14 hours ago
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Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk pointed the finger at one of his teammates following the Reds' failure to secure victory in their most recent encounter against Aston Villa.
Liverpool welcomes Unai Emery's outfit to Anfield this weekend as the club seeks to restore momentum to their league campaign. Back in February, Mohamed Salah put Arne Slot's side ahead at Villa Park, but the hosts swiftly hit back with a rapid-fire brace from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins before the interval.
Trent Alexander-Arnold helped Liverpool draw level shortly past the hour mark, yet substitute Darwin Nunez wasted Liverpool's finest opportunity to secure all three points.
The forward was presented with a gilt-edged chance mere minutes after coming onto the pitch as Dominik Szoboszlai managed to breach Villa's backline.
Szoboszlai attracted Emi Martinez's focus before laying the ball across the penalty area to present Nunez with an empty net from six yards, yet the Uruguayan sent his effort sailing over the bar.
Liverpool was forced to accept a single point at the final whistle, stretching their advantage at the summit to eight points. Nevertheless, Van Dijk believed the Reds had permitted two points to escape their grasp, alluding to Nunez's squandered chance in his post-match comments.
"We are a bit disappointed but we fight. We had chances to win the game, took a bit of a risk at the end - so it got more open at times," Van Dijk said. "In possession we did quite well, created good opportunities to score the second. Disappointing to concede from a set-piece. We tried everything and unfortunately it wasn't enough for three points.
"We should have scored 3-2, but credit to Aston Villa, they made it very difficult. We have a very tough one on the weekend again, then we play Newcastle, our focus now will be on Man City, a very difficult game, we know that. We have done everything in our power to win games - and the focus will be that on Sunday."
Liverpool's gaffer Slot also expressed his disappointment with Nunez after the match, not for the glaring miss, but for the striker's lack of effort following the incident. He insisted that while missing chances is part of the game, letting it affect your work rate isn't.
"It is not the chance but the 20 minutes afterwards that I will talk to Darwin about," Slot clarified. "Yes, I will tell him that [he still has a major part to play] as well. I will tell him that you can miss a chance but you cannot miss out on work rate.
"That is the life of a striker, he will miss chances and score some. It is part of the job of a No.9, you miss when people expect you to score. It is not part of the job of a No.9 to slow down in work rate. And that is something we will talk about."
He continued: "I can accept misses but what is harder for me to accept is his behaviour after the chance. It got too much in his head, he was not the usual Darwin who works his backside off and makes sure he helps the team. He was too disappointed he missed that.
"I always truly believe it is always best to have Wata's (Wataru Endo) mindset. For the whole season he does not complain, keeps on going and keeps on going, whenever we need him he is ready. That is very difficult and there are not many players that can do this."
Núñez was compelled to accept a diminished role during his final campaign under Slot, managing just eight starts across 30 league outings whilst netting five goals. The 26 year old departed for Al-Hilal during the summer transfer window.
Liverpool will be hoping to capitalize on their opportunities against Villa this time round as the defending champions look to halt their four-match losing streak in the Premier League.
Nevertheless, the Reds face a stern examination against Villa, who have claimed victory in their previous four league fixtures following a sluggish beginning to the season.
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