Aston Villa 7-2 Liverpool: An extraordinary night at Villa Park  (2024)

Aston Villa 7-2 Liverpool. A result so wildly outrageous you had to pinch yourself when you looked at the scoreboard inside Villa Park.

The famous old ground, cruelly robbed of its spectators for one of the greatest nights in modern memory, has seen some special occasions over the years. This, though, felt like it topped the lot. Seven goals against any opposition should be celebrated. Seven goals against the champions of England, a team who last conceded seven goals in 1963, deserves all the credit that will rightly follow.

In the dressing room after the final whistle there were jubilant scenes, as players sang and danced in celebration. Boss Dean Smith made sure his players cherished the moment by reminding them of the incredible achievement with a short message that praised their collective contribution.

Such was Villa’s brilliance, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp could only congratulate their efforts and admit the best team on the night, and the side that wanted it the most, ran out worthy winners. He even stopped to applaud before shaking Smith’s hand.

It would be foolish to expect this every week from Villa, and also too soon to consider what this exciting group is capable of going forward. But equally, victories like these don’t come around often. Reigning champions just don’t concede seven goals or lose by five-goal margins. It is why people are starting to take note of Aston Villa as a genuine force again.

So how did they pull off last night’s incredible result?

In the days leading up to the game, Villa worked on ways to get in behind the Liverpool defence and play on their high line. The plan was to commit deep runners into advanced areas and pin the champions back. Wide players Jack Grealish and Trezeguet both did what was asked of them and had sensational games.

There was, however, a scare in the build-up. Captain Grealish was nursing a hamstring injury and rated his own chances as touch-and-go. He packed his leg with ice as late as Saturday afternoon and hoped the occasion would not pass him by. Scoring two goals and setting up three more on a night where Ollie Watkins got a hat-trick, John McGinn joined in the act and Ross Barkley scored on his debut, was quite the turnaround.

It was against Liverpool in April 2015 when he made a name for himself with a man-of-the-match display in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. Yet this was a mature Grealish, playing in a way that has become so expected these days, only now with higher quality team-mates around him. Imagine if he was fully fit?

Plotting a way past Liverpool is one thing but actually executing the plan to perfection is another.

The aim was to press high and block off the passing lanes. Granted, stand-in stopper Adrian made life easy for Villa early on as Grealish intercepted a loose pass in the box and set up Watkins for a fourth-minute opener, but without the discipline to be in the right place at the right time, none of it would have been possible.

Villa mirrored the way Liverpool usually play. Pressing high and efficiently can only work if there is a real desire to buy into the method and Smith has found that commitment from his players in abundance.

During the lockdown months, he made his team study extensive footage of how Klopp’s team defend as a unit. The Villa players were split into small groups and asked to feed back ways of how the team could implement that particular style themselves. Internally, it is said to have been a key moment in sorting out the leaky backline and subsequently setting up survival on the final day of last season.

So to see Villa, just a few months later, picking holes in the very system that effectively paved the way for this fixture to still be on the 2020-21 calendar, felt like another milestone.

“We’ve worked hard at a game plan and executed it really well,” Smith said modestly. “To execute it takes a lot of hard work. The effort the players put in is exceptional.”

Watkins put a little more flesh on the bone, admitting there were discussions before the game that signalled Villa were embracing rather than fearing the challenge ahead.

“We fancied ourselves but we didn’t expect the scoreline would be this,” he said.

But, really, did anyone?

There have already been some weird and wonderful results in this hollow Premier League season but surely this one tops the lot.

“It was about us all working hard,” Watkins continued. “We saw how high they play and the game plan was to try and get in behind them. We wanted to make sure they couldn’t pass through us.”

Hat-trick hero Watkins was heading into a period where his price tag would have come under scrutiny if another game had passed without a goal. Onlookers suggested he wasn’t worth the money, that £28 million was too expensive for a striker with no Premier League experience. There were whispers the step up from the Championship might be a little too much for him. Some even singled out his goals in the Carabao Cup as a sign he could only do it against lower-league opposition.

Well, how about a hat-trick within 39 minutes to silence the doubters? The perfect hat-trick, too: left foot, right foot, header. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. This was a night where Watkins, 24, came of age. So, too, did Villa’s evolving side that look very much the real deal.

Villa, a team riding a wave of confidence, scrapped and battled for every ball, while also wreaking havoc on opponents with pace and panache in attack.

Even the unlucky Conor Hourihane, who made way for new loan signing Barkley, couldn’t have argued with Smith’s decision to replace him with the England international.

Barkley could take Villa to a new level; his driving runs from midfield caused no end of problems for Liverpool and he also chipped in with a debut goal of his own. Having learned of Villa’s renewed interest in taking him on a season-long loan, the 26-year-old set up his own personal scouting mission, watching the team smash Fulham 3-0 on Monday night. He was impressed and subsequently asked his Chelsea team-mate, Tammy Abraham, what Smith was like as a manager before going out for dinner with Grealish to find out what the captain thought of the group.

