Reigning English Premier League title holders Liverpool FC received a sobering wake-up call on Sunday, as they were humiliated while visiting Aston Villa. The Reds were thrashed 7-2, after enjoying almost complete dominance over the league last season.

It was only the 4th loss for Liverpool in the Premier League since January 2019, but the scoreline made it a lot harder to swallow than just any defeat. "It looked like we lost the plot after it went to 1-0," said Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

According to the BBC, Klopp also admitted that while his team wanted to make history, they created the wrong kind of history last night. The last time reigning Premier League champions conceded seven goals was back in 1953, when Arsenal lost 7-1 to Sunderland.

The team that played against Aston Villa did not look like a team that finished last season 18 points clear of the closest contender. Liverpool star Mohamed Salah scored two goals but his performance was hardly inspirational to the rest of the squad as they continued to be dominated by their opponents. "We had big chances which we did not use, but when you concede seven I'm not sure you can say it would have been 7-7," said Klopp.

The manager was also the first to admit that they could only blame themselves for the humiliation. "We made too many mistakes and massive ones obviously. It started with the first goal and around the goals we made massive mistakes," he said.

Ollie Watkins scored the first goal of his eventual hat-trick in the 4th minute. Needless to say, Liverpool were already thrown off track within the opening five minutes. Watkins scored again before Salah could come up with an answer in the 33rd minute. However, Villa quickly responded with two goals to make it 4-1 before the half.

Villa scored again five minutes after the restart before Salah took one back to 5-2. From there, Liverpool was completely silenced as Villa took the tally up to the final score of 7-2.

"There is nobody to blame apart from me and us," said Klopp. Incidentally, the Reds are also suffering from the absence of first-choice keeper Alisson, who is recovering from a shoulder injury.

Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp Photo: AFP / JAVIER SORIANO