Summary Aston Villa suffered a 3-0 loss against Liverpool, with Pau Torres receiving criticism from the media for his performance. Torres lost the ball 16 times during the match, the highest amount of any player on the pitch, and received a low SofaScore match rating. Despite his mixed start in England, Torres has shown potential in previous matches, and Unai Emery will be hoping he can learn from this experience for future games.
Aston Villa defender Pau Torres was slammed by the media for his performance against Liverpool in the Premier League this afternoon.
What was the Liverpool vs Aston Villa score?
Villa suffered their second defeat of the Premier League season this afternoon, and while they faced tough opposition in Liverpool, Unai Emery is still likely to be disappointed with his side's performance.
The Villans succumbed to a 3-0 loss at Anfield, with the hosts breaking the deadlock after just three minutes, through Dominik Szoboszlai, before Matty Cash doubled the Reds' lead by scoring an own-goal less than 20 minutes later.
Mohamed Salah added another in the second half, putting the game beyond doubt, with the visitors never posing much in the way of attacking threat, having recorded an XG of just 0.63 across the entire match.
A number of Aston Villa players were not at the races, including Cash, who scored an own-goal, and Diego Carlos, with the Brazilian receiving a Sofascore match rating of just 6.4.
However, Torres was the player singled out for criticism by sections of the media, with journalist Sam Tighe saying:
"What kind of mood did Pau Torres wake up in today? He’s doing some wild stuff."
Journalist Michael Akomeah also criticised the centre-back for his performance, saying:
"Someone tell Pau Torres , this is not la liga.., before also adding:
"He stays on the ball for too long".
How much did Aston Villa pay for Pau Torres?
The Spaniard arrived from Emery's former club, Villarreal, back in July, and set Villa back an initial fee of £33m, which was the second-highest fee paid in the club's history at the time, and it is expected to rise further.
The 26-year-old has had a mixed start to life in England, as he has looked impressive on the ball, completing 44 of the 47 passes he attempted against Burnley back in August, meaning he achieved a pass-completion rate of 94%.
Against Hibernian, the former Villarreal man was hailed by ESPN analyst Luis Miguel Echegaray for playing a "ball so magnificent you could marry it" in the build-up to Jhon Duran's goal, but he was not as impressive in possession against Liverpool today.
Across the 90 minutes, the Spain international lost the ball 16 times, the highest amount of any player on the pitch, receiving a Sofascore match rating of just 6.2 for his efforts, which was the joint-lowest alongside Cash.
It is still early days for Torres, and Emery will be hoping today's performance will be a learning curve for his new centre-back, ahead of Villa's next game at home against Crystal Palace after the upcoming international break.