Barkley, an Evertonian, also sensed an opportunity to make a mark against Liverpool if the deal was done in time. He was frustrated with himself for spurning a couple of excellent opportunities at the start of the match but was all smiles by the end. Deploying Barkley in a No 10 role and dropping John McGinn into a deeper midfield position alongside Douglas Luiz was another masterstroke from Smith on the night.

Liverpool had no answers to the effort and enthusiasm from Villa’s midfield. Matty Cash, an unsung hero at right-back, was also singled out by some of his senior team-mates after the game for the way he stopped the tricky Diogo Jota and marauding left-back Andrew Robertson.

It was pleasing to see Trezeguet, the hard-working winger who didn’t leave a blade of grass uncovered, applauded too. Smith clapped his player off the pitch as he was substituted late on, and the entire backroom staff soon joined in. Some of the substitutes even rose to their feet as a mark of respect. It was as close to replicating what usually would have been a standing ovation from a Villa Park crowd that is notoriously tough, but equally so giving in times of triumph.

Incredibly, Villa’s new goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez can now boast of beating Klopp’s Liverpool three times in one calendar year — after two victories with Arsenal and now one with Villa. The way he chest-pumped himself into Smith as he exited the pitch signalled this one was just as special as the others.

What was most impressive about Villa’s performance was the relentless nature of it. As the attacks from end to end represented something more like a basketball encounter, Villa held their nerve and continued to attack Liverpool.

Liverpool haven’t conceded seven goals since 1963 and no Premier League team has registered more shots (18) at their goal than Villa managed since Opta started recording such figures.

Asked if there was ever a time where Smith urged his side to sit back, Villa’s head coach said:“No, not at all. 4-1 at half-time, was quite a surreal experience. We had to make sure it was a disciplined performance in the second half. We were relieved when we scored our fifth goal, but we knew when they got a second (to make it 5-2) that they still had quality to hurt us.

“It was a relief when the sixth went in but we still wanted to stay on the front foot. It’s the way we wanted to approach the game and it certainly did wonders for us.”

While Villa were dominant, there was still an element of surprise about the way they demolished Liverpool. When the goals continued to flow and the celebrations increased, even the players were questioning what was going on as the group huddled together time after time.

As a flummoxed Klopp left the pitch before the half-time whistle, Smith quickly discovered ways to use the interval to his advantage.

A half-time debrief helped Villa maintain focus and score another three goals after the break. Smith asked his video analysts to pull together some clips of how they stopped Liverpool playing out from the back in the first half.

A “best bits” compilation was quickly created and helped reaffirm what was working so well, and how Villa were on the verge of pulling off something truly remarkable.

Watkins, a scorer of five goals in six appearances now, was the real catalyst. Against Fulham he had an off-day in front of goal yet he still won every aerial duel. His unselfish running created so much space for others against Liverpool and there was a moment early in the second half that summed up his value to the team. Pressure was building on Villa for a short period until the striker backed into Virgil van Dijk, the world’s best defender, to hold up the ball and slowly take the sting out of the game. There were countless other times where he spun into space, dragged the defence apart and opened up gaps for others.

It is one of the reasons why chief executive Christian Purslow made his way into the tunnel at the end of the game to congratulate Watkins on his goals.

Clutching the match ball with a grin that stretched as wide as Trinity Road, Watkinsknew that while he scored three, he could have had five.

“I back myself to score the others,” he said, referring to an open-goal effort that hit the crossbar and a one-on-one opportunity that also went begging. Still, three goals and an assist will do for now. Somewhere there is a very smug Villa supporter who decided to triple-captain the striker in their fantasy football team.

On the pitch, Liverpool crumbled. The usually flawless Van Dijk was run ragged by Watkins. His defensive partner Joe Gomez endured a torrid night and was hooked after 61 minutes. By then, Villa had already scored five.

“I know if you lose 30 challenges you will lose football games,” Klopp said when asked why Liverpool were so badly beaten. Statistics showed they won just seven tackles all night but that was only part of the problem.

In the tunnel, Liverpool’s shell-shocked players were said to have been quiet. There was little interaction between the two teams, just respectful exchanges from the humbled champions.

It is on momentous occasions of real importance that Purslow, a minority investor as well as the CEO, joins in with the pre-match celebrations. As well as going into the dressing room to congratulate the players, he also pulled individuals like McGinn and Grealish aside to show his gratitude. There is a real family feel developing right now, and the only downside is the supporters are missing out on these glorious moments.

Ahmed Elmohamady summed it up when he tweeted: “Imagine if you (the fans) were there”.

Indeed, some supporters did gather outside the gates at Villa Park late into the night while drivers tooted their horns in delight.

That there is now a break in domestic action comes as no great advantage to Villa. Smith told his international jet-setters to take it easy when they are away with their respective nations this week and come back in good health.

This result will give them the confidence to believe that anything is possible and to dream big again. Aston Villa in second place is a pretty sight.

(Top photo: Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)