Liverpool 5 Aston Villa 0: Bill Howell's big match verdict
Mar 23 2009 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail
“WE WERE poor and there’s no getting away from it,” admitted the manager.
If this was ‘poor’ then Charles Dickens’ loathsome pickpocket Fagin was in the running for 19th century entrepreneur of the year.
The last time Villa were as woeful and shipping five goals in a single match was to a Thierry Henry inspired Arsenal in April 2006 when their season was imploding with Doug Ellis looking on as an Irish manager’s three-year reign was coming to a miserable end.
Hopefully the similarities will end there as this Villa team are light years from the side that was so inept in north London that day.
Martin O’Neill is a born fighter and will not stand for such inadequacies again.
Next up Old Trafford. Lightning will not strike twice.
Ellis was here too, watching Steven Gerrard and Liverpool inflicting on Villa their biggest drubbing since October 1953 when they won 6-1 at Anfield.
If only Villa’s season had ended on Saturday February 7.
Gabby Agbonlahor was the apple of the supporters’ eyes after a late winner at Blackburn, the seventh away win on the spin.
He jumped for joy that afternoon in front of 4,000 of them like a crazy five-year-old who had just spent the last five hours eating neat sugar cubes washed down with Coca Cola.
Six weeks later and dreams of Wembley and Istanbul have vanished.
A team who had recorded their longest unbeaten sequence in 99 years in the top flight, a team whose manager was being likened in some circles to Ron Saunders, and a team who seemingly had a Champions League spot there for the taking now cannot buy a result.
One point from 15. Beaten by Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham and now Liverpool. Better make that ‘embarrassed’ by Liverpool.
Glenn Whelan’s late, late cracker at Villa Park for Stoke has been a dagger through hearts and minds.
Villa’s season has simply ended ever since.
We were promised “twists and turns” until the end of May.
We were looking forward to a final nine games to throw up some haphazards like the mark from Zorro’s swashbuckling sword.
But there was no Chubby Checker on the dancefloor at Anfield.
This was frighteningly routine.
The title race appears wide open again. The case for fourth now shut.
The good news? Well, March is now behind Villa. A third season running, 12 games and no wins.
O’Neill’s decision to play John Carew from the start in the league at least paid dividends, at least it did until the wheels came off past the hour-mark.
But he will have to address the problem right-back slot as Nigel Reo-Coker looked a picture of abject misery against Albert Riera.
He will also have to address the centre-back spots. Zat Knight was a surprise omission and without Wayne Rooney to worry about in Manchester in a fortnight he can probably expect a recall.
