At Anfield, the Colombian winger was ineffective…
Liverpool’s pursuit of Champions League football next season may have taken a significant hit after Aston Villa produced an impressive performance at Anfield to end the Reds’ seven-match winning streak in the Premier League.
Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool belatedly clicked into gear several weeks ago and issued a late surge towards the top four in the table, but a miracle is now required to qualify for Europe’s premier continental competition for a seventh year in a row.
Newcastle United and Manchester United both need just one point from their final two league games to guarantee their places in the Champions League next season.
This afternoon, Liverpool were fortunate not to succumb to defeat. After Ollie Watkins missed his penalty after being adjudged to have been tripped by Reds centre-back Ibrahima Konate, Jacob Ramsey opened the scoring in the first half, and while Roberto Firmino made it a fairytale ending to his career at Anfield with a late equalizing goal, it wasn’t enough to secure victory.
While the defense showed signs of the instability that has plagued Liverpool this season, the attack was largely toothless, with mercurial winger Luis Diaz unable to make an impact against the Lions.
How did Luis Diaz fare against Aston Villa?
Diaz suffered a knee injury during Liverpool’s 3-2 loss to Arsenal in October and would not return to the field until April, missing a total of 31 games this season.
Since his return to competitive action, the Colombian has only scored one goal and provided zero assists in eight appearances, and he was rendered ineffective against the high-flying Villans.
According to Sofascore, the 37-cap marauder had a match rating of just 6.6 and was chastised for his “awful” performance by content creator Tom Little before being replaced after 72 minutes.
While he did not shirk his defensive duties, making a tackle, an interception, and a clearance, he was uncharacteristically flimsy offensively, registering only two off-target shots, failing to create a single key pass, and failing with four of his five dribble attempts.
Neil Jones of Goal gave the £55k-per-week winger a dreadful 4/10 match rating, writing: ‘Struggled to impact the game, despite seeing lots of the ball. ‘Decision-making was lacking.’
Captain Jordan Henderson was the only other Liverpool player to receive such a rating, despite failing to positively influence the game and demonstrating his withering verve by winning only one of his six duels on the afternoon, being dribbled past twice, and making only one tackle to contribute to a meek defensive performance.
While he cannot be blamed solely for a poor performance, Diaz’s inefficiency demonstrated how he has yet to find his feet after such a long time away, which is understandable.
The sun dapples across the pearly Anfield rafters over there; regardless of whether Liverpool qualify for the Champions League this season, there is enough quality to cast aside the shadow of a forgettable season and forge a path to victory once more.
Leave a Reply