Neil Atkinson’s post-match review for The Anfield Wrap after Liverpool 2 Aston Villa 0 in the 2025-2026 Premier League at Anfield…
IT FELT NORMAL when it has been anything but.
That was the best thing about the win. It is normal. It is repeatable. It is home.
The manager – whose name was sang at 0-0, 1-0 and 2-0, who delivered the twentieth title and the one we never knew how much we needed, who replaced the irreplaceable, who looked us in the eye and told us where the standards were – has been accused of making excuses when he has been trying to explain. Explain what is hard. Something which is hard is this:
Not being at home.
This is the reason the Manchester United result and performance is probably the most infuriating. But Liverpool have been here, there and everywhere. Now though Liverpool are at home. They leave the North of England three times until New Years Day. They just defined their own week at home and you might not have liked it but that is what they did.
It isn’t an excuse. At some stage in every season you have a week from hell. You may even have two. But it is part of the reason.
There have been so many parts of the reason. But part of the reason tonight goes the way it does, part of the reason why it ends Liverpool 2 Aston Villa 0 rather than Aston Villa 1 Manchester City 0 is that we are at home.
Home is where you look after each other. And look after each other Liverpool did. They backed each other up, they dug each other out. Today, arms were never thrown up in frustration but in collective acclaim. They talked and talked and helped one another with what they could not see. They found the space for the easy ball and they played it and started again. Liverpool went home to van Dijk over and over because home is where you get to start again. Because it’s everything, though everything was never the deal.
Home is where you get to be comfortable but comfort isn’t the same as not trying, not by a long chalk. Home is where you find that groove you have been searching for and where you pursue your passion, where you put things out of your mind when they haven’t been right. This is the trick: forget.
The crowd too was brilliant. Never unbelievably loud but only bang on the back of the referee and the indefatigable John McGinn. Not one Liverpool player. Not for a second. Instead it helped the harrying encouragement. Knew what to applaud, when to be vocal, when to say “you tried there lad, so try again”. Next time, Liverpool. Next time. Just keep working.
There are crowds in the world which are constant noise and song. There have been Liverpool crowds adding to and adoring brilliance but today’s Liverpool crowd was the best form of seven and a half out of ten. The tent didn’t need to be pitched in madness. It needed to be pitched in soundness.
Working was the key. The manager picked his leaders and his leaders led by example. When Liverpool are rubbish and frustrating – which they have been the last two weekends to differing degrees, when I write these words I try not to name anyone particularly. If the collective hasn’t been good enough then let the collective get it both barrels, whoever is near the scene of any real crime. Part of being in this together is exactly that.
And today I feel the same. Who do you think the leaders were? Because outfield I saw ten of them. I saw responsibility be grasped by everyone who was in a position to do it. Let’s allow a brief sojourn to praise Alexis Mac Allister who had arguably been Liverpool’s most concerning performer until today who suddenly looked like himself and did that thing of making the game easier for everyone who plays it with him.
From the point the second hit the lad on the way through and was visibly there, all I wanted was a 2-0 win. It may sound counter intuitive but I wasn’t that interested in a third. I wanted Liverpool to have to close the game out with jeopardy. I want them to have that collective moment. When the final whistle goes the whole back five come together and celebrate together. It helps to score, to score two. But there is still a vulnerability there, a vulnerability that the collective got beyond.
There is still a carrot for the opponent and Villa do test Liverpool from 70 to 80 and do stretch them. But being stretched is good because you will get stretched when you play football. Liverpool haven’t been getting stretched. They have been getting snapped.
There isn’t a quick fix. There is always one foot in front of the other. This was the case when the manager arrived, the case on occasion last season. The whole thing won’t be linear – love and luck are fickle things. But tonight makes you feel better.
Nothing is sorted. Promise. Ha!
There are a number of things which Liverpool will need to reflect on at some stage in the next few weeks. Have they been too eager to do too much in general? Have they ended up with too many projects all at once around both new players and fitness questions? Have they offered themselves sufficient protection for the hardest weeks in pursuit of taking the pressure off?
Today though could help create the space to be able to assess from a calmer position and tonight could also muddy some waters in a good way. We all want the same thing. We all share this place.
And tonight felt normal. It felt good. It felt like us. Let’s be us again. Being us is repeatable.
It felt like being home.
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