Phil Thompson: Everton are perfect opponents for Liverpool after Villa wake-up call

Bring on The Toffees!

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I watched the Aston Villa from behind my couch, I was hiding from about 45 minutes on! I actually played that game in 1976, and we were 5-0 down at half-time at Villa Park. Everything was flying in – everything they touched turned to gold and goals! It was, simply, horrific.

As a Liverpool fan to be watching that, it was sickening, we aren’t used to watching our team lose like that – especially not by that many goals. Everything that could’ve gone wrong, went wrong.

Do you know what I put the result down to? Attitude. It was one of those games, and sometimes we’ve gotten away with it, where the attitude was not right from the start. The goalkeeper, Joe Gomez, to quote Roy Keane, everything was sloppy.

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The Derby will right the ship

We got punished as a result. We had our chances, but it was an incredible footballing match and Aston Villa got us just at the right time. We were having a bad day.

Sometimes in your career, you will get one of those games. Man City will be looking at that Leicester result at the Etihad, and as long as you react well, it’s okay.

We’ve got the Merseyside derby coming up – and that’s the ideal way to turn it around.

Perhaps it was the perfect kick up the bum for some of those players. And I’m not having a real go here, because let’s be honest, we’ve been nothing short of sensational. But, it doesn’t do any harm to have a bit of a wake-up call every now and then.

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