Liverpool Player Ratings v. Aston Villa

STARTING XI:

Mignolet - 8 - I really like this guy. An all around great performance that earned him a second clean sheet in as many matches.

Johnson - 6 - A terrible challenge at the end of the first half earned him a yellow card but Johnson was nonetheless better this week. His touches and passes seemed more on point than against Stoke, although he had a major goof up when he decided to go for goal with Sturridge and Coutinho open in the middle.

Toure - 7 - We were all asking ourselves how Toure would handle Christian Benteke coming into the match. On the whole, he did very admirably considering he was trying to mark an absolute beast. Well done again for the lad.

Agger - 7 - Rinse and repeat what I said about Toure. He had a hard collision with the opposing goalkeeper that left him on the ground injured for a bit.

Enrique - 7 - Enrique set up the Sturridge goal and was pretty excellent in the back. He's inconsistent but when he's on his game he can be very good.

Lucas - 6 - Careless on the ball at times and not quite as imposing as I'd like him to be, Lucas was disappointing in his second match of the year. Villa's counter attack is a big ask for a defensive midfielder but Lucas must be better next weekend against United.

Gerrard - 6 - Gerrard passed it at a decent 84% clip but wasn't at his best overall. I think he's going to really come alive against United.

Henderson - 6 - Hendo certainly wasn't at the same level as in the Stoke game, and this may have been because of how wide he was deployed by Rodgers. We've seen time and time again that Henderson is a better player when he plays centrally, but his managers don't seem to realize this.

Coutinho - 7 - He wasn't at his sharpest but he did have some key passes and brilliantly dummied to set up the Sturridge goal. He went down hard a few time under some nasty Villa challenges but didn't seem to pick up any real knocks.

Aspas - 5 - Aspas just was't very good. He didn't create anything and looked consumed by the occasion. I wouldn't mind if he gets put on the bench against Man U.

Sturridge - 8 - What a goal by Sturridge. He not only maneuvered past a defender and the goalkeeper, but also slammed it into the roof of the net whilst falling down. He has been great so far for Liverpool.

SUBS:

Aly Cissokho - 6 - Cissokho showed the urge to go forward and was neither bad nor good on the afternoon. What struck me most was the strength he appears to possess. I expected him to be small and quick but he's built like a bull.

Joe Allen - N/A - Allen didn't play enough minutes for me to give him a fair grade, but for what it's worth, whoscored.com gave him the worst rating on the Liverpool team.

NOTE: Player Ratings are extremely subjective and debatable. Feel free to challenge my ratings and offer your own.