Liverpool 3 Aston Villa 0: Mo Salah puts transfer rumours behind him as relentless Reds thump Villans to go 3rd in table
JURGEN KLOPP has a decent record when buying big.
So once again, the Liverpool manager has delivered some belting business in landing Hungarian international Dominik Szoboszlai.
The Hungarian midfielder is the club’s fourth biggest signing after new skipper Virgil van Dijk (£75million), keeper Alisson (£67m) and striker Darwin Nunez (£64m) who is now finding his feet in the Premier League.
Yet at £60m from Leipzig, in these bonkers days of transfer fees, you could say Szoboszlai is almost a bargain.
He scored his first goal for the club as Liverpool cruised to an easy win with Villa’s Matty Cash scoring an own goal and Mo Salah - still featuring despite the massive interest from Saudi Arabia - getting the third.
But apart from a brilliant finish from Szoboszlai, it was the way he added some real energy and class into a Reds midfield which overwhelmed Unai Emery’s Villa side.
Because this first 45 minutes, with Trent Alexander-Arnold also starring, was Liverpool’s best of the season by some distance.
With Joe Gomez and Joel Matip filling in for the suspended van Dijk and injured Ibrahim Konate in central defence, Villa will have fancied themselves to get something.
But instead, Villa’s forwards barely got a sniff such was the way Szoboszlai, fellow new boy Alexis Mac Allister and Curtis Jones completely dominated midfield before Jurgen Klopp made his changes in the second half with the game comfortably in the bag.
Szoboszlai certainly looks at home in England.
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Maybe it was helped by the fact that he featured in a 4-0 Uefa Nations League humiliation of Gareth Southgate’s side at Molineux in June 2022, 10 days after scoring the winner in a 1-0 victory over the Three Lions in Budapest.
Mind you, he also played in Leipzig’s 7-0 thrashing at Manchester City in the Champions League but with this Liverpool team who have jumped to third in the Premier League, the 22-year-old will not have to worry about being on the wrong end of any of those type of batterings.
Because Liverpool will be more than the way they have started the season despite not always playing great football.
As for Villa, like the 5-1 thrashing at Newcastle, this was a tap on the shoulder that they still have a fair amount of work to build on last year’s seventh spot.
Considering the way Liverpool plucked victory from the jaws of defeat in the 2-1 win at Newcastle, Aston Villa were certain to face an early barrage at Anfield.
So it was inexplicable that they allowed themself to be caught out with some ridiculously dangerous passing inside their own box in the third minute.
Pau Torres failed to deal with a ball from keeper Emi Martinez and after being dispossessed by Salah, delivered a tackle but conceded a corner.
Alexander-Arnold’s outswinging corner missed everybody until the ball fell to Szoboszlai who, completely unmarked on the edge of the area, thumped a left-footed drive into the bottom right corner.
Villa were forced to reshuffle when Leon Bailey then replaced the crocked Diego Carlos who missed most of last season with an injury.
That saw Matty Cash dropping back from midfield into defence and a minute later, he scored that own goal after Nunez fired a shot against the post.
Joel Matip should have added a third when he somehow steered a free header wide from close range
Equally, Villa midfielder John McGinn should have done much better than fire a wild effort into the Kop. And to sum up Villa’s shambolic first half, Ollie Watkins and Bailey got in each other’s way when they both tried to finish Lucas Digne’s cross.
Nunez hit the woodwork again, missed an easy header but then got a touch to Andy Robertson’s corner for Salah to have an easy far post tap-in.
Salah celebrated in front of the Kop and could have had another. With the Saudi Arabian transfer window yet to finish, Liverpool’s fans will be praying this is not the last they have seen of him.
Because even if they get £200m for Salah, he is irreplaceable.
Read how all the action from Anfield unfolded...