Liverpool thrashed Aston Villa at Anfield to close the gap at the top of the table to just one point. Goal.com rates the performers …
LIVERPOOL
Reina: 8.0 - Made two great saves from John Carew in the first half and also fired a super ball up-field for Riera to smash home the second.
Aurelio: 6.5 – The full-back had a fairly quiet game but handled the threat of Milner well.
Carragher: 7.5 – Stood up to the Villa threat and, in truth, was rarely tested at the back.
Skrtel: 7.0 - Carew got the leap on him several times and he found the Norwegian’s strength a test in the first half, but no problems after the break.
Arbeloa: 6.5 - Got forward well but seemed to panic when he got there. One tame shot failed to test Friedel and after collecting a back pass from Friedel, he opted to pass to Torres when he could, and probably should, have scored.
Mascherano: 7.5 – Simply relentless in midfield, won countless balls and was a huge driving force.
Alonso: 8.0 - Immaculate in possession and got the vital touch on Gerrard’s cross for the opener. A brilliant ball through to Torres won the second penalty before he was subbed.
Riera: 8.5 – Had the beating of Reo-Coker and won a penalty off the stand-in full-back. Crashed home the second goal with a brilliant finish into the top corner.
Kuyt: 8.0 - Great finish to lash home the opener and also sprayed the ball out nicely to Riera to win the first penalty.
Gerrard: 9.0 – Set up the opener before hitting a hat-trick with two penalties and a superbly placed free-kick.
Torres: 6.5 – Liverpool scored five but Torres was rarely involved. Won the penalty after being sent through by Alonso but, other than that, a frustrating afternoon, in terms of his personal goal tally.
Substitutes
Lucas: 6.5 – Allowed Alonso to put his feet up for the last half-hour.
Agger: n/a
Ngog: n/a
ASTON VILLA
Friedel: 5.0 – Conceded four goals but, in truth, had little chance with any of them, such was the quality of Liverpool’s finishing. Did make an awful error with a back pass straight to Arbeloa but was very unfortunate to be sent-off as Reo-Coker was clearly covering.
Reo-Coker: 4.0 – Full-back is not his natural position and how it showed. Conceded the free-kick from which Liverpool scored the opener, conceded the penalty for the third and struggled continually against Riera.
Cuellar: 6.0 - Handled Torres well and made several vital interceptions. However, he gave away the free-kick from which Gerrard scored.
Davies: 6.5 – His side conceded five but in truth he made few mistakes.
Luke Young: 6.0 – Couldn’t get forward and found Kuyt and Arbeloa a handful, defensively.
Milner: 6.5 - Looked the most likely source of invention for Villa and provided plenty of balls up to his front two in the first-half.
Petrov: 5.5 - Struggled to get anywhere near the ball for large parts of the second-half
Barry: 5.0 - Might have done better for the second goal and allowed Liverpool’s midfield far too much space in which to wreak havoc.
Ashley Young: 6.0 – Had a few bright moments when it was only 1-0 and offered some decent delivery but still far below his best.
Heskey: 5.0 – A pretty poor return to Anfield, one tame header at Reina in the second-half was his best effort.
Carew: 6.5 - Had two great chances in the first-half which really tested Reina but rarely saw the ball after the break.
Substitutes
Agbonlahor: 5.0 - Made no impact after coming on.
Guzan: 6.0 - Came on and his first task was to pick Gerrard's penalty out of the back of the net. Decent stop from Mascherano shortly afterwards.
