Emi Martinez ‘appalling’ in Aston Villa clanger vs Liverpool, Steven Gerrard says he sent Unai Emery ‘crazy’
Emi Martinez was hugely to blame as Aston Villa lost to Liverpool on Saturday.
Villa fell to a 2-0 defeat away to Liverpool as Mohamed Salah and Ryan Gravenberch secured a first Premier League win since September for the Reds.
Martinez made a mistake and allowed Salah to score as he left the goal open and passed the ball straight to the Egypt international.
The Argentine let Unai Emery down and was miles off it alongside the likes of Evann Guessand and Lucas Digne for Villa at Liverpool.
Former Villa boss Steven Gerrard has revealed how he thinks the Spaniard will be feeling after his goalkeeper’s shocker.
Steven Gerrard moots Unai Emery rage vs Liverpool
Villa have a shocking record against Liverpool at Anfield, and that never really looked like changing this time around.
It felt obvious that the away side would hand over the three points, despite the shocking form of the Premier League champions.
The general performance wasn’t too bad, but a mistake from Martinez hugely cost his side and changed the complexion of the encounter.
Salah scored, the crowd rose to their feet, and the atmosphere was massively improved in favour of the home side.
Gerrard believes this will have sent Emery into a frenzy after what had been a largely positive first half away on Merseyside.
Speaking live via TNT Sports on 1 October, he said: “The manager will be going crazy because they’ve played so well. They came here full of confidence, started well and were the stronger team in the opening 15 minutes.“
Steve McManaman was in full agreement with his ex-Liverpool colleague, “The timing of the goal for the Aston Villa fans and manager is appalling.
“What is the goalkeeper doing playing out from the back in the 46th minute? Just get in to half time at 0-0, get a pat on the back from the manager, and he goes and does that.“
Emery got his Aston Villa plan wrong vs Liverpool
Liverpool have seriously struggled against long balls this season, so what did Villa do? Play out from the back, of course.
Emery teams play with the ball on the floor and look to exploit space, but sometimes you need to use an already working blueprint.
Having the likes of Donyell Malen on the bench with pace to burn in behind seems strange, especially when Guessand was so ineffective.
The plan didn’t work and ultimately played into Liverpool’s hands, helping them regain form.
On Halloween weekend, it was a scary night for the Villans, and maybe they are too busy thinking about Christmas and giving gifts away early.
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