There can often be something of the snark in criticism from former players of the current generation, a ‘not in my day’ resentment.
With Jack Grealish you wonder if it’s his style, the sub-bed kiss, sunlit highlights, manicured perfection provoking a reaction from the old guard.
Yet Graeme Souness was known as “Charlie” at Liverpool, because of his love of the champagne looks and lifestyle.
So when he asked questions about the Villa star, there may just be something in it.
Souness had said before the game he felt Grealish was “indecisive", had too many touches and didn’t think quickly enough.
“Anyone who gets tackled that much and gets that many fouls is not seeing the picture quick enough,” he snarled.
Twice, with the scores deadlocked here and with the home side toiling embarrassingly without the encouragement of their Kop ’12th man', Grealish went striding through the middle, into open space.
The first time, with van Dijk cagily backing off, he waited and waited, before passing too slowly and without incision to El Ghazi, who the extra wait had forced too wide.
The second time, with players either side, he again dallied, the thoughts almost flickering across his features, before a shot was easily blocked by the Liverpool centre half.
More speed, more decisiveness, more action may have brought the goal Villa so desperately required, one which may well have been priceless in their relegation fight.
Late on, a deflection placed Grealish in on goal.
He paused, shaped and eventually got off his shot - but was denied by a decent save from Alisson, who read the intent. A goalscorer converts those.
That may seem harsh on a player who has looked his side’s most likely all season, yet his end product still lacks that killer instinct of the top player…the instinct and quality Souness himself had as a player.
For Villa, there was no better chance of an upset.
Liverpool without their fans seem far less driven here at Anfield, their miraculous home record under threat for so much of this lethargic contest.
Instead, they lamented those missed opportunities, those moments of indecision. Souness must have been knowing in the studio.
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