Football has a tendency to surprise us from time to time and fans around the world have come to expect that, but we can’t imagine anyone was prepared for the absolute beating Aston Villa laid down on Liverpool last night. The Reds were largely expected to roll through Villa and continue their push towards a second straight league title, but things didn’t work out that way as Dean Smith’s men ran out 7-2 winners.
It’s the kind of result that was always going to make people sit up and take notice, and while Liverpool are the ones being focused on here, Villa’s quality needs to be recognised. They were just better in every single department and the champions just didn’t seem to have any kind of answer for them whatsoever. If they can carry that form forward, there’s no way on this planet they’ll be involved in another relegation battle this season.
Still, for many Liverpool fans, the problem was clear – Adrian just doesn’t possess the same kind of quality as Alisson. From a general viewpoint, that’s absolutely true, but the idea that it was the sole reason for their defeat is somewhat ridiculous.
Jurgen Klopp was honest and frank in his assessment of their defeat and so he should be, especially when you consider the fact that he has two weeks to sit on it before he tries to get this side back to winning ways. They were just outfought across the pitch and, in truth, it didn’t look like they wanted it as badly as Villa did.
They allowed themselves to take their foot off of the gas and that was the most painful mistake they could’ve made. In a division like this you simply cannot give teams an inch because they will take a mile, and that’s precisely what Villa were always hoping to do.
We’ve been told to believe that if you play an open game of football against Liverpool you’re probably going to lose but that assessment may need to change now. Aston Villa did not fear them and they did not back down, and as such, they’ve created memories that will last a lifetime.
This period of reflection is going to be vital for Liverpool Football Club and they can’t use the international break as an excuse to push it to one side. When they return to training, they’ll be doing so in the knowledge that their next encounter will be against local rivals Everton. The Toffees have been on an utterly brilliant run to start off the new campaign and right now they sit at the top of the Premier League as the only team with a 100% record after four games – although Aston Villa will join them if they win their game in hand.
You can go over and use the betting page when the time comes to put money down on what is shaping up to be the biggest Merseyside derby in recent memory – and that isn’t an understatement, that’s just a fact.
