Liverpool suffered a damaging 4-2 defeat to Aston Villa, with departing icon Andy Robertson delivering a scathing assessment of his team-mates as the Reds' Champions League qualification hangs in the balance
Andy Robertson has slammed the Reds' performance following their 12th Premier League defeat, a 4-2 loss against Aston Villa. The Scotland international paid tribute to the travelling Anfield faithful but pulled no punches on the display despite being an unused substitute in his final away fixture for the club.
The dismal season plunged to fresh lows on Friday evening as Unai Emery's outfit sealed Champions League qualification at Liverpool's expense. It leaves the Reds requiring Bournemouth and Brighton to falter in their penultimate league fixtures for the final day clash with Brentford to be meaningless - but as things stand, Liverpool sit merely four points clear in the last spot for Europe's premier competition.
A brace from Ollie Watkins alongside strikes from Morgan Rogers and John McGinn condemned Liverpool to matching their worst Premier League tally for 11 years with 12 losses.
Virgil van Dijk netted twice for the Reds but his second proved nothing more than a consolation. Robertson shared an image on Instagram expressing his gratitude to the away fans. However, in his message, he conceded that the display epitomised their disappointing Premier League title defence.
He said: "A performance which sums up our season. A long way short of the levels of this club and what you rightly expect of us.
"But I can only thank you for the last nine years of travelling up and down the country and all over the world packing out away ends wherever we go! Will see you next week for one last time."
Liverpool face Brentford on the final day of the season with Caoimhin Kelleher and Jordan Henderson poised for Anfield homecomings, while club icons Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson prepare to bring the curtain down on their time with the Reds.
Yet with Champions League qualification hanging in the balance, the heat on Arne Slot has shown no sign of letting up following the 4-2 drubbing at Villa Park. The Dutchman was compelled to concede that their dismal run of results has shattered supporters' belief.
He said: "It's damaging because we needed either a win or maybe, maybe, maybe two draws would have been enough as well.
"But now we know one thing for sure - we need a win next week if we have to do it ourselves. As we know, the other teams of course need to pick up points as well for us to need a win.
"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 people are mainly focused on 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. But after the 2-1 we crumbled, and we struggled. In the end we came back to 4-2, so they (the players) did not give up, but we struggled to control their pace, intensity and quality."