Liverpool's Dutch manager Arne Slot reacts to conceding their fourth goal during the English Premier League football match between Aston Villa and Liverpool at Villa Park in Birmingham, central England on May 15, 2026. (Photo by Darren Staples / AFP via Getty Images) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. /
Arne Slot looks dejected after Aston Villa make it 4-1 against his well-beaten Liverpool side (Image: Darren Staples / AFP via Getty Images)
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The post-match airing of the Champions League anthem, to confirm Aston Villa's place next season, will have felt like insult to injury for a Liverpool side well beaten here.
These are halcyon days in this part of Birmingham. Confirmation of their participation in the revamped and hugely lucrative European Cup is now official, with a Europa League final to come next week, featuring a manager famed for his prowess in that particular fixture.
The lap of appreciation and the end-of-season party that followed outside Villa Park itself provided all the evidence needed of a club seriously on the up. They are all in it together round these parts. The same can't be said at Anfield just now.
For Liverpool - the team Villa leapfrogged into fourth with this 4-2 victory - only tough questions remain. And they will rage loudest for Arne Slot, who, despite insisting his job is safe on Thursday, must be wondering just how damaging this all was to those claims in his pre-match press conference.
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It was another miserable night for the Reds, devoid of charm for the travelling fans who are likely fed up at this point.
It leaves Liverpool potentially needing a result against Brentford next Sunday at Anfield to secure their spot in the Champions League draw alongside Villa. A day that was meant to be about saying farewell to legendary figures Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson may now carry an uneasy amount of jeopardy. Even qualifying for the competition they need to finance the necessary transfer business won't send them into the summer months free of inquests. Far from it, in fact.
Not since the 2014/15 campaign have the Reds lost 12 Premier League games and it is easy to draw comparisons with the final months of Brendan Rodgers's time as manager to what is unfolding now. This, despite the mitigation - the injuries and the misfortune - is simply not good enough for a club who are still, for another week at least, the champions of England.
Villa started the brighter of the two sides and had a couple of presentable chances for Ollie Watkins who shot tamely at Giorgi Mamardashvili before firing over after dancing inside Virgil van Dijk.
But Liverpool began to get a foothold in the game and enjoyed the lion's share of the possession without the necessary guile in the final third. A listless Cody Gakpo, once more leading the line in Alexander Isak's injury-enforced absence, struggled to break down the hosts' defence and was offside when he tucked home from Emi Martinez's spillage.
With 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha on one side and central midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai on the other, it was no surprise the Reds lacked sufficient threat and it was Villa who broke the deadlock on the cusp of half time when Morgan Rogers steered home.
The accusations that Slot's side have been inconsistent are wildly off target. They have been scarily consistent in their displays and this once more followed the same pattern of ponderous build-up and uninspired approach play around the edge of the opposition box.
Had Martinez not spilled Ryan Gravenberch's effort into the path of the offside Gakpo, Liverpool wouldn't have come close to troubling the Europa League finalists in the opening half. Szoboszlai's 30-yard saved effort was a close as the away fans came to inching toward the edge of their seats.
The Reds found their way back into things with striking ease when Van Dijk nodded home Szoboszlai's free-kick but the number of mistakes made after going level were glaring.
First, Szoboszlai slipped to allow Watkins the chance to make it 2-1 from Rogers' pass before, more worryingly, Liverpool lost their tactical shape when Curtis Jones dropped to right-back and Federico Chiesa was introduced with Florian Wirtz. By the time Watkins scored his second goal, after 73 minutes, the Reds' defensive structure was a total mess.
Mohamed Salah was eventually summoned but even he is past such rescue acts now as he enters the final days of his storybook Anfield career. And it was left to John McGinn, so full of the sort of qualities Liverpool are sorely lacking, to curl home a beauty and condemn the visitors to their 19th defeat across all competitions. Van Dijk headed home another consolation but it meant little.
For a club who have their biggest game in decades on Wednesday night, the energy, desire and tenacity in their performance should leave the Reds with serious questions of themselves. Not one player in claret and blue had that Istanbul showpiece on their minds.
In contrast, Liverpool continue to feel sorry for themselves. Their head coach will point to the lengthy list of absentees, and while he may have a point, the same ordinary brand of football has been evident for too long, regardless of the available personnel. Full weeks on the training pitch appear to yield little on match-days.
And the issue for the Reds, by choosing to stick with Slot - which has never truly been in question beyond growing numbers of supporters apparently feeling it is needed - is that they will need to be flawless from pretty much the first whistle of next season to quell dissent.
That need for perfection leaves so little room for error. Surely those conditions can't lead to long-term prosperity?
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