As close to the perfect away performance as you'll see. Villa were never in this game, from the first minute to the last, and when you see a performance like this, you have to wonder how the hell our away record this season is so poor. This was a highly enjoyable day all round, as I'd sold out of fanzines with twenty minutes to spare and was actually in the ground before the players came out for probably the first time this season! A rare luxury indeed, although about fifteen minutes of that time was taken up wading through ankle deep urine as I fought my way through the crowd trying to get into the bog for a piss. Considering Villa Park is supposed to be one of the best grounds in the country, the facilities in the away end are fucking terrible.
Still, I managed to reach my seat just in time to see a pissed up young scally make a complete arse of himself. He had expertly managed to smuggle a rather large bottle of Vladivar into the ground, and was keen to show this off to his mates. He spotted them in the crowd, and raised the bottle above his head shouting "Wayhay." Comically though, the top came off the bottle and drenched the little scamp. He was that pissed though that half the bottles contents had already soaked through his Lacoste trackie before he even realised what had happened. Hysterical it was, but I guess you had to be there.
Anyway, back to the game, and just how good is Stevie G? He gets better and better every week. Murphy and Litmanen were outstanding too, but Stevie managed to outshine even those two. To be fair, the whole team played well, and credit where it's due, even Hamann had a good game!
Litmanen's contribution to this game was hugely significant, as it was his clever link play that allowed the likes of Gerrard, Murphy and Smicer to make so many forward runs. He drops off leaving space in behind, and the midfield runners exploited that space to perfection today.
Murphy's opener was a classy goal. Yes it ended up being a tap-in, but his first shot was superb, and the way he tucked home the rebound was coolness itself. Danny grew in confidence after that, and his lay off for the second goal was wonderful too. It was not until I got home and saw that goal on MOTD that I realised just how good it actually was though. My seat wasn't the best, it was too near the front, and I actually thought Stevie G was only about 8 yards out when he struck that shot. On seeing it properly later that night though, I have say for me that is our best goal of the season so far. Classic stuff.
The game developed into a procession after that, and had Gerard not decided to replace Litmanen with the more defensive minded Biscan, we really could have added a few more to Murphy's deflected second goal. The Villa fans were silent throughout, so much so that they actually made the mancs seem boisterous! Still, at least Villa don't funnel fake crowd noise through the speakers to give the impression that they're creating an atmosphere.
Song of the day had to be "There's only one Doug Ellis", which I'm sure will have gone down particularly well with John Gregory! Highlight of the day (apart from the Vodka episode) had to be seeing Ginola contribute absolutely fuck all to the game. This was also the first time he's played against us without coming out with crap such as "Houllier killed my grandfather" before we played them. Maybe Daveeed is starting to mellow a little.
The trouble with Liverpool is that we tend to follow up excellent performances like this with crap ones the following week. Next up is Boro, and why do I have a feeling that we may end that game with egg on our faces?
TEAM: Sander Westerveld; Markus Babbel, Sami Hyypia, Stephane Henchoz, Jamie Carragher; Danny Murphy (Gary McAllister), Steven Gerrard, Dietmar Hamann, Vladimir Smicer; Jari Litmanen (Igor Biscan), Emile Heskey (Michael Owen):
