BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - Sunday, February 14, 2016: Liverpool's Kolo Toure celebrates scoring the sixth goal against Aston Villa during the Premier League match at Villa Park. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Aston Villa 0-6 Liverpool: Player Ratings

Liverpool convincingly dispatched of a poor Aston Villa side, scoring six goals away from home for the second time this season.

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - Sunday, February 14, 2016: Liverpool's Divock Origi celebrates scoring the fourth goal against Aston Villa during the Premier League match at Villa Park. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

The goals were spread around the team, with one highlight being a first goal for the club from Kolo Toure.

Read on to see how we rated the reds as they ran riot at Villa Park.

Aston Villa 0 – 6 Liverpool

Premier League – Villa Park – Saturday 14th February 2016

Goals: Sturridge (16′), Milner (25′), Can (58′), Origi (63′), Clyne (65′), K Touré (71′)

Simon Mignolet – 6

Had to gather one low cross in the first half, punch another clear, and spilled one in the second from Bacuna, but no opposition strikers were hanging around to take advantage.

Had little else to do.

Nathaniel Clyne – 8

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - Sunday, February 14, 2016: Liverpool's Nathaniel Clyne celebrates scoring the fifth goal against Aston Villa with team-mate Roberto Firmino during the Premier League match at Villa Park. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Operated up and down the entire right flank, where he had plenty of space to manoeuvre and an array of attacking team-mates to find on the inside.

Scored the fifth goal following a surging run into the box when, after his initial shot was blocked, he was able to follow up to turn the ball into the net.

It’s this type of end product which could give him confidence to take his attacking play to the next level for the remainder of the season.

Kolo Toure – 7

Scored his first goal for the club after being given the freedom of Villa Park by the opposition defence following a corner.

All he had to do was direct his header towards the goal to spark huge celebrations as the popular 34-year-old made it six on the day for The Reds.

Relatively untroubled defensively, but he and Sakho appear to be developing an understanding as a pair.

Mamadou Sakho – 7

Almost got his head on James Milner‘s cross which curled into the net untouched.

At the end of the pitch where he earns his money he was composed but – like the rest of the defensive unit – had little defensive work to do when compared with other Premier League games.

Both he and Toure provided a base for attacking moves with their accurate distribution, and the pair both come in at 93% pass accuracy.

Alberto Moreno – 8

Like Clyne he was given an attacking role from full-back, and regularly found himself in the box. It was getting to the point where you might almost call him a goal threat,

The Spaniard also played a couple of dangerous crosses in from the left, and used his pace to cover well in defence.

Jordan Henderson – 7.5

It’s tempting to  rate Henderson and Can together, such was the completeness of their performance as a midfield pair.

From a starting position as a deep midfield two, they took in turns to roam forward, and also provided cover for the roaming full-backs.

It was a far cry from recent performances where they’ve looked sloppy and disjointed.

Amidst a usual workmanlike performance from the captain, he bagged an assist when Toure headed home his corner from the right.

Emre Can – 8

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - Sunday, February 14, 2016: Liverpool's Emre Can celebrates scoring the third goal against Aston Villa during the Premier League match at Villa Park. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Too often in recent league games Liverpool’s midfielders have been posting passing accuracies of around 70 – 80%, but Can’s 87% accuracy in this game was more like the kind of return you’d expect from a central midfielder.

While the German has always appeared to possess a dangerous shot with his right boot, he doesn’t score enough goals with it.

Today he began to change that with a powerful effort from outside the area following Firmino’s pass.

James Milner – 7

Scored Liverpool’s second goal when his free-kick cross from the left evaded everyone and curled inside the far post.

He might not have meant it, but the cross was so good that it deserved a goal whether it got a touch on the way through or not.

Roamed around the attacking third, and occasionally dropped into midfield to help out in defence.

Roberto Firmino – 7.5

Looked happy to have some help in attack, and played a role which knit the play together rather than having to do all the creating and scoring himself.

He still led the team in dribbles attempted with 4, but it was a day when the attacking burden was shared and Firmino took a well earned break when he was substituted in the second half.

Before being withdrawn, however, the former Hoffenheim man had added an assist when a pass with the outside of his right boot set up Can to score Liverpool’s third.

Philippe Coutinho – 9

His pin-point, un-defendable cross from the left from open play led to the opening goal for Daniel Sturridge. The ball into the box was so accurate that it would have been more difficult for Sturridge to miss.

From then on he pulled all the strings in the attacking third from his slot just on the left.

Some excellent touches, clever passes, and great positional play saw him dictate his side’s attacking play.

He added another assist for Origi in the second half when he played a through-ball from the left and in behind the Villa defence which was even better than his firs-half cross.

Noticeable how he wasn’t shooting from distance, as he was prior to injury.

Daniel Sturridge – 8

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - Sunday, February 14, 2016: Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge scores the first goal against Aston Villa during the Premier League match at Villa Park. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Back in the team and back in the goals. Making his first league start since October, he lingered in the area before running between the Villa centre-backs to get on the end of Coutinho’s excellent cross.

It was a great ball from the Brazilian, but Sturridge still had to be in the right place to nod it in.

Had another shot saved by Bunn in the first half, and looked a constant threat to the Villa back-line before being brought off after an hour.

Substitutes

Divock Origi (on for Sturridge 62′) – 7

It took just seconds for the Belgian to score, as he latched on to Coutinho’s through ball before hitting his shot into the ground and past a sprawling Mark Bunn.

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - Sunday, February 14, 2016: Liverpool's Divock Origi scores the fourth goal against Aston Villa during the Premier League match at Villa Park. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Kevin Stewart (on for Coutinho 66′) – 6.5

The ideal game for the 22-year-old midfielder to make his league debut for the club, following on from some impressive performances in the cup.

Sat in front of the back four, allowing Henderson and Can the freedom to nudge forward slightly.

Christian Benteke (on for Firmino 74′) – N/A

Would have liked to get in on the goals, but was unable to do so in the 15-minutes he was given.

MAKE YOUR RATINGS

[statsfc-player-rater key=2dCG2IPndnJBm4GL141AFJQnx7Wsl6gT3JGGW02u team=Liverpool date=2016-02-14 default_css=false]


Player ratings definitions: 10 = Faultless | 9 = Excellent | 8 = Very Good | 7 = Good | 6 = Average | 5 = Below Par | 4 = Bad | 3 = Very Bad | 2 Awful | 1 = Surely Not

Make Your Ratings