Reds give up on Europe without a fight

KENNY DALGLISH has barely put a foot wrong since he was re-crowned the king of Anfield.

However, following a forgettable conclusion to the campaign Liverpool must face up to the grim reality that they will not be playing European football for the first time in over a decade.

As it turned out, even a win over Aston Villa would not have been enough following Tottenham’s triumph over Birmingham.

The Scot will have been disappointed, however, with the lacklustre nature of this performance, which followed on the back of defeat to Spurs last weekend, as a goal from Stewart Downing, one of their summer targets, separated the sides.

It will be the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign that the Reds will not be involved in continental competition.

“It’s disappointing,” said the Liverpool manager. “It would have been nice to finish on a positive. I think we ran out of legs a little bit.

“It’s always nice for everyone to be involved in Europe, whether it’s going to be helpful or not to be out of it remains to be seen. It’s a long time since this club’s not been involved in Europe but we need to get on with it.

“We didn’t qualify for Europe because we lost a game yesterday, it was because we had a bad start to the season.”

Andy Carroll, the £35m record signing, and Glen Johnson, the defender, were both absent from the Reds squad, while Gary McAllister, the Villa caretaker manager in the continued absence of Gerard Houllier, named the same side which defeated Arsenal last weekend.

There were chants for the Frenchman — who resisted the temptation to make an appearance against his former club as he continues his recovery from a heart scare — only they came from the visitors’ section of Villa Park, rather than the home supporters.

Having lost Jay Spearing to injury in the 12th minute, Liverpool created the first chance of the game when a Raul Meireles effort was deflected wide for a corner.

But the deciding goal fell to Villa and was created by Marc Albrighton, on as a sub for the injured Fabian Delph. His searching cross from the right flank evaded everyone except Downing, handily positioned at the far post, and despite the angle being tight he managed to squeeze a venomous shot underneath the crossbar of Pepe Reina, the goalkeeper.

It took a stunning save from Brad Friedel to deny the visitors pulling level in the 62nd minute.

Meireles looked certain to score when Luis Suarez cut back to the unmarked Portuguese inside the penalty area but 40-year-old Friedel, making his 400th Premier League appearance, displayed commendable reactions to palm the ball to safety.

Both these clubs will expect much more next season.