Liverpool 5 Aston Villa 0: Rafa in control as rampant Reds close gap to a point

23 March 2009 01:57
[LNB]No sign of mental instability here and no evidence, more to the point, of a manager cracking up. Rafa Benitez is an old misery guts, his failure to even smile after each of Liverpool's five goals as staggering as the criticism that followed.[LNB]'Against 10 men I wanted us to score more,' said the sour-faced Spaniard and someone, presumably, who would rather look like Jose Mourinho, too.[LNB] And now for my next trick: Gerrard celebrates his third and Liverpool's fifth[LNB] Liverpool 5 Aston Villa 0: As it happened[LNB]LIVERPOOL FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NET[LNB]ASTON VILLA FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NET[LNB][LNB]But at a time when Manchester United appear so intent on selfdestruction, Benitez is the model of self-control as well as a man in control of his team and perhaps even his team's destiny.[LNB]How dramatically things have changed in this revitalised title race. One week United are seven points clear and seemingly unstoppable. The next and Liverpool have a superior goal difference and the opportunity, in their next game, to return to the top of the league.[LNB]benitez[LNB] That they will then have played two more matches will offer little comfort to Sir Alex Ferguson when the contrast between the two teams is so startling at the moment. Where there was chaos, confusion and indiscipline at Craven Cottage on Saturday there was only class, confidence and composure here at Anfield. The next champions of England? Right now it is hard to ignore Liverpool.[LNB]Not content with the four goals they scored against Real Madrid and United, they went one better on this occasion and subjected Aston Villa to a torturous afternoon. 'Any injuries?' Villa manager Martin O'Neill was asked afterwards. 'Just pride,' he said.[LNB]This amounted to judgment day for Liverpool. A day when they had to prove that they could take advantage of the setbacks that United and Chelsea had suffered the previous afternoon. A day when they had to eradicate the mistakes of their more recent past and to perform like genuine title contenders.[LNB]The response from the players Benitez would no doubt consider his first XI was impressive. A hat-trick from Steven Gerrard, heroics from Pepe Reina and a midfield display from Xabi Alonso that, frankly, made Liverpool's pursuit of Gareth Barry last summer look ridiculous. To think, they really were going to sell Alonso to Arsenal if the England midfielder's transfer had gone through.[LNB]When Alonso and Javier Mascherano sit between two industrious wingers in Dirk Kuyt and Albert Riera, Liverpool look so beautifully put together. A team that is perfectly-balanced and as solid at the back as it is dangerous at the front.[LNB]By his own high standards, Torres had one of his quieter afternoons. But the partnership between Gerrard and a striker who has scored 33 goals in 50 Barclays Premier League appearances is a brilliant one, and one that puts the fear of God into opposing defences.[LNB]From the very start Villa struggled to contain them, surviving only eight minutes before Kuyt scored the first of Liverpool's goals. The Dutchman pounced after Alonso had flicked on a free-kick from Gerrard against Brad Friedel's crossbar, smashing home the rebound.[LNB] [LNB] Bad Brad: Villa keeper Friedel is sent off[LNB][LNB]Liverpool were performing with so much fluency and finesse, thesight of Jamie Carragher delivering a 60-yard ball to the feet of theadvancing Riera a measure of that. In fairness to Villa, they were alsoplaying reasonably well. James Milner was causing problems down theright flank and, had it not been for two quite brilliant saves fromReina, John Carew would have equalised.[LNB]No wonder the bestLiverpool goalkeeper since Bruce Grobbelaar has now kept 100 cleansheets in 197 Liverpool appearances. Previous record holder RayClemence hit the magical ton in 200 games. As Reina demonstrated thistime, though, he creates goals too, his decision to launch the ball inthe direction of Riera after spotting a gaping hole in Villa's defencepaying off in spectacular fashion.[LNB]Nigel Reo-Coker, in particular, was punished for his poor positioning, enabling Riera to beat keeper Friedel with a beauty of a left-foot half-volley.[LNB]Had Alvaro Arbeloa simply shot rather than try to find Torres when Friedel then passed directly to him, the third goal could have come before the first of Gerrard's two penalties. But a spot-kick it was, with Gerrard converting in the 39th minute after Reo-Coker had pushed Riera to the ground.[LNB]That left Liverpool with the same goal difference as United, but they were far from finished. The fourth goal arrived five minutes after the break when Gerrard punished Carlos Cuellar for a foul on Kuyt, meeting Alonso's short free-kick with a superbly-placed shot.[LNB] Stretching the lead: Albert Riera scores Liverpool's second[LNB]And a further 15 minutes after that and the fifth arrived, this time following a block on Torres that resulted in a red card for the unfortunate Friedel. On came Brad Guzan as his replacement, his first act to dive the wrong way in the hope of saving a penalty Gerrard put in exactly the same place as before.[LNB]It amounted to a crushing defeat for an Aston Villa side who are without a win in eight matches and seemingly missing their injured captain and centre back, Martin Laursen, more than ever. They have slipped three points behind Arsenal in fifth place and they are tiring, their failure to back O'Neill in the January transfer window now looking like quite a costly error.[LNB]Liverpool have no such concerns. Far from cracking up, they are simply catching up - and fast. [LNB] Liverpool 5 Aston Villa 0: As it happened[LNB]LIVERPOOL FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NET[LNB]ASTON VILLA FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NET[LNB]  

Source: Daily_Mail