Youngsters drive Liverpool to points

Even without £12m-rated Robbie Fowler, who travelled to the Midlands but was not selected, and the priceless Michael Owen, who was on the bench, Liverpool were still an incisive, menacing attacking force that looked full of goals.

Villa, by comparison, were abysmal. Not a solitary scoring effort worthy of the description was produced and Angel could already be contemplating increasing his personal demands when he undergoes his medical today if he, alone, is expected to change the course of their season.

Gregory, it seems, is counting upon it. He said: 'Juan Pablo will have a massive responsibility - but that's what football life is all about. If you want to be someone in this game you have to tackle challenges like that. It comes with a big fee and a big reputation.

'All the best players in the world get these burdens thrown at them and I think Angel will be able to cope with it. He has lived with pressure before, when he moved from Colombia to Argentina. There will be no three-month settling in period. He will have to get on with it from Day One because we are at Manchester United next Saturday.'

Gregory is set to step up his bid to sign another Colombian, Boca Juniors midfielder Mauricio Serna, who is a close friend of Angel.

'I always wanted to get the Angel deal finished first - and then move onto the next one. That is now the case,' said Gregory. 'It isn't just a case of bringing the two of them to Villa so that they can help each other to settle into life in England. Yes, the fact they are both Colombians will be a big help and they are really big mates off the field. But believe you me, this guy Serna can play and he would get into the team on merit anyway.'

The young manager's demands for an instant return on Angel, the club record investment, are understandable because Villa are in crisis.

One win in their last 10 games; one goal in their last four; a slump from the top six to 14th place in the table; demonstrations by disgruntled fans; squabbles between Gregory and Ellis.

Now there is a fall-out between team-mates David James and Alpay Ozalan. They became involved in an embarrassing confrontation after Liverpool's first goal which may well lead to the Turkish international defender being disciplined for his volatile hand-in-the-face on England's goalkeeper.

Villa's season is in danger of disintegrating completely and even senior player Paul Merson did not bother to attempt to paper over the cracks so expertly exposed by Liverpool. 'It was embarrassing,' he said. 'It's no good kidding ourselves. It does not look as if we are going to win anything this season.

'We've got some really tough matches coming up and instead of expecting to get into Europe we must think about game against the likes of Bradford City as six-point-ers.'

Merson is right. Unless Villa get their act together swiftly they will be sucked into a fight for survival and Gregory cannot - does not - expect the same tolerance he received just over a year ago from Ellis when the chips were down.

Performances as bad as this one will soon have even the many sympathetic fans ignoring the fact that he has been without a full-strength strikeforce for many weeks and was further stretched by the absence of midfield trio Geroge Boateng, Lee Hendrie and Ian Taylor. Gregory also took another swipe at winger David Ginola and hauled him off after an ineffective first-half.

He said: 'We were 2-0 down at that stage and it was a case of wanting people who were going to roll their sleeves up for a backs to the wall job in the second 45 minutes. I had not seen him do that at all in the first half, so I had to change it.'

Houllier, though, is able to placate those Liverpool punters who might query his decisions to omit Fowler and Owen with performances, and results, that indicate he is well on the way to making their club viable contenders for the Champions League - and, in the longer term, worthy challengers to Manchester United's monopoly of the Premiership.

Although they did not score on this occasion, Emile Heskey and Finn Jari Litmanen, were an effective front-running partnership whose movement and perception created enough problems for the Villa defence to enable midfielders to cash in.

Danny Murphy bagged a double with well-struck shots in the 24th and 53rd minutes. They sandwiched a superb goal which he and Litmanen helped to create for Steven Gerrard in the 32nd minute.

'In modern football goals must come from other departments, even from defenders,' Houllier said. 'But we have four strikers - and we need them. I know this can be difficult but they will all get a chance.

'I gambled on Litmanen today and left Robbie Fowler out. But he will come back into the team. We need him and he will play.'

How John Gregory would love the problem of trying to slot four such outstanding talents into two places.