Arne Slot said Darwin Nunez was on a downer after his horror miss stalled a second-half fightback.
The Reds chief said the Uruguayan couldn’t hide his disappointment in the dressing room after the table-toppers had to settle for a point at Villa Park. Nunez wasted the chance to fire the Merseysiders back in front following Trent Alexander-Arnold’sdeflected shot which levelled matters after Aston Villa had taken a 2-1 lead at the break.
The South American managed to clip the ball over the bar from six yards with the goal gaping – reviving memories of another dreadful gaffe from over three decades ago when Ronnie Rosenthal somehow clattered an effort into the crossbar with the net at his mercy
Slot said: “If you look at the chances in the second half, there is one player in the dressing room who feels quite down – you know who it is.”
After a draw at Goodison Park last week and lacklustre victory over Wolves, the Dutch coach was asked if he felt his team had suffered a dip in form. This point stretched the Reds’ lead at the top of the Premier League table to eight points.
Ahead of Sunday’s blockbuster against faltering Manchester City, Slot said he was heartened far more by this show than he was about the previous two. He said: “In terms of performance, we weren’t really at it at all, Everton … but for obvious reasons, we were unlucky to come away with a draw.
“I liked this performance a lot, much, much more than I liked it against Wolves, playing the ball out from the back, creating chances. If you go away to Villa, that’s always a difficult fixture.
“At the start the season you know: ‘Villa away, that’s a difficult one, Manchester City away, that’s a difficult one.’ So performance-wise, not a dip at all today, in my opinion.
“What we must not do – and we’ve done a bit too often now – is we don’t get what we deserve. If you look at all the chances and put them in a row, from us and from them, I think it’s clear which team should have won this game. We must not make a habit out of that because it’s happened a bit too much now.”
Villa striker Ollie Watkins, who netted a header to give Villa the lead on the stroke of half-time, said: “It was a tough game – they’re at the top of the league for a reason
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