Aston Villa lost their third Premier League game of the season on Saturday evening as Liverpool beat them 2-0 at Anfield – and Unai Emery’s tactics contributing to Ollie Watkins’ poor form were laid bare.Aston Villa had won their previous four games in the Premier League ahead of the trip to Merseyside, but they came unstuck after some careless defending.Emiliano Martinez gifted Mohamed Salah the ball to see Villa go behind at the break, and when Ryan Gravenberch doubled the lead just before the hour, it led to Unai Emery being criticised for his tactics. Click to subscribe to the podcast And with Ollie Watkins being given little support, it’s no wonder the England international hasn’t been at his best in recent months.Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty ImagesOllie Watkins has had a poor season by his standards for Aston VillaIn each of his five full seasons at Aston Villa, Ollie Watkins has registered at least double figures in the Premier League.His best was a 19-goal campaign in the 2023-24 season, where Aston Villa ended up qualifying for the Champions League via a fourth-placed finish in the table, and he still managed 16 last season after playing every game.But this season has seen him massively falter in front of goal. Just one strike in 14 games in all competitions, coming against Fulham, has seen England star Watkins come under criticism for his lack of firepower.That was evident against Liverpool. The Reds’ high press meant that Villa couldn’t play out of defence as they would have liked and despite starting the game as the better side, they rarely laid a glove on Liverpool until it was too late.Watkins failed to manage a single shot, completed just nine passes, and made just 18 touches in the defeat at Anfield.That was his lowest since Aston Villa’s 1-1 draw with Sunderland back in mid-September, and not being able to use their outlet meant once Liverpool went 1-0 up, it was always going to be difficult for Villa.There is a real danger that Watkins won’t hit double figures in the league for the first time in a decade if Villa don’t start utilising him how they did in Emery’s first days as Villa manager.Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty ImagesAshley Williams pinpointed the exact errors Aston Villa made vs LiverpoolOllie Watkins’ lack of service was easy for all to see.And that was picked up by former Premier League defender Ashley Williams, as he called Villa ‘obsessed’ for their idea of playing out from the back which evidently didn’t work.Speaking on BBC’s Match of the Day, Williams said: “We know Unai Emery is very tactically sound, but I was confused about the way he set his team up today with the tactics that he was playing.“They had numerous chances to play the ball into the position [number six], where Liverpool have struggled.“But they seemed obsessed with playing the short pass, and Liverpool were very front-footed today.“Here’s another chance to play the ball long to Ollie Watkins, who is good at holding the ball up. It’s not long enough.“It was every single time with [Emiliano] Martinez. Pau Torres can play the same ball from this position, but he turns it down and they want to play through midfield.“It’s slow, sluggish and not sharp enough. They’ve had lots of warnings. Torres is on the ball with no pressure – if you’ve got Ollie Watkins up front, hit him or put him in behind and make the defenders run back to their own goal and deal with it.”The result was Villa’s third loss of the campaign, and there is no shame in losing against the reigning champions, but they’ll need to buck their ideas up to avoid mistakes like that in the future.