Villa thrash lethargic Liverpool
The reigning Premier League Champions were put to the sword as their perfect start to the title defense came to an abrupt and emphatic halt at Villa Park on Sunday Evening.
Aston Villa opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Adrian’s poor pass from the back fell right at the feet of Jack Grealish, who squared for Ollie Watkins to tap in. It was the exact same scenario after 22 minutes as Grealish found Watkins on the flank, who cut inside and sensationally fired into the top right corner to double their lead.
In the 33rd minute, Mo Salah reduced the deficit by firing in a first-time shot from 12 yards out. Villa restored their two goal lead almost immediately when McGinn’s volley from outside the box was deflected off Virgil van Dijk, leaving a wrongfooted Adrian helpless as the ball found the bottom left corner.
A shell-shocked and dumbfounded Liverpool were caught out again six minutes later. Ross Barkley’s cleverly floated free kick into the back post was knocked back across the face of goal, allowing Watkins to head into an empty net from 3 yards out and wrap up the points for the hosts before half-time, completing a wonderful hat-trick.
Ten minutes into the second half, Joe Gomez cheaply gave the ball away in his own half and Villa countered at speed with Barkley’s long-range effort taking a nick from Alexander-Arnold before looping into the net. It was turning into a great debut for the Chelsea midfielder, having only just recently arrived on loan.
One of the only bright sparks in this abysmal Liverpool outing was the performance of the Reds’ talisman Mo Salah and he grabbed his second of the game on the hour mark, sweeping the ball in low at the near post after a delicate through ball from Roberto Firmino.
Grealish added a goal for himself six minutes later with a deflected effort from the edge of the box, with Fabinho the unfortunate player in the way as Villa netted once more. He wasn’t finished there though and added his second 15 minutes from time, coolly slotting away a one-on-one with Adrian to complete the Rout.
Although Watkins and Grealish will most likely get the plaudits for the goals, how well Ross Barkley played can’t be overlooked, pulling the strings from the middle of the park. Tyrone Mings played brilliantly as well, dealing with Liverpool’s feared front three with ease for the vast majority of the match.
On the contrary, Joe Gomez and Adrian put in dismal displays for Liverpool in this extraordinary embarrassment that brought back long-forgotten memories of their 6-1 capitulation at Stoke City in 2015. This, however, was the first time that reigning PL champions have conceded seven goals in a single game since Tottenham in 1967.
This defeat for Liverpool is their second in a row following the Carabao Cup penalty shootout loss to Arsenal, but their first in the league. They next travel to the early pace-setters and bitter local rivals Everton, in what should be a fierce clash whilst Aston Villa maintain their 100% winning start to the season.
Jurgen Klopp stated in the post-match interview just how “disappointed” he was in the result, but tried to keep upbeat. He also expressed his desire on how the team needed to “bounce back” after the international break and “return rested” before the Merseyside Derby against Everton.
“It is not often I have seen games like this, although I am old enough to know strange things can happen in football. You could see in moments that in challenges Aston Villa wanted it more and that is something I saw and I don’t like.”
JURGEN KLOPP, LIVERPOOL FC MANAGER
When asked if this was a one-off, he replied “I would like to think so but the proof of that will be in the next couple of weeks or months. A game like that should not happen, 100 percent. It is important how we react, the only problem is we cannot react tomorrow. These boys are very self-critical, they know everyone had his hand in this result.”