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Game #3347

Aston Villa

3-1-4, 7 PTS

Aston Villa.jpg

Saturday, 20 September 1975

16th (-2)

Last 5: 🟥 🟩 🟩 🟥 🟥

GK Jake Findlay | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
RB John Gidman | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Chris Nicholl | 🇬🇧 |
CB Ian Ross | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
LB Charlie Aitken | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
M Leighton Phillips | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
M Frank Pimblett | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
W Frank Carrodus | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W Ray Graydon | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
F Sammy Morgan | 🇬🇧 |
F Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982
Aston Villa.jpg
Substitutes

🔁 | W Steve Hunt | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for M Frank Pimblett | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 54' |

Unused Substitutes

None

Yellow Cards (Warnings, Cautions, Bookings)

None

Red Cards (Ordered from Field of Play, Dismissals, Sendings Off)

None

Trophy Record

UEFA Cup / Europa League: ❌
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1974-75

Matchday Squad

Unavailable

Injury | 1 |
CF Keith Leonard | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Team News

Brian Little, Jake Findlay and Frank Pimblett replace Chico Hamilton, Jim Cumbes and Bobby McDonald.

Team Stats

Starting XI Average Age
| 25.79 |

Oldest Player |
LB Charlie Aitken | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 33.41 |

Youngest Player |
M Frank Pimblett | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 18.54 |

Debut Appearances

Final Appearances

Aston Villa.jpg

Lost

0-3

🟥 20 Sep 1975, Villa 0-3 Liverpool, Anfield
Scorer(s) | None

Assist(s) | None

Match Timeline

🕒 | HT Liverpool 0-0 Aston Villa
🥅 | 52’ Goal, 0-1, (Liverpool), John Toshack
🔁 | 54’ Sub off, Frank Pimblett, Sub on, Steve Hunt
🥅 | 77’ Goal, 0-2, (Liverpool), Kevin Keegan
🥅 | 86’ Goal, 0-3, (Liverpool), Jimmy Case
🕒 | FT Liverpool 3-0 Aston Villa

Season | 1975-76 |
Matchday | #10 |
League Match | #8 |
Manager Game | #65 |
Saturday, 20 September 1975

Aston Villa.jpg
Match Record
Game Record

Manager: Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Birkenhead, 1974-1982
Referee: Ray Tinkler | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Boston, 1961-1975
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
FT Score: 🟥 0-3
Last 5: 🟥 🟩 🟩 🟥 🟥

Officials

Referee: Ray Tinkler | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Boston, 1961-1975

Previous 5 vs. Liverpool: 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟥

Aston Villa.jpg
Head to Head

Total 🕒 106 | 🟩 W39 (37% ) | 🟨 D18 | 🇺(54% ) | 🟥 L49 (46% ) | ⚽ 181 | 🥅 191 | GD -10

Match Stats

Not recorded

Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982

🕒 65 | 🟩 | 37 🟨 | 13 🟥 15 | 1.91

Villa Career Form:

Top 4

🟩 12 Apr 2025, Villa 3-0 Southampton, St Mary's TBL.png

Division One

Liverpool

4-2-2, 10 PTS

Aston Villa.jpg

Anfield

Attendance: 42,779

GK Ray Clemence | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Phil Neal | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Phil Thompson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Emlyn Hughes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Alec Lindsay | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Brian Hall | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
M Peter Cormack | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
M Steve Heighway | 🇮🇪 |
M Jimmy Case | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
CF Kevin Keegan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ | 🟨 |
CF John Toshack | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | ⚽ |

Bob Paisley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
Aston Villa.jpg
Substitutes

No Substitutions Made

Unused Substitutes

W Ray Kennedy | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Yellow Cards (Warnings, Cautions, Bookings)

🟨

Red Cards (Ordered from Field of Play, Dismissals, Sendings Off)

None

Opposition Trophy Record

UEFA Cup / Europa League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: 1973-74

Opposition Matchday Squad

Opposition Unavailable

Not Recorded

🟩 12 Apr 2025, Villa 3-0 Southampton, St Mary's TBL.png
On This Day
  • In Belgium it was the first half, in Liverpool the second that saw Villa beaten as inexperience unsurprisingly counted against Ron Saunders' side after a goalless first half.

