Stevie’s wonders smash it!
GERRARD: WE WERE RUTHLESS, BUT I STILL WANT MORE
DANNY INGS made two and scored one to give old club Southampton a right thumping.
And this sensational Aston Villa performance is bound to make others take note as Steven Gerrard shows signs of getting things right.
Gerrard’s men were brilliant, with Ings, who left the south coast last summer, Ollie Watkins and Philippe Coutinho all on song.
The only criticism of Villa is this really should have been seven or eight, such was their overall dominance.
Delighted manager Gerrard said: “We were ruthless to a certain extent but it could have been better.
“Coutinho needs runners so they can be creative and he showed a level that was above the game, and showed his form of old. It was a pleasure to be in the stadium. He was man of the match.
“Ollie and Danny were unplayable. It’s always been a case of giving it a chance and trying to get as many goals.
Danny would be allowed to not be in the right place as his missus is on the verge. But he’s in a good place physically. He did a lot of good things.
“But I don’t think it’s time to get too excited. I want to be balanced. We have real potential to move forward.”
Villa needed just nine minutes to get their noses in front. Watkins took on Ings’ pass, turned Jack Stephens and fired home his seventh of the season – and 100th league goal of his career.
Watkins should have had a second when his low shot was saved by Fraser Forster after Coutinho’s stunning pass.
On-loan Barcelona ace Coutinho, Gerrard’s old pal from Liverpool, was magnificent and missed a great chance inside the area with a powerful shot before Forster’s right leg denied him from Watkins’ pull back.
Amazingly on 43 minutes it was still only one. But Villa soon put that right, Calum Chambers’ cross finding Coutinho in acres of space and he laid it on a plate for Douglas Luiz to bury.
Coutinho should have added a third goal of the half as he missed a sitter, firing wide one-on-one after Watkins’ flick-on had set up a chance.
Sorry Southampton completed capitulated at the start of the second half. It looked like John Mcginn would walk it in before the ball fell to Ings, who cut it back for Coutinho’s deflected effort to go through Forster’s legs on 52 minutes.
Seconds later Ings was denied by Forster after Watkins had set up the chance. But on 54 minutes it was four, Saints cut open yet again.
Matty Cash stormed down the right and crossed for Ings to half-volley home his deserved goal.
After that Che Adams could have pulled one back for Saints after a Tyrone Mings error with Emi Martinez coming to the rescue.
This ended a seven-game unbeaten run for Southampton and boss Ralph Hasenhuttl (left) said: “It was simply not good enough against a very aggressive home side. They wanted it more than we did from the first minute.
“We have not been aggressive enough. We changed the shape at halftime but then we conceded twice and the game was gone.
“We have been on a good run but this defeat is massive. Everything was not good enough, in one game all the bad things came together. We now have a chance for another run, we have to show a different face.
“The reaction from the dressing room was as expected – they are very unhappy. That’s a good start.”