Iñigo Pérez admits Villarreal lost control before halftime at Anfield

Iñigo Pérez said Villarreal lost the decisive phase of their 3-4 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield, with the key spell coming just before halftime. Liverpool came back from 0-2 to win 4-3, and Pérez argued that his side never handled the shift in momentum that followed.

Pérez's read on the collapse

Speaking to Europa Press, Pérez said, "We have not known how to play the key phase of the match." He expanded on that point by saying the crowd and the home players created momentum instantly after favorable actions for the hosts, and that Villarreal could not cope with it. The coach also said the key phase was the period just before halftime.

The numbers in the match reflect that swing. Liverpool scored at 36, 45+2, 65 and 68 minutes, turning a two-goal deficit into a win at Liverpool vs Villarreal. Alexis Mac Allister posted a 9.19 rating and scored twice, while Rio Ngumoha recorded an 8.6 rating with two assists and seven successful dribbles.

Three Villarreal goals still left them empty-handed

Pérez did not lean on the attacking positives for long. He said that scoring three goals at Anfield and staying in the match at times was the visible part, but that if you score three and lose, the duty is to focus on the result. Villarreal also had three different scorers, Georges Mikautadze, Sergi Cardona and Tani Oluwaseyi.

He went further and said he and his team should and could have won the Dortmund match as well, but that the positive reading does not calm him. That is a fair line from a coach in defeat, and it fits the night at Anfield: three away goals can be a decent attacking return, but they do not excuse losing control of the match before the break.

Pérez will have to live with that version of the story for a while longer. For Villarreal, the record of the night is still Liverpool 3-4 Villarreal, with the turning point placed just before halftime and the debate around the collapse fixed on how they handled that spell.