Arne Slot speaks on Liverpool’s ‘damaging’ defeat to Aston Villa

Arne Slot speaks on Liverpool’s ‘damaging’ defeat to Aston Villa

Liverpool Falter as Aston Villa Expose Arne Slot’s Set Piece Problem

Liverpool’s 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa was not merely a bad night. It was a costly one. Arne Slot’s side arrived knowing that control of their own fate required authority, concentration and clean execution. Instead, their final away game of the Premier League season became another reminder of familiar flaws.

Morgan Rogers struck just before half-time, Virgil van Dijk responded after the break, then Aston Villa pulled away through Ollie Watkins and John McGinn. Van Dijk’s second header in stoppage time only softened the scoreline.

Slot was blunt afterwards: “Damaging because we needed either a win or maybe, maybe, maybe two draws would have been enough as well.”

Set pieces keep hurting Liverpool

For Liverpool, the central concern was not effort. It was structure. Two Van Dijk goals from set pieces should normally be enough to tilt an away match. Instead, Liverpool again lost the dead-ball battle.

Slot admitted: “We scored two set-pieces over here, so usually you think if you go to an away game or any game where you score two set-pieces, usually you’re quite sure of a result – unless you concede three set-pieces, what we did.”

That line tells the story. Against Manchester United, and now Aston Villa, Liverpool have been punished in a phase of the game that separates elite sides from hopeful ones. When margins are tight, restarts become decisive.