Topic: Round Table: Liverpool 2 V Aston Villa 2

[spider-neil]

Is there a tendency to hit it longer when Sturridge plays or is that me?

The defenders are hitting it long because they don't have the confidence to not get caught on the ball.

[DutchRed]

I was shocked by the line-up in the first place. Aston Villa are excellent on the road: a young side with no fear and a lot of pace on the break. This way they managed to beat Arsenal and Southampton, for example. The sheer horror unfolded in front of our eyes. Only Gerrard and Henderson in the middle let us short of bodies between the halfway line and our penalty box and Villa had a free run at our defenders time and time again. To make it worse: this made our build-up play impossible. Villa put early pressure on us and we were short of bodies to be able to build up properly, so often our only 'idea' was to lump it up to Suarez and Sturridge, not exactly giants, and hope for the best. Coutinho is a great footballer but he's hardly a physical fighter, so this way his appearance on the pitch was lost.

If Rodgers hadn't got it wrong, we would have controlled the match and I don't think we'd been two down at some stage of the game. As it went, he put it right in time to claim a point, but we can't help feeling frustrated by the sight of two points needlessly dropped.

[Timbo's Goals]

Indeed. But I think it wasn't his role that was the problem but the fact it was a 2. Take Gerrard out and put Allen or Lucas in and I still think we would have struggled.

Absolutely, albeit not to quite the same degree as is the case when Stevie is one of the two.

[spider-neil]

I think and hope that is the last time we go two in the middle against any opposition, home or away. Whenever we do it, even if we win we have zero control of the game. You're giving up balance and solidity to squeeze in all the attacking talents. If Brendan was so desparate to fit Coutinho, Suarez, Sterling and Sturridge into the same side he should have played Sterling at right back.

[Sangria]

That's Gerrard's way of playing though. He's not a dribbler, he doesn't have as much of his shooting power as he used to, he can't go box-to-box anymore, and he's not really an "eye of the needle" passer. So his technical strength now is his long passing ability, which, if he plays a deep role means going long to Suarez/Sturridge, or if he plays an attacking role means switching play. So wherever he plays, cutting out his passing options (which require a little more time than a quick short pass) effectively shuts down a player like Gerrard. That's what Villa did. They didn't shut down his position, but his skill. By the time Lucas came on, though, Villa's midfield probably lost their legs a bit, giving him more space.

Which begs the question, why don't we consider using Gerrard from the bench around the 60th minute, when his strengths will be magnified by the game just gone and his weaknesses minimised.

[spider-neil]

Which begs the question, why don't we consider using Gerrard from the bench around the 60th minute, when his strengths will be magnified by the game just gone and his weaknesses minimised.

Because Brendan wants leadership on the pitch regardless.

[lorenzo23]

Because Brendan wants leadership on the pitch regardless.

Was there leadership on pitch in first half? Even in second half to less extent. I guess it depends what you class as leadership really.

[leivapool]

Think back to last week......

Around the 35th minute in the game against Stoke Lucas took a nasty knock to his right knee in a tackle with Charlie Adam that took him quite some time to run off..........and he wasn't quite so good in the remaining minutes of the match.

Roll forward 1 week and Lucas is left out against lowly Villa and Rodgers in his post match interview said that training had been interrupted by some injuries.

Connected?  I think maybe so.

Maybe Rodgers wasn't being cavalier at all against Villa,  maybe,  just maybe neither Lucas or Allen (just returning from injury) were fit enough to start leaving SG & JH as the only central midfielders he could pick,  so he adjusted the team appropriately.

Only it went horribly wrong and he was forced to bring on Lucas;  if he was carrying a knock to the knee then the clash with Delph pushed it over it's limits.

Anyone else thinking the same?

[spider-neil]

Was there leadership on pitch in first half? Even in second half to less extent. I guess it depends what you class as leadership really.

I mearly stated Brendan wants leadership on the pitch. I think Brendan would be the first to admit we were too open with 2 in the middle.

[redk84]

Think back to last week......

Around the 35th minute in the game against Stoke Lucas took a nasty knock to his right knee in a tackle with Charlie Adam that took him quite some time to run off..........and he wasn't quite so good in the remaining minutes of the match.

Roll forward 1 week and Lucas is left out against lowly Villa and Rodgers in his post match interview said that training had been interrupted by some injuries.

