Former Liverpool defender Paul Konchesky has spoken out on the club’s humiliating 7-2 thrashing at the hands of Aston Villa at the weekend.
The Reds were all over the place at Villa Park, with Ollie Watkins hitting a hat-trick and Jack Grealish turning on the style with a record-breaking performance.
There was a lot of attention on Liverpool’s backup goalkeeper Adrian, who certainly got it wrong with a costly individual error for Villa’s opener, but in truth the whole Liverpool defence was poor throughout.
MORE: Exclusive: Liverpool legend defends under-fire Reds ace after Aston Villa disasterclass
On Adrian, however, Konchesky concedes that a new backup goalkeeper might be a position Jurgen Klopp has to look at strengthening soon.
“The result was a horrible one for everyone involved at Liverpool FC,” Konchesky told CaughtOffside. “It probably makes it even worse that there is a two-week international break coming up, so they can’t rectify it as quickly as they would like.
“Alisson is a big act to follow. I do think Adrian is capable of being backup for Liverpool, but if he keeps making mistakes there I think Klopp will have to be looking to bring someone in in January.”
More than the goalkeeper, however, Konchesky pointed out that Liverpool’s high line looked to be a problem for them at Villa Park.
The former left-back feels teams may now have worked out that this is a weakness of Liverpool’s that they can exploit.
“I think personally the line was way too high,” he said. “I think teams now are seeing Liverpool playing that high and are getting clever by making late runs from midfield and playing on the shoulder of the last man.”
Villa deserve credit for the way they picked LFC apart, however, with Konchesky singling out Grealish as the star performer.
The 25-year-old looks like he could have his pick of big moves, but ended up staying at Villa this summer, which Konchesky feels the club deserve credit for as they look to be building something promising.
“I think at the back end of last season, and the start of this season, Jack Grealish has been superb,” Konchesky said. “I am surprised one of the big clubs didn’t make him one of their signings.
“But, in fairness, Villa have got all the credentials of being a big club and that happens when you keep your best players, and add to the squad like they have.”