Report: Liverpool 3-2 Aston Villa

Two goals from Daniel Sturridge have helped Liverpool to beat Aston Villa in a 3-2 victory at Anfield this afternoon, though Villa's failure to press the ball allowed Liverpool the space to play and meant that the home side were far more dominant than the scoreline would suggest.

Liverpool got off to a cracking start, Philippe Coutinho threading a pass into space, and the delighted James Milner latching onto the ball and drilling a low shot past Brad Guzan on 2 minutes while Villa player's were still scratching their arses.

Emre Can and Sturridge both kept Guzan on his toes in the first 10 minutes, before Rudy Gestede missed two chances to find an equaliser for Villa, the striker heading straight at Simon Mignolet before shooting wide with a volley.

Coutinho forced a good save from Guzan with a deflected shot, before Scott Sinclair looked for an equaliser from distance, but his limp effort fell comfortably to Mignolet.

After the break James Milner forced a good save from Guzan and Coutinho hita free kick straight at the Villa keeper.

On 58 minutes Sturridge scored his first Premier League goal of the season to double Liverpool's lead, as the striker - once on Villa's books- struck a volley past a helpless Guzan.

We finally pulled a goal back on 66 minutes, Hutton's cross finding Gestede, who tapped past Mignolet from close range.

Liverpool roared back in mere second to restore their two-goal cushion, Coutinho finding Sturridge in the penalty area, who slotted past Guzan for his second of the game.

Gestede scored his and Villa's second goal on 71 minutes, the former Blackburn Rovers man rose like a salmon to head home a Jordan Amavi cross.

Coutinho forced a stunning save from Guzan with a free kick from 25 yards, before Micah Richards popped up to head over  a Jordan Veretout set piece at the other end of the pitch.

Sturridge should have completed a hat-trick before the final whistle, but the England international fired wide with a deflected shot.

Post-mortem:

The bottom line is that Tim got his tactics all wrong in this one, his midfield content to stand back and give Liverpool space and time instead of putting pressure on the ball, while Gestede spent much of the match isolated with little or no support. 

Only in the last twenty minutes did Villa do anything like compete but a shaken Liverpool could have been there for the taking if we'd put them under any sort of pressure.

Tim must take responsibility for this defeat. We know he's learning on the job. Let's just hope his inflated ego doesn't stop him from taking home some harsh lessons from this unfortunate endeavour.