Connected?  I think maybe so.

Maybe Rodgers wasn't being cavalier at all against Villa,  maybe,  just maybe neither Lucas or Allen (just returning from injury) were fit enough to start leaving SG & JH as the only central midfielders he could pick,  so he adjusted the team appropriately.

Only it went horribly wrong and he was forced to bring on Lucas;  if he was carrying a knock to the knee then the clash with Delph pushed it over it's limits.

Anyone else thinking the same?

Interesting....there could be something in that.

Guess we'll know more soon enough

[lorenzo23]

I mearly stated Brendan wants leadership on the pitch. I think Brendan would be the first to admit we were too open with 2 in the middle.

But between Henderson and Gerrard is there not enough experience to see this? are they not leaders both in their own right to decide that they maybe need to sit deeper and win back middle??

That for me is leadership taking control of situation we could all see we being overrun yet when Henderson went forward Gerrard followed. Does Rodgers really have to micromanage them They must have least 1000 appearance between them both.

Some times you need someone to take sting out of the game winning or losing to we can settle back into our game plan.

Check the stoke game i think around last 10mins before Danny scored or after we had counterattack 2/3 With Suarez with the ball. He totally stops the play holds the ball up and keeps possession, although that killed of the counter in the end it was showing great leadership that he read the situation to calm the game down.

Someone should of dropped deeper and start taking the ball of the CB and FB and calm the game down at 1-0, which would allow us to settle and work our way back into the match. Instead it was same mignolet got the ball boot it out or CB/FB would and it would come straight back.

[Melbred]

Think back to last week......

Around the 35th minute in the game against Stoke Lucas took a nasty knock to his right knee in a tackle with Charlie Adam that took him quite some time to run off..........and he wasn't quite so good in the remaining minutes of the match.

Roll forward 1 week and Lucas is left out against lowly Villa and Rodgers in his post match interview said that training had been interrupted by some injuries.

Connected?  I think maybe so.

Maybe Rodgers wasn't being cavalier at all against Villa,  maybe,  just maybe neither Lucas or Allen (just returning from injury) were fit enough to start leaving SG & JH as the only central midfielders he could pick,  so he adjusted the team appropriately.

Only it went horribly wrong and he was forced to bring on Lucas;  if he was carrying a knock to the knee then the clash with Delph pushed it over it's limits.

Anyone else thinking the same?

Not really.  He already said it was a gut feeling and a deliberately attacking team. I think Rodgers got complacent, and considering our form at home decided to really go on the offensive. It's something I don't really understand either as when we have got that balance wrong in the past, we go on to get a bad result.

And considering we have Sturridge and Suarez, who's in the form of his life, there's no real reason to push the issue. We've shown with a more balanced set up that we still score goals without needing to be overly offensive. It was just a really bad call, and a missed opportunity to continue our good run.

This all comes off the back off Rodgers comments midweek as well, where he's outlined his vision for Gerrard - that he sees him playing deeper, with two midfield attackers playing in front of him. And then he goes on to play with that set up.

It was just a really bad fuck up, and we'll hope he finally learns from it this time.

[Hank Scorpio]

Firstly, I thought Villa were very, very good, especially in the first half and possibly should have left Anfield with 3 points.  They had a plan and executed it perfectly. 

The Villa midfield did an excellent job of protecting a vulnerable back four.  They did not let us get anywhere near the defence in the first half an hour through proactive pressing and energy.  I think they showed the value of having legs in midfield.  The ages of the midfield players are 23, 24, 28 and 22.  They were everywhere in the first half and completely swarmed us.  Agree with Corky, Delph is starting to put in some good performances and definitely one to keep an eye on.  He's the kind of player that does work for two, much like Henderson.  Goal return is poor but imagine Delph partnered with Allen and Henderson in midfield.  We could play 1 centre half and get away with it.

Agbonlahor is one of those unique Premier League tests.  I'd add Crouch, Kevin Davies to that list.  There are more.  These guys on their day can destroy you and you've got to find a way of coping with their threat.  I think we'll be better equipped to deal with players like this with Sakho in the side and if we choose to add to the backline (or the likes of Wisdom, Ilori come through).

