Liverpool
inflicted Villa’s biggest defeat at home for 81 years and that the Villains
were shambolic should take nothing away from a Klopp’s side who arrived full
aware of the home sides fight for Premiership survival.
Surprisingly
after his midweek stint Daniel Sturridge started up alongside Philippe Coutinho
and Roberto Firmino in a fluid looking front three with the luckless Christian
Bentenke returning to bench duty.
The
first fifteen minutes may have been relatively uneventful, but that was the
calm before the storm.
On
sixteen minutes Coutinho drifted out to the left and with very little pressure
was left to curl the ball on to the head of Daniel Sturridge who in predator
like fashion ghosted in between Lescott and Okore to head beyond Bunn in to the
corner of the net. It was Sturridge
third against Villa this season and his first away League goal in nearly two
years.
Firmino
and Coutinho were being given the freedom of Villa Park interchanging at will
with the home side seemingly unwilling to learn from Coutinho’s assist for the
first goal.
In
a bid to finally show some fight Okore gave away a silly free-kick out on the
left impeding Coutinho. Ex-Villain James
Milner whipped in the resultant dead ball over Sakho and the challenging
Lescott leaving Bunn little chance to anticipate as the ball floated on by into
the corner of the net.
Liverpool
were on fire enjoying the great oceans of space offered by the ineffective
Villa midfield and Henderson came close to putting Liverpool further
ahead. Firmino expertly found Milner at
the far stick and with apparently light years to find Henderson to head down
only for his captain to see his shot diverted wide from close in.
Chances
came and went before half-time. Moreno
combining with Firmino failed to connected fully on a shot at full stretch
inside the six- yard box and then Sturridge’s shot was brilliantly saved by
Bunn the only Villa player earning his wage.
Villa
with boos still ringing in their ears from some of the faithful attempted to
get back on track in the second-half with Bacuna’s shot’s coming off Mignolet
with the keeper grabbing the ball at the second attempt.
Liverpool
returned back on point with both full-backs marauding down the flanks.
If
the game wasn’t considered over after Milner’s goal it was certainly over as
contest in the fifty-eighth minute when Can nipped in ahead of Bacuna before
passing to Firmino who in turn return passed back to the West German
International to brilliantly shoot into the corner of net the leaving the iron wrists
of Bunn no chance.
It
was a goal that Emre Can has been promising to deliver for some time and one
suspects in may just be the type of goal that will become his trademark in
future years.
The
goal was also the signal for Daniel Sturridge to take his leave, surprisingly
not for Bentenke, but his international colleague Origi. If Christian Benteke is still a Liverpool
player next season Jurgen Klopp is certainly given us no indication.
As
if to validate his decision, only a minute later Origi showed a decisive burst
of pace to motor between the two central defenders before slipping the ball
beyond the unfortunate Bunn.
Villa
were in disarray and the fifth wouldn’t be far away. Nathanial Clyne was allowed to saunter into
the area and fire off one shot which was saved by Bunn only to have enough time
to get to his feet and tap the ball home.
Five-nil
up and Christian Bentenke languishing on the bench - Kevin Stewart came on to
replace Coutinho.
It
got even worse for Villa. So bad in
fact, that the unchallenged Kolo Toure stood in the middle of the penalty area
to nod home Henderson’s pacey corner.
Bentenke
finally made his belated entrance, but the party was already over.
Man of the Match: Philippe Coutinho – given the time and space
to mow down Villa on St Valentine’s Day with educated right boot.
Critical eye: The returning Daniel Sturridge gives
Liverpool a potent force up front and finally a striker who thrives on playing
on the last man. If the Liverpool
medical team can keep him fit, then this is season which still has some
potential for success.
Origi confidence levels have risen
exponentially since his Capital One hat-trick against Southampton adds extra depth
to the Liverpool squad at a critical time of the season as we go in the search
of silverware.
Teams:
Liverpool: 22 Simon Mignolet,
2 Nathaniel, 4 Kolo Toure, 17 Mamadou Sakho, 18 Alberto Moreno, 7 James Milner,
14 Jordan Henderson, 23 Emre Can, 10 Philippe Coutinho (Kevin Stewart – 66
mins), Daniel Sturridge (Divock Origi – 62 mins), Roberto Firmino (Christian
Bentenke – 74 mins)
Subs: 9 Bentenke, 18
Steven Caulker, 27 Divock Origi, 33 Jordon Ibe, 35 Kevin Stewart, 38 Jon Flanagan,
54 Danny Ward
Aston
Villa:
31 Mark Bunn, 4 Micah Richards (Alan Hutton – 85 mins), 5 Jores Okore, 16
Joleon Lescott, 43 Aly Cissokho, 7 Leandro Bacuna (Jordan Lyden – 66 mins), 15
Ashley Westwood, 8 Idrissa Gueye, 17 Jordan Veretout, 25 Carles Gil, 11 Gabriel
Agbonlahor (Scott Sinclair – 58 mins)
Subs: 1 Brad Guzan, 6
Ciaran Clark, 9 Scott Sinclair, 18 Kieran Richardson, 21 Alan Hutton, 38 Jordan
Lyden, 45 Kienan Davis
Referee: Neil Swarbrick
Attendance: 35,798
No comments:
Post a Comment