Jamie Carragher identifies Arne Slot's biggest mistakes after Aston Villa defeat

Former Liverpool defender-turned-Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher revealed what he believes has been Arne Slot’s biggest mistake since becoming the club’s head coach following the 4-2 defeat to Aston Villa.

On Friday (May 15), Liverpool put in yet another torrid performance as Unai Emery’s Aston Villa secured Champions League qualification with a convincing victory.

Morgan Rogers’ curling effort opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time before Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk drew his side level shortly after the break.

However, Villa’s pressure started to pay off when Ollie Watkins scored twice in the second half before John McGinn added a fourth with two minutes to go.

Van Dijk bagged a brace of his own with a stoppage-time header to make the scoreline slightly more respectable on a truly awful evening for those associated with Liverpool.

While Villa qualified for the Champions League, Liverpool’s participation in next season’s competition is still uncertain, with Bournemouth in sixth and Brighton in seventh still mathematically capable of leapfrogging the Reds.

Bournemouth take on Manchester City and Nottingham Forest in their final two Premier League games of the campaign, while Brighton face Leeds and Manchester United.

Carragher traces Liverpool's problems to summer transfer window

Following last night’s defeat at Villa Park, fans and pundits slammed Liverpool’s performance, with Sky Sports’ Carragher claiming the side has too many “weak” players in the squad while also tracing the team’s problems back to the summer transfer window, during which several big names — including Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitiké and Florian Wirtz, as well as Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez — arrived at Anfield for a combined £446 million.

Star names such as Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Trent Alexander-Arnold also departed.

“For me, the problem all season, it goes back to the summer recruitment,” Carragher said.

“Every player they brought in was more attacking than the one that left.

“I just looked at the games in pre-season, looked at that first game [vs Bournemouth], and it just felt like end-to-end basketball, and Liverpool weren’t like that the season before under Slot. They were a lot more controlled, and it just seems to have been lost this season.

“Whether that’s down to the manager getting his way on the team a little bit more, the signings that have come in, or the problems Liverpool have had injury-wise, as you see today.

“But it just feels like Liverpool never, when you look down at the teamsheet, have enough players who are good enough without the ball, and I actually think that’s the case tonight.”

Liverpool return to action against Brentford on May 24 knowing they may need to win to qualify for the Champions League.