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GOAL! Aston Villa 3-1 Liverpool (Watkins 73)
Aston Villa are romping into the Champions League!
71 min: VAR check Mac Allister goes down holding his face after an altercation with Konsa. It’s a load of nonsense, really. They pushed each other in the chest, at which point Konsa grabbed a bit of Mac Allister’s shirt and moved his hand towards his face. It wasn’t a punch, not even close, and it’s been cleared by VAR.
70 min: Buendia hits the bar!
Villa have run Liverpool ragged in the second half. This time it’s the turn of Buendia, who cuts inside from the left and curls an extravagant shot towards the far corner. It beats Mamardashvili – he didn’t move – and hits the crossbar.
69 min “They need to get rid of this pointless open-play business,” writes Paul Griffin. “All this passing and movement is betraying the essence of the game, which is to whip the ball into the back stick towards a group of men in pastel shirts jostling and bumping like they’re having an altercation in a 3am kebab house.”
I swear I heard Pointless Open-Play Business on 6 Music earlier. Or was it 3am Kebab House?
68 min A glorious chance for Villa on the break. Martinez’s quick kick out is controlled excellently by Watkins – but then he underhits a simple through pass to Rogers. That allows the last defender Kerkez to make a vital challenge.
67 min: Double substitution for Liverpool Federico Chiesa and Florian Wirtz replace Ryan Gravenberch and Joe Gomez.
66 min McGinn is booked for leaving a bit on Kerkez.
65 min: Mamardashvili denies Watkins again! Watkins looks so sharp. He makes another perfectly timed run to meet Rogers’ pass and reverse a close-range shot that is superbly stopped by Mamardashvili.
64 min “Another really difficult watch,” says Kev McManus. “Been going to see Liverpool for 50 years now. I know time plays tricks with your memory but this season has been painful. It’s as bad as I can remember, right up there with the Hodgson and the end of Brendan Rogers. No plan, no vision, no passion. It sounds like we are sticking with manager but I’m not convinced and most of the people I speak to at the match feel the same.”
63 min Watkins goes over after a desperate challenge from the last man Konate. The referee waves play on and, though you can argue it was a foul, it certainly wasn’t clear and obvious.
62 min Gomez is booked for a late tackle on Buendia.
61 min Liverpool aren’t happy that Watkins escaped a second yellow card just before he put Villa ahead. I can see both sides!
59 min: Another chance for Watkins!
The game has exploded into life. Liverpool lose the ball in the centre circle and are sliced apart with two passes: Rogers to Buendia to Watkins, who runs through on goal and tries to lift the ball over the outrushing Mamardashvili. He makes a fine save, then the ball ricochets off Watkins’ head and bounces wide of goal.
This is a nightmare for Liverpool. Dominik Szoboszlai, their player of the season, slipped as he shaped to receive a throw-in deep in his own half. Rogers collected the loose ball and crossed early for Watkins, who steered an excellent first-time finish into the far corner.
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-1 Liverpool (Watkins 57)
Oh dear.
56 min: Ngumoha hits the post!
This kid is sensational. He shuffles infield from the left, away from Cash and McGinn, before whipping a curling shot that hits the inside of the far post. Gakpo puts the rebound over the bar, an open goal but a tough chance because the ball came at him so quickly.
55 min Watkins is flagged offside before running through to score. He was booked for that in the first half, so in theory he could have been sent off, but on that occasion I’m pretty sure he didn’t hear the whistle.
55 min “Despite Liverpool’s continued mauveness, I do dig this away kit,” writes Ian Copestake. “All-a-tinkle with nostalgia for Terry Mac in his version and the all-conquering late 70s team.”
54 min: Goal given! It was a really accomplished header from Van Dijk, who judged the weight perfectly as he steered it back across Martinez.
VAR check Villa thought somebody was fouled off the ball, either Cash or Rogers, and the goal is being checked.
