When Tottenham humiliated Manchester United with a 6 – 1 defeat at Old Trafford, a lot of sport fans thought it would be the biggest football headline in the media. Nobody, nobody saw what was to come when Liverpool, the defending champions would face at Villa Park in the last game of the week. But Liverpool was beaten blue-black by Aston Villa who showed no respect to the visitors. Aston Villa cared less if Liverpool are defending champions or not. They simply thought them footballing lessons, which they would remember for many years to come. It was astonishing.
As Daily Mail put the story, by the time the Tottenham coach sped by en-route back to London after dissembling Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United, Liverpool were already 4-1 down – brought to their knees by young Villa forward Ollie Watkins and the ineptitude of their own malfunctioning offside trap. What is it about Liverpool and defending this season?
Last year it was so often their failsafe. If their front three didn’t function, the chances are that their back four would. Now, only a matter of weeks on, the champions’ attempts to operate with a new, higher defensive line has left them shambolically vulnerable. Three conceded on day one against Leeds and now seven (yes, seven) here against a resurgent Villa, Liverpool’s title defence is already under threat from their own catastrophic negligence.
Next up it’s a trip to Premier League leaders Everton in a fortnight. With an international break now upon us, Jurgen Klopp will only have two days to sort things out when he eventually gets his players back. No pressure, then. Here Liverpool were ripped open with beautiful ease by Dean Smith’s fabulous and adventurous Villa. Every time they moved forward, they looked as though they may score. Very often they did.
Summer signing Watkins may be sad that it’s Liverpool’s name and not his on the back pages on Monday morning but that’s the way it works when the champions are humbled. With Smith brave enough to play Jack Grealish and new loan signing Ross Barkley either side of his striker, he was rewarded wonderfully. Grealish was superb all night and gave Joe Gomez such a dreadful time the Liverpool defender was taken off after an hour.
Barkley, an Evertonian, was also excellent and scored a goal of his own in the second half. A night when everything Villa touched turned to goal, they had some luck too. Three of their goals were helped in by Liverpool deflections. But this was a landmark win that they very much deserved.
Were they five goals better than Liverpool? Over the course of a remarkable game, they probably were. Liverpool had plenty of possession and territory but without the ball they were unfathomably and pathetically bad, stuck rigid in self-harm mode from the very first moments.
For example, the first goal came from a decisive pass supplied by Liverpool’s own goalkeeper Adrian. Trying to find Gomez with a ten yard pass across his own penalty area in the fourth minute, he only supplied Grealish with the ball and when the Villa captain found Watkins on the six-yard line he swept it in.
Already the tone of the evening was set. Liverpool were ghastly. Villa were ruthless enough to take advantage. Moments later it could have been two as Gomez misjudged the arc of a clearance from the back, Grealish sped away to supply Barkley and the Chelsea loanee missed hurriedly from close range. A chance to rue? Yes, certainly. Decisive? Not at all. His moment was to come.
Liverpool came hard at Villa for 15 minutes and Roberto Firmino was denied twice by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez while the former Arsenal player got away with a misplaced pace of his own. But just as it appeared Liverpool were settling, Villa scored again in the 23rd minute. Once again Grealish upset the Liverpool right edge and when he fed Watkins, the 24-year-old eased inside Gomez and lifted the ball high in to the net with his right foot. It was a super finish and indicative of real quality.
Barkley was wide again soon after and then another offside trap malfunction allowed him to run down the right and bring a save from Adrian at his near post. A goal from Salah in the 33rd minute brought Liverpool back into the game. Surely that would settle them down at 2-1? Not a bit of it. McGinn’s volley from a cleared corner three minutes later struck Virgil van Dijk on the foot and flew into the net.
Van Dijk has not started the season particularly well – that’s an understatement – and erred again as half-time neared. His rash tackle on Barkley prompted a booking and from the resultant free-kick Liverpool’s defence melted away to allow Watkins his hat-trick goal. By now Liverpool’s best defensive option was to put their arms in the air and pray for VAR assistance. Three times, the chaps at Stockley Park had a look and three times they said no.
Needing a fast start to the second half, Liverpool did score when Firmino played Salah through on the hour. But either side of that were goals for Barkley and Grealish, both deflected in from distance. Then, with a quarter of an hour left, McGinn played Grealish clear with a stunning pass and that was number seven. Klopp was generous enough to applaud Smith before shaking hands at the end. Suffice to say, this was not Liverpool’s night. Defend like this again and it very rarely will be.
