Post villa relief

[Frogfish]

He or someone else could have stuck close to Gestede and not let him run. What else was he occupying himself with? It's not like they have alot of options out there. It's Gestede and still Gestede. We had 3 central defenders for fucks' sakes.

Just look at how other teams are defending Benteke. They know we are not going to get many into the box. They crowd around him or hold a higher line to push him out. There are many ways to defend against a big strong strikers but we just never got it.

Gestede last scored against Norwich, 1 goal in 6 games. It's not like he has been raining goals. We gave him 2.

I think you need to watch the goal under discussion again. All very well and good if we were defending but we weren't, we were attacking and it was a Villa breakaway attack. Gestade had the run on him, did you want Sakho to physically hold him back and maybe concede a penalty ? When a striker has the run on a virtually static defender (corner etc.) they always hold the advantage. You are being disingenuous suggesting it was otherwise in this instance.

 

[Judge Jules]

This is my thought as well. At the end of the season it's the points that count.

With respect, that's an oversimplification IMO. We want to go on winning long-term, and that won't happen if we're winning luckily for now in spite of a manager who doesn't actually know what he's doing.

 

[mark1975]

I think you need to watch the goal under discussion again. All very well and good if we were defending but we weren't, we were attacking and it was a Villa breakaway attack. Gestade had the run on him, did you want Sakho to physically hold him back and maybe concede a penalty ? When a striker has the run on a virtually static defender (corner etc.) they always hold the advantage. You are being disingenuous suggesting it was otherwise in this instance.

He didn't have to hold him back, he just had to focus on the ball and block off the player running in, stand your ground. I'd blame Ming too because he should be using the defender doing exactly that to then punch the ball away. It wasn't great defending all round, but you can't absolve Sakho of blame. People are trying to dress him up as infallible in comparison to Lovren, he doesn't have to be, he's clearly the better the defender but he does make mistakes too.

 

[keniget]

I didn't think their second was that bad. It was a great goal.

Sakho made some mistakes prior to that in the game though. All three defenders were poor.

 

[6TimesaRed]

From todays Guardian newspaper on the Villa match: "...a performance of two halves, featuring attacking flair and defensive frailties, highlighted recurring themes in his reign. High-class teams are constructed on solid foundations; Rodgers’ sides seem to be built on sand"