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-1 Liverpool (Van Dijk 52)
A textbook equaliser for Liverpool. Szoboszlai clips a delicious free-kick to the far post, where Van Dijk arrives unmarked and plants a superb header across Martinez.
51 min “They are the same people who said that Marcellus Wallace threw Antoine Roccamora off a four-storey balcony because he gave Marcellus’ wife a foot rub,” says Niall Mullen. “They may be unreliable.”
50 min Ngumoha surges to the byline and does well to keep the ball in play with a sliding cross. A number of players switch off, thinking the ball has gone out of play, which allows Jones to have a shot that is blocked by Pau Torres. Gomez’s follow-up is off target.
49 min “I was quite impressed about the way Liverpool went about their business in the first half with some slick, incisive passing setting up half-chances,” writes Colum Fordham. “Ngumoha looked lively. Szoboszlai was getting into good positions and shot well from distance. But the nth example of abysmal defending, with no one following Rogers, led to the inevitable goal.
“I really think Slot is in the last-chance saloon. No imagination. Perhaps Salah could provide a final flash of inspiration to turn things around. Gakpo looks bereft of ideas or maybe support.
“Hats off to a gutsy Aston Villa.”
48 min A quiet start to the second half.
47 min “What ingredient was Slot missing this season, that he will have after the summer?” asks Drew. “A defensive midfielder? A fast winger? A non-injured right back? A snazzy away kit? It doesn’t seem like individual pieces that Liverpool are missing, it seems like an identity, a collective plan.
“Call it style, tactics, philosophy, mindset, I don’t know, but Liverpool are a team nobody would be scared of playing, home or away, and that has to rest with the coaching; I don’t think the remedy is more of the same coaching. The XI who will line up next week v Brentford seem no further along as a team than the XI that lost to Palace in the Charity Shield. Twenty defeats are on the table. Twenty!”
Liverpool have had terrible luck with injuries this season; even tonight they are missing four or five of Slot’s best XI. Surely that counts for something?
46 min Villa begin the second half. They’ve brought on Ross Barkley for Victor Lindelof at the break.
“When Szoboszlai hits a ball, it stays hit, as they say,” begins Matt Dony. “He’s got such tremendous technique, and although it’s a different sort of action to Trent, it’s still tremendously aesthetically pleasing. As rough as this season has been, just imagine how much worse it would have been without Dom’s efforts. Seems like a good bloke, too. And frustratingly handsome. What a man. Build the team around him next season. He makes things tick.”
All true, but I want to go back to your first sentence. Who are they? And how do we know we can trust them? Because they do say an awful lot and I’m starting to wonder.
Half-time reading
Popcorn, please!
Half time: Aston Villa 1-0 Liverpool
Morgan Rogers’ fine goal separates the teams at Villa Park. It was an even first half overall, but Villa have the advantage. If it stays like this, they will qualify for the Champions League.
45+3 min Watkins is booked for playing on, and putting the ball in the net, after being given offside.
45 min Three minutes of added time.
44 min On Sky Sports, Jamie Carragher is wondering whether Mamardashvili might have done better with the goal. He was very close to getting a touch, and it might be that he saw the ball late as it came around a Liverpool defender.
Villa won a corner on the left, taken by Digne. He clipped the ball a long way back to McGinn, who returned the ball to Digne on the left. While they were doing that dance, Rogers sneaked into space on the left side of the area. Digne found him with a simple pass infield, and Rogers opened his body to shape a curler into the far corner. Lovely stuff.
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-0 Liverpool (Rogers 42)
Villa take the lead through a brilliant goal from Morgan Rogers!
41 min Rogers runs down the right and hits a terrific first-time cross that bounces across the six-yard box. Gomez clears at the far post.
38 min Cash is booked for a late tackle on Kerkez.
37 min Liverpool continue to dominate. Villa have been unable to feed Watkins on the break, with Rogers looking a bit subdued.
33 min Szoboszlai clips a cross into a very crowded six-yard box. It’s met ahead of the near post by Mac Allister, who heads over and punches the air in frustration.
