlai (for Diaz, 75′) – 5 – A shot after running down the right. Not much else. It was never properly used by Klopp.

Darwin Nunez (for Gakpo, 75′) – 5 – Showed great composure to score – but was usually offside.

Curtis Jones (for Endo, 75′) – 5 — Nothing remarkable.

Ryan Gravenberch (in place of Elliott, 75′) – 5 – Looked pretty furious at conceding goals after coming on, while doing very little to prevent them.

Subs not used: Kelleher, Konate, Tsimikas, Bradley, Bajcetic

Jurgen Klopp – 5

He avoided the much-hyped yellow card that would have seen him suspended for his farewell game at Anfield. Even though it was Simon Hooper in the middle, there was nothing to lean on the play, so no real danger there.

In terms of team selection, 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 any of this as anything other than giving a few a chance to impress the next group of coaches, given that there’s nothing in the way of results.

We had a pretty fun encounter though due to the still present ability to attack well and in numbers, but the defense was a bit of a joke. Concentration levels are sadly lacking, it seems.

With nothing to change, watch or really worry about, it was just about getting over, winning and going into the last bye week of Jurgen Klopp’s time at Liverpool – but his replacements changed from new game in the wrong way and it is a rather lame until the end of the campaign. I didn’t bother to make a fifth submarine.