Aston Villa 0, Liverpool 6: Humiliated Garde questions Villans’ fighting spirit after six-goal hammering
Aston Villa boss Remi Garde admitted that he was left humiliated as Liverpool ran riot to inflict his relegation-threatened side’s heaviest home defeat in the Premier League era.
Goals from striker Daniel Sturridge, making his first league start since Jurgen Klopp took charge of Liverpool in October, and James Milner gave Liverpool a 2-0 half-time lead before the floodgates opened in the second period.
Three strikes in seven minutes from midfielder Emre Can, substitute Divock Origi and England full-back Nathaniel Clyne extended Liverpool’s lead before the rout was completed inside the final 20 minutes by former Arsenal defender Kolo Toure.
A first victory in six games across all competitions propelled the Reds above Everton, Stoke and Watford to eighth, while a 16th league defeat left an increasingly beleaguered Villa eight points from safety with 12 matches remaining.
“I can just say that I feel humiliated. Before the game you could expect that the level of the two teams was not the same but after quite a good first 15 minutes I don’t know what happened,” said Garde.
“The first two goals were very difficult to digest and then my team just didn’t play any more. There is this bad feeling that we didn’t fight enough, we were always two or three metres away from our opponent and it was very easy for them.
“Of course Liverpool is a very good side with so many talented players but then fighting spirit, especially in the position where we were, I was expecting that but we were not able to deliver it.”
Liverpool’s slump in form of late was epitomised by Villa entering the fixture having accrued three more points from their previous six league fixtures than the Reds, and manger Jurgen Klopp insisted it was “a result for the soul”.
“It [a 6-0 victory] doesn’t happen too often in a manager’s life, so we should keep it for the bad times,” said Klopp. “It was a good game for us, a result for the soul, for the table, for our goal difference, so everything was good.
“It’s perfect for the boys that it makes sense to work in this way and it was good, but it’s not a day to sing songs or things like this, for us.
“We came here and won the game for that’s important for us. But on the other side, if one team wins 6-0 another team loses 6-0 and that’s not too nice for them.”