When Albion lost 1-0 on the same night, they spoke to one of their previous bosses in support of the present incumbent.
Fabian Hurzeler was backed in the morning.
The club who pride themselves on being smarter and calmer than most, and on being independent thinkers rather than following the crowd, will hope and trust that pays off.
And Anfield would be a magnificent place to start.
Albion were 18th for 18 minutes in the as-it-stands table when they trailed at West Ham on February 1, 2020.
They scrambled a 3-3 draw, part of a run of ten games without a win in league and cup going into the Covid lockdown period.
But the current series is as bad as it has been since the pre facemask and meetings via Zoom days and Albion might be glad to swap the Premier League, where they have won one in 13, for the FA Cup, where they are unbeaten in one.
The Liverpool tie comes less than a week after fans made their feelings about Hurzeler very clear as he and his side lost their way completely against Crystal Palace.
Albion battled well at Villa Park (Image: Richard Parkes)
For a fixture which many are so keen to insist “isn’t a derby”, the Palace games seem to get into plenty of heads.
On this occasion, the end result was a strange selection, confused gameplan and collective lack of calm and clear-thinking all round.
Wednesday, at Villa Park, was better. It all felt constructive, rather than self-destructive.
It was really good to see, don’t misunderstand me. But short-lived reactions are easy. And they still lost.
Did Albion’s show of unity, determination, organisation and at times, quality at Villa Park start a healing process?
Or was it just a return to where they were pre-Palace when decent performances for decent parts of the game were going unrewarded?
The line-up made more sense. The early, unwanted substitution was pro-active and the rest were logical.
The crowd, as we probably expected, got right behind them after the boos of Sunday, and there were one or two chances to really upset the high-flying hosts and hand them a third consecutive home defeat.
One other thing that stood out sitting there in the main stand with Villa fans around us, including one particularly vociferous gentleman about five yards behind my right ear, was that Albion seemed intent on not taking a backward step physically.
On being robust, on asserting themselves in the battle.
Former Albion boss Micky Adams (Image: Simon Dack)
One of the observations after the Palace game was that they lack physical presence in the squad, but that didn't look the case at Villa Park.
As at many venues these days, pre-match and immediate post-match at Villa is all about the announcer on the loudspeaker and his choice of music.
So it is hard to pick up on chants and songs in these times, but it sounded like Albion were getting a decent ovation from their supporters at full-time.
Hurzeler was asked in his press conference afterwards about the physical nature, the duels that went on.
Certainly, the Villa complaints about Albion being a bit rough and ready at times in the first half would have been music to the ears of many fans who maybe think they are a little bit lightweight.
Hurzeler was asked whether he sacrificed his principles in that and replied: “I think it's always a mix.
“On the one side, we have to be defensively stable by winning personal duels, by being aggressive, and that's what we try to do every game.
“We are also a team who want to play football, so I think it always has to be a mix between being aggressive, being intense, but in possession to stay calm.”
Hurzeler felt his side only showed the football part of that mix in the second half at Villa.
He will hope for better at Anfield – and will need better.
But ex-Albion boss Micky Adams said he saw plenty to encourage.
In quotes released the morning after, Adams, who was at Villa Park in his role as a Premier League match assessor, said: “I thought the boss had picked the right side to start. Nice and aggressive, on the front foot as best they could.
“It's never easy coming to Villa Park, but I thought they would come out and show a lot of fight, determination and bit of grit.
“I said before the game, the manager of Brighton will pick a team that will come out with a little bit of fire in their bellies and show that, even if the results are hurting them at the moment, and that's exactly how it panned out.”