Aston Villa vs Liverpool (Saturday 5.30pm)

[Spionkop69]

Look at how non existent our midfield is in the second half.

I'm glad having the majority of the possession stopped then from having more chances than us though, otherwise we would have been fucked. (Let's ignore the fact they had four times as many)

I abhor the notion of 'controlling the game', it's a nonsense that anybody can do it, never mind for 90 mins and its not the point of the game either.

In every game we will have periods of dominance, once we take advantage of it we don't need to worry about controlling things.

We invited pressure inthe second half. We were awful.but I am wankered!

 

[RedStar]

Its been clear for some time that Lucas only looks good in games where we are playing well and asserting ourselves, some people have taken this to mean Lucas playing well is key to our success and games where we get the best out of him are the ones where we play better. The other school of thought is that hes a flat track bully and when the tide is going against us he doesnt offer enough and completely drifts out of games. Today was a perfect example of the latter, first half we were bossing it and he looked comfortable, second half Villa took the game to us and Lucas started to revert to type

I would qualify the above by say that generally we were appalling second half (Toure and Mingolet aside), the issue is that Lucas is the midfield anchor, its all well and good Coutinho and Sturridge being non existent when we are under the kosh those players need possession and space to do their thing, but whats the use of a defensive midfielder who doesnt want to know when we are on the defensive. Lucas is like the inverse version of Heskey, a defensive player who is great when there is no defending to be done but a total liability when it comes to actually doing his primary job.

 

[Loch Ness Monster]

You would think football is just a game where one team plays and the other team watches. The opposition is entitled to try and play too!!
Villa didn't show up for 40 minutes, and when they did we saw the team that appeared last Saturday vs Arsenal and midweek vs Chelsea. They pressured us into mistakes and since we were 1 up, we sat back and invited more pressure (as Rodgers has said he instructed the players to). We started brightly, but handed them the initiative and they are a better side than most credit them for. They were 3 points that were fought for and maybe not 100% deserved but who gives a fuck!!

 

[Molbystwin]

You would think football is just a game where one team plays and the other team watches. The opposition is entitled to try and play too!!
Villa didn't show up for 40 minutes, and when they did we saw the team that appeared last Saturday vs Arsenal and midweek vs Chelsea. They pressured us into mistakes and since we were 1 up, we sat back and invited more pressure (as Rodgers has said he instructed the players to). We started brightly, but handed them the initiative and they are a better side than most credit them for. They were 3 points that were fought for and maybe not 100% deserved but who gives a fuck!!

Yes well said. Although it was highly frustrating watching such a disparity in our performance during the game we did actually manage to shut Villa down pretty well, a Villa side who do have their tails up at the minute and wanting to impress the first home crowd of the season. Not many would have argued with a draw but by the same token the fluency of our play for 35mins at least was the best thing on show during the 90. I thought our midfield gave the ball away an awful lot second half and perhaps we could and should have been more composed however laying the blame at Lucas's door is a little bit unfair, I thought Gerrard also stank the place out for about 40 minutes yesterday.

Yes it would have been sweet to look like a team of worldies and knock em for 6 but complaining after 6 points from 6 would be ridiculous, it took what 6 games last year to gather the same.... We are 5 points on last season performance against the same teams.... in a season where the big teams have strengthened massively winning ugly is exactly the kind of thing we need to be doing once in a while.

 

[Wizardry]

I think Lochy is exactly right.

What would some people have said if we were up against Barca?

Villa are no Barca but they're bloody good and it'll only be depth that stops them causing havoc in that top 6. They smashed Arsenal and pushed possibly the best team in the league all the way a few days ago. They'd have gone into their first home game expecting to win.

For Molby: Lucas (and Stevie for that matter) were imperious in the first half and ran the show. The 2nd half our movement - which was outstanding in the first 35 minutes - died away. We worked our socks off but the front 4 were either too tired or busy defending in the 2nd half. They gave no options and that meant Villa, who really know how to press, had our midfield under huge pressure. Mistakes were bound to come but, importantly, we still closed Villa down. Neither Chelsea or Arsenal could keep a clean sheet against them - surely that's got to count for something.

 

[Rafiagra]

Lucas is great at intercepting the play but bollocks when under pressure.

Villa were really up for it second half but we didn't respond.

The whole midfield was lacklustre. Henderson was also ineffective.

What's really hurtin us though is that Gerrard is just sitting deep and mopping up, which is fair enough if he's got 4 players ahead of him to give the ball too who will take the ball on and present a threat, but we have 2 (3 when Suarez is back).

Therefore, we're unbalanced as we have no midfielders bar Henderson who are going to get into the box and even he struggles to do that. Not sure if Allen is a better option. I find it amazing that Rodger's first choice signing (out of anyone he could have had) cannot even get in the team. That can't bode well for him.

If Gerrard and Lucas are gonna play deep, then we need a proper attacking midfielder ahead of them.

We also desperately need cover for DM.

 

[Portly]

I'm getting worried about the possibility of relegation this season. 😱

 

[Oncy]

We scored a lot of goals last year but kept losing. I dont have a problem being more pragmatic. But we need to keep the ball better.
Im still buzzing weve won two.
If, IF we could beat the mancs, well then this team could really start believing in themselves.
All without our best player.

 

[Y1]

I'm getting worried about the possibility of relegation this season. 😱

Exactly. 😗

 

[Ryan]

I think Lochy is exactly right.

What would some people have said if we were up against Barca?

Villa are no Barca but they're bloody good and it'll only be depth that stops them causing havoc in that top 6. They smashed Arsenal and pushed possibly the best team in the league all the way a few days ago. They'd have gone into their first home game expecting to win.

For Molby: Lucas (and Stevie for that matter) were imperious in the first half and ran the show. The 2nd half our movement - which was outstanding in the first 35 minutes - died away. We worked our socks off but the front 4 were either too tired or busy defending in the 2nd half. They gave no options and that meant Villa, who really know how to press, had our midfield under huge pressure. Mistakes were bound to come but, importantly, we still closed Villa down. Neither Chelsea or Arsenal could keep a clean sheet against them - surely that's got to count for something.

All of this.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

All of this.

I didn't watch the game ... can you give us a game wrap up ?