Eddie Mills – a member of Aston Villa’s matchday pitch staff – has fired back at Graeme Souness after the pundit complained about the length of grass in Liverpool’s 7-2 defeat at Villa Park.
Mills tweeted: ‘Graeme souness’s uneducated comments about the villa pitch are insulting to all the massively hardworking groundsman up and down the country who put their hearts and souls into their proud work! #clueless’
Speaking after Dean Smith’s side shocked Jurgen Klopp’s men, Souness said that Villa left the grass a bit longer to slow Liverpool’s movement.
Speaking on Sky Sports (via The Daily Mail), the ex-Reds manager said: ‘What I would say, Villa, and it’s the same for both teams, I think they’ve left the grass longer than normal to slow Liverpool’s movement.’
Why Souness would even mention the grass seems strange.
He even said it himself – the grass was the same for both teams, and it simply cannot be blamed for Liverpool conceding seven goals.
This also isn’t the first time the pitch has been blamed after a disappointing defeat for Liverpool.
Having drawn 2-2 with West Brom at the Hawthorns in 2018, Klopp pinpointed the dry nature of the pitch as something ‘not in favour, or an advantage for the football-playing side’ as quoted by The Guardian.
Former Villa captain Gabby Agbonlahor also got involved in the drama, posting a hilarious photoshopped image of Souness on a lawn mower riding across the Villa Park turf.
To take anything away from Villa after Sunday night’s performance would be cruel.
So, for the Sky Sports pundit to even mention the grass is a discredit to what was a fine display by Smith’s side.
The Midlands-based outfit have now won all three of their league outings this season, and sit second behind Everton who have played, and won, a game more.
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