  • Ron Saunders' Villa make it three wins, one draw and four defeats on their return to the top flight.

Starting XI
GK Jake Findlay | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
🕒

3

3

🔥

0

0

🟩

1

🟨

0

🟥

2

1

🥅

5

RB John Gidman | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
🕒

74

73

🔥

1

4

🟩

30

🟨

23

🟥

21

LB Charlie Aitken | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
🕒

642

641

🔥

16

29

🟩

258

🟨

144

🟥

240

CB Leighton Phillips | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
🕒

35

33

🔥

4

2

🟩

21

🟨

4

🟥

10

CB Ian Ross | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
🕒

171

171

🔥

3

1

🟩

82

🟨

46

🟥

43

CB Chris Nicholl | 🇬🇧 |
🕒

169

169

🔥

10

5

🟩

79

🟨

45

🟥

45

M Frank Pimblett | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
🕒

5

5

🔥

0

1

🟩

3

🟨

1

🟥

1

W Frank Carrodus | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
🕒

56

56

🔥

4

2

🟩

33

🟨

11

🟥

12

W Ray Graydon | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
🕒

175

170

🔥

65

41

🟩

91

🟨

39

🟥

45

CF Sammy Morgan | 🇬🇧 |
🕒

50

44

🔥

15

6

🟩

19

🟨

16

🟥

15

F Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
🕒

114

107

🔥

36

23

🟩

54

🟨

30

🟥

30

Substitutes
🕒

🔁

🔥

GK Sub

🟩

🟨

🟥

🥅

W Steve Hunt | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
🕒

4

🔁

3

🔥

0

1

Sub 1

🟩

2

🟨

0

🟥

2

🕒

🔁

🔥

Sub 2

🟩

🟨

🟥

🕒

🔁

🔥

Sub 3

🟩

🟨

🟥

🕒

🔁

🔥

Sub 4

🟩

🟨

🟥

🕒

🔁

🔥

Sub 5

🟩

🟨

🟥

Match Media
What they Said

Comprehensive defeats such as this have their value, even if it is only negative. It proved to Villa that their squad is not good enough, big enough, or experienced enough and that players will have to be bought.

Throughout his year or so as Villa’s manager, Ron Saunders has always been willing to introduce young players to the senior team. It was a brave move going to Anfield with three out of the 12 never having played in the First Division, but what it showed was that Villa’s latest group of young players are not ready for such a demanding life.

The exception, with natural reservations, must be Jake Findlay. While Frank Pimblett and Steve Hunt became flattened by the Liverpool steamroller, Findlay stood up quite well. He was playing instead of Jim Cumbes, whose mistakes in Antwerp in mid-week left Villa with an almost impossible task in the second leg of their first UEFA Cup tie.

Findlay, a 20-years-old Scot, did quite well. He had no chance of stopping any of the three goals but he made several other competent saves and deserves another chance.

Meanwhile, Saunders will be a frequent user of the telephone in the next few days. Managers are always ringing each other up inquiring after prices and availability of players but in the next few days Saunders’s questions will contain more urgency.

Sinister

There was, too, a more sinister aspect to this defeat.

Like Liverpool, Villa’s attributes have been work and effort. The skill factor is a bonus. But whereas Liverpool were their usual selves—perpetual motion in familiar paths - Villa fired on too few cylinders.

Their ethic depends on everybody working for everybody else but there were players who did not want to know. They hid, hoping for things to happen.

Against teams as forceful and basic as Liverpool you have to make things happen.

So Villa reach an important, if not critical stage of the season, relatively downhearted. They lost 4-1 in midweek, 3-0 on Saturday. Teams used to winning take those sort of defeats harder than others. In fact the last week must not be seen in isolation. Those defeats are part of a pattern away from home. Newcastle put three past Villa, Norwich five. All those goals were not Cumbes’s fault. The rest of the defence must take their share of the blame.

Senseless

Kevin Keegan worried them silly on Saturday. He is becoming a prima donna he was booked for senselessly arguing but he still works and runs. And he scored one and made another of Liverpool’s goals for Jimmy Case.

The first, scored by John Toshack after Villa had held out in the first half underlined another weakness in Villa’s defence and while they win at home, backed by their fanatical crowd, they will not do well away until they overcome their lack of confidence.

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