Just in case you missed it, Aston Villa 7-2 Liverpool really did happen. Jurgen Klopp’s ‘Mentality Monsters’ lacked the strength of character against Dean Smith’s side to fall to the German manager’s biggest defeat in any dugout before the international break.
Ask past and present footballers and their reaction to such humiliations are usually the same: to put such a heavy hammering behind them by either playing shortly after or facing off with a really good opposition in the next game.
For the Reds, the former didn’t go as intended as they’ve had to stew on the defeat for a fortnight, but Saturday lunch-time’s opponent in Everton represents the perfect opportunity to prove that what went down at Villa Park was a one-off.