Liverpool legend John Aldridge has pulled no punches with a scathing verdict after Arne Slot's side lost a 19th game of the season, this time at the hands of Aston Villa
08:58, 17 May 2026
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot after his side's defeat to Aston Villa.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot after his side's defeat to Aston Villa.(Image: James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)
John Aldridge says Liverpool have made things far too easy for opponents this season after the Reds went down 4-2 at Aston Villa on Friday, losing for the 12th time in the Premier League this term.
Arne Slot's side will still finish inside the Champions League spots with a win against Brentford next weekend. However, it has been on the verge of getting over the line for a number of weeks without being able to mathematically tie things up.
"We've made it so easy for teams to play against us this season!" Aldridge wrote on Twitter/X. "I am flabbergasted by what I've seen. Aston Villa deserved it, obviously, but we were the reason behind it as much as they played well."
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After the game, Liverpool boss Slot admitted that he is frustrated by how things are going this season. However, he believes that getting the right players in during the summer transfer market will sort things out.
"(The defeat is) damaging because we needed either a win or maybe, maybe, maybe two draws would have been enough as well," Slot said at Villa Park.
"But now we know one thing for sure — that we need a win next week if we have to do it ourselves. As we all know, other teams, of course, need to pick up points as well for us to need a win.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot.(Image: James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)
"So that's really damaging that we were not able to get a result, let alone a win here today. There were parts in the game where I felt a result could have gone our way.
"But I think what people are mainly focused on is the period after the 2-1 where we couldn't find any momentum anymore and we conceded two other goals. That was the most difficult period in the game."
Liverpool has conceded more goals than ever before in a 38-game season and Slot's side once again looked wide open at the back while lacking quality in attack.
"It's frustrating because as a manager you're also responsible for if things happen time and time again — you are hired to try to prevent that for the next time," the Dutchman added.
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"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."
Liverpool.com says: Slot is right to say that he has been hamstrung by a lack of options. With a front three of Rio Ngumoha, Cody Gakpo and Curtis Jones, the Reds' forward line was never going to be filled with goals against Aston Villa.
With Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike out and Florian Wirtz and Mohamed Salah only available to come off the bench, those were some major absentees, which is a big mitigation. The big question is whether Liverpool fans have the patience to wait for things to turn around.