Liverpool rout spoils Houllier’s Anfield return

ON a night when so much must have been familiar for Gerard Houllier, worryingly for the Aston Villa manager, the main reason for his déjà vu must have been because his team played like the Liverpool sides that book-ended his six years at Anfield.

There was Rigobert Song being given a standing ovation for chasing back after going forward for a corner in a 2-2 draw with West Ham shortly after the manager took sole charge, to the miserable trudge towards fourth, which was not enough to keep him in a job in 2004, the performance of his team was every bit as lifeless.

With David Ngog and Ryan Babel putting Liverpool ahead with a little over a quarter of an hour gone, Maxi Rodriguez added an impressive third shortly after half time

The word is that Houllier is not even under pressure to finish sixth this season, as long as some costs are cut, but while Liverpool were able to write off that 1998/99 campaign before rebuilding, Villa’s fans, who booed their team off at half time, may not be quite as patient if their reaction to seeing a miserable run extended to one win in 10 is anything to go by.

Making a rare start, Stephen Ireland looked lost, at one point bickering with Luke Young, and it was a surprise that he lasted the full game, while Gabriel Agbonlahor ignored his manager and headed straight down the tunnel after being withdrawn midway through the second half.

Houllier’s first 16 games in sole charge might have yielded more points than Hodgson has managed but there were contrasting signs of life from the hosts, who are looking less inconsistent by the week.

Even without Fernando Torres, absent as his wife Olalla was giving birth to their second child, and Steven Gerrard, who could return from a hamstring injury at Newcastle at the weekend, they looked full of belief, with even Babel full of running and threat.

As was so often the case in his time at Liverpool, Houllier sent his side out to contain, with the idea that not losing was the first step towards winning.

A five-man midfield was supposed to get men behind the ball, with the promise that Stewart Downing and Marc Albrighton could be released quickly on the break.

While that mind-set eventually proved his undoing at Anfield, his Villa team did not get to first base last night.

There is no doubt that they are beset by injuries, but not in a defence that coughed up two early goals without much resistance at all. Even after the first one went in, Villa’s night looked over.

The first came when Raul Meireles swung a corner over, Martin Skrtel easily beat Ciaran Clark in the air and James Collins left Ngog to turn a header in from around eight yards out.

Two minutes later the lead was doubled with another simple goal. The ball was won in midfield and after three quick passes, Lucas clipped the ball forward for Babel, with Stephen Warnock caught badly out of position, and the Dutchman swept the ball into the corner.

Collins headed over from a Stewart Downing corner at the other end but Sotirios Kyrgiakos should have finished the game when he won another free header in the Villa area but turned his effort wide from a Meireles free kick.

There was some defiance from Villa after the restart, with Downing opening up the Liverpool defence and sending in a low cross only for Agbonlahor to shoot straight at Pepe Reina, who kept his 100th clean sheet for Liverpool, from close range.

But less than 10 minutes after the restart, Liverpool wrapped the game up with a wonderful move. Reina rolled the ball out to Rodriguez, who swept a pass wide to Ngog and kept running.

The Frenchman pulled a pass back to the edge of the area and, hitting the ball first time, Rodriguez guided a shot into the top corner.

The margin of victory could have been even more convincing, with Brad Friedel pulling off a fine save from Glen Johnson, after the defender had beaten Robert Pires and Warnock, and another Kyrgiakos header from a Meireles corner was cleared off the line by Jonathan Hogg.

LIVERPOOL: Reina, Johnson, Kyrgiakos (Kelly 83), Skrtel, Konchesky, Kuyt (Cole 80), Meireles, Lucas, Maxi (Aurelio 76), Babel, Ngog.

ASTON VILLA: Friedel, Luke Young, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Albrighton (Pires 65), Clark (Delfouneso 46), Hogg, Downing, Ireland, Agbonlahor (Carew 66). Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire).