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Aston Villa demolished Liverpool 7-2 at Villa Park on Sunday night, as the champions disintegrated defensively, and were well-beaten. Ollie Watkins scored a hat-trick for Villa, while Jack Grealish had a brace, in a game that also saw Ross Barkley and John McGinn score with deflected efforts.
Mohamed Salah scored twice for Liverpool. But on a night when nothing went right for the Reds, the tone was set early. With Alisson Becker ruled out, Adrian San Miguel started in goal, and played a pass straight to Jack Grealish who set up Watkins's first goal.
That set the tone for Liverpool to make mistake after mistake in defence, and Villa were in ruthless mood, and could have even ended up with more than the seven that they scored.
Here's how each player fared for Liverpool.
Liverpool Player Ratings
Adrian San Miguel - 1/10
He set the tone early on with an absolutely dreadful attempted pass to Gomez to gift Villa their first goal. He also came up with the most spectacularly awful piece of goalkeeping in the second half, when he walked away from his net to leave Watkins with an open goal, only for the Villa striker to hit the bar.
Trent Alexander-Arnold - 2/10
Villa targeted the Liverpool right side, with both Alexander-Arnold and Gomez having horrendous games on the night. While Grealish had the better of Alexander-Arnold throughout the game, the sixth Villa goal was the summation of it. The Liverpool man tried to win the ball early, but didn't, and let Grealish a free run at goal.
Joe Gomez - 1/10
He was the worst of the Liverpool outfield players on the day. He could not make a pass to a team-mate if he needed one to save his life. Like the rest of his team-mates, he didn't defend particularly well either. His pace and strength are generally reliable assets, but they completely missing against Watkins.
Virgil van Dijk - 2/10
That goal Liverpool conceded off the set-piece is one of the most bizarre goals that a team can concede, and as the leader of the defence, van Dijk has to take responsibility for it. He was also slow and lethargic to respond to several dangerous Villa moves.
Andy Robertson - 6/10
He was Liverpool's best player of the day. He bombed up and down the flank to perfection, combined well with the attackers, and played in some dangerous crosses. He even had a decent shot saved by Emi Martinez in the Villa goal.
Fabinho - 4/10
The Liverpool midfield was made to look so slow by Aston Villa. John McGinn and Ross Barkley overran Fabinho. The latter especially drove straight through the heart of the Liverpool midfield, and Fabinho did nothing about it.
Gini Wijnaldum - 3/10
He had one terrific through-ball to Robertson to create a chance for the Scot. That aside, he just went missing. For a supposed leader and a senior player in this Liverpool side, that was abysmal.
Naby Keita - 2/10
He had a couple of bright moments in possession, but he was hounded off the ball by the energy of the Villa midfield. He was taken off at half-time.
Roberto Firmino - 0/10
If the idea of football was to present the ball to the opposition everytime you got it, Firmino excelled at football tonight. His passing was atrocious, bar setting up Salah's goal, his decision-making in the final third was poor. Can he just shoot when he's in the box?
Mohamed Salah - 6/10
He was another of the bright sparks for Liverpool. He scored two goals, was always an outlet, and constantly bothered the Villa defence. The Reds just didn't get the ball up to him often enough.
Diogo Jota - 5/10
In the shambles around him, Jota coped reasonably well. He linked up well with Robertson, and even had a couple of decent chances in the box. Overall, a decent performance for someone making his first Premier League start.
Substitutes
Takumi Minamino - 4/10
Minamino replaced Keita at half-time, but didn't really affect proceedings in any way.
Curtis Jones - 5/10
He came on and demanded the ball in midfield, and didn't give it away in stupid areas. That was progress on the midfielders that started the game.
James Milner - 6/10
The veteran made a sensational block on Bertrand Traore, who was set to make it eight for Villa.
