Liverpool's loss is England's gain

Sven-Goran Eriksson is fast developing a soft spot for all things Liverpool. After their England contingent scored the goals to propel his national side to the top of their World Cup qualifying group, now even red cards accrued by the Merseysiders seem to help the Swede.

The third sending-off of Steven Gerrard's career, courtesy of Saturday's lunge at George Boateng, will warrant a three-match ban. With their championship challenge already stalling in the blocks, that loss constitutes bad news for Gerard Houllier, ruling the 21-year-old out of games with Tottenham and Newcastle this month and Leeds on October 13th. But for England the news is as rosy as the card held aloft by Andy D'Urso.

Though there is a Champions League match with Dynamo Kiev sandwiched in between those first two Premiership fixtures, Gerrard should be as fresh as a daisy when England try to seal their World Cup passage against Greece on October 6th. Not that Houllier or the Kop would care to acknowledge that silver lining.

Gerrard's dismissal capped a miserable afternoon for the red half of Merseyside. The midfielder, effervescent in Munich and Liverpool's busiest player for 74 minutes here, leapt into a challenge with Boateng and crashed his boot into his opponent's right leg. That the challenge did not shatter the Dutchman's limb spoke volumes for his shinpad manufacturers.

Houllier's immediate reaction was to brand Boateng "a good actor", but his defence of the tackle was as flimsy as his team's efforts to counter Villa's bubbly strikeforce. If Gerrard did indeed win the initial challenge, as his manager claimed, he merely grazed the top of the ball, which suggests his lunge was already high and therefore dangerous, chiefly to Boateng's career.

Perhaps common sense prevailed after the Frenchman gauged the astonished response to his defence of the indefensible.

"It was a reckless tackle by Steven," he eventually conceded. "It's something he has to learn from. Frustration got the better of him. We need him on the pitch, but don't just blame him; the whole team was off-colour. I hope this brings them down to earth; it's a wake-up call, because that was the worst performance by a Liverpool side for a long, long time."

This was the jaded Liverpool that sloppily lost games during the first half of last season, not the resurgent Reds who steamrolled all before them from the turn of the year. They lacked creation and inspiration and were outclassed all over the pitch.

Even the boy wonder Michael Owen, who with six games to come in 22 days was left on the bench for an hour, could not muster enough pizzazz to ruffle Villa's obdurate defence.

Having missed Liverpool's messy equaliser - Gerrard nodding Gary McAllister's corner over the line 54 seconds into the second half - John Gregory was back in his seat to see Lee Hendrie's sharp finish put his side 2-1 up after Dublin's miskick. The advantage grew when Darius Vassell roared on to Olof Mellberg's punt, cut inside and his shot deflected off Sami Hyypia's belated block to loop over Dudek.

In response, the home side huffed and puffed but never threatened a rock-solid Villa.

LIVERPOOL: Dudek, Henchoz (Murphy 76), Hyypia, Riise (Vignal 60), Carragher, McAllister, Barmby (Owen 60), Hamann, Gerrard, Heskey, Fowler. Subs Not Used: Biscan, Arphexad. Sent Off: Gerrard (74). Booked: Barmby, Carragher, Vignal. Goal: Gerrard 46.

ASTON VILLA: Schmeichel, Delaney, Wright, Mellberg, Alpay, Boateng, Hendrie (Staunton 89), Merson (Hadji 70), Kachloul, Vassell, Du blin. Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Ginola, Balaban. Booked: Mellberg, Alpay. Goals: Dublin 31, Hendrie 55, Vassell 86.

Referee: A D'Urso (Billericay).