SportsJOE’s one-word player ratings: Aston Villa outwork their way to victory over an uninterested Liverpool

Tim Sherwood has taken a team to the FA Cup final. Let that sink in.

His “system” was enough to break down Brendan Rodgers’ “philosophy” as a Fabian Delph goal was the deciding factor during today’s semi-final.

The afternoon looked to be going the way of Liverpool when Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring on the half-hour mark before Christian Benteke leveled proceedings up.

But Delph was the man who came up with the strike after half-time which was enough to earn Aston Villa a place in the FA Cup final for the first time since 2000.

Aston Villa

Given: Throwback

Bacuna: Dogged

Baker: Headache

Vlaar: Commanding

Richardson: Clearance

Westwood: Industrious

Delph: Architect

Cleverley: Amateur

Grealish: Hair-raising

N’Zogbia: Overshadowed

Benteke: Complete

Substitutes: 

Okore: Unprepared

Sinclair: Fresh

Cole: Legs

Liverpool

Mignolet: Present

Can: Adequate

Skrtel: Cranky

Lovren: Overpriced

Moreno: Naive

Allen: Nimble

Henderson: Hapless

Gerrard: Galaxy

Markovic: Anonymous

Coutinho: Flashes

Sterling: Lukewarm

Substitutes

Balotelli: Usual

Johnson: Bizarre

Lambert: Helpless

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10