So, to our performance, I don't think it was a Hull type performance or even Southampton earlier this season.  Villa played well, while we were poor but the impressive thing is that we managed to turn it around through some personnel changes and tactical adjustment.  Arguably we should have won but that may have been flood-light(?) robbery.

Just a word on Gerrard without getting into it too much.  Sky Sports spent a great deal of time avoiding stating the obvious.  He was terrible.  Lucas' injury meant that Rodgers avoided making a big decision because it should have been Allen for Gerrard in the 2nd half.  At the moment we are trying to shoehorn him into the team, no matter what.  For good reason because he is so capable.  But we spend 90 minutes trying to cope so Gerrard can play a 50 yard pass.  You have to decide when the cost outweighs the benefit.  I think that's coming soon.

[ThePoolMan]

Firstly, I thought Villa were very, very good, especially in the first half and possibly should have left Anfield with 3 points.  They had a plan and executed it perfectly. 

The Villa midfield did an excellent job of protecting a vulnerable back four.  They did not let us get anywhere near the defence in the first half an hour through proactive pressing and energy.  I think they showed the value of having legs in midfield.  The ages of the midfield players are 23, 24, 28 and 22.  They were everywhere in the first half and completely swarmed us.  Agree with Corky, Delph is starting to put in some good performances and definitely one to keep an eye on.  He's the kind of player that does work for two, much like Henderson.  Goal return is poor but imagine Delph partnered with Allen and Henderson in midfield.  We could play 1 centre half and get away with it.

Agbonlahor is one of those unique Premier League tests.  I'd add Crouch, Kevin Davies to that list.  There are more.  These guys on their day can destroy you and you've got to find a way of coping with their threat.  I think we'll be better equipped to deal with players like this with Sakho in the side and if we choose to add to the backline (or the likes of Wisdom, Ilori come through).

So, to our performance, I don't think it was a Hull type performance or even Southampton earlier this season.  Villa played well, while we were poor but the impressive thing is that we managed to turn it around through some personnel changes and tactical adjustment.  Arguably we should have won but that may have been flood-light(?) robbery.

Just a word on Gerrard without getting into it too much.  Sky Sports spent a great deal of time avoiding stating the obvious.  He was terrible.  Lucas' injury meant that Rodgers avoided making a big decision because it should have been Allen for Gerrard in the 2nd half.  At the moment we are trying to shoehorn him into the team, no matter what.  For good reason because he is so capable.  But we spend 90 minutes trying to cope so Gerrard can play a 50 yard pass.  You have to decide when the cost outweighs the benefit.  I think that's coming soon.

It appears more and more that gerrard is there more because of non-playing reasons as opposed to the merits. Rodgers will have to toughen up and do the right thing for the team sooner than later.

[Hank Scorpio]

It appears more and more that gerrard is there more because of non-playing reasons as opposed to the merits. Rodgers will have to toughen up and do the right thing for the team sooner than later.

I don't think it's that.  Steven Gerrard is an enormous figure.  He is entrenched and it's going to take careful surgery to remove him.  He's part of the very fabric.  He still brings so much.  Even in one of the poorest games of his career he played a game changing pass and scored a pressure penalty.  I celebrated that penalty a little more than I should have I suppose because I think it meant a lot to Stevie too.  So it meant a lot to us.  That's how much he means to the club.

But time waits for no man.  I think someone said earlier in the thread that Gerrard just seemed in the way.  That's exactly how I saw it.  More and more that's how I'm seeing it.

[tubby]

I didn't manage to catch the game, so I'm curious as to how we actually lined up for this. It sounds like Gerrard was getting pressured by more than one Villa player, but where was Henderson playing?  Shouldn't he have been back, helping out, or was he playing just behind the front two?  It sounds like we were playing a really wide diamond in midfield with Gerrard deep and Henderson at the point.

[Hank Scorpio]

It was Villa with the diamond, tubby.  They used the energy in midfield to choke off the supply to the forward players.  Henderson was hardly on the ball and Gerrard was swarmed.

[Halcyon Lissome]

It was basically Ahmadi, Delph and Westwood vs Gerrard and Henderson. They might have even had a chance if not for Weimann having a superb game, offensively and defensively. I agree with PoP, I think Rodgers overthought this one and should have simply played the default from the beginning.

[helmboy_nige]

A lot has been written about the change in formation and switch of Gerrard into that deeper role, so I don't want to dwell on it. It was an error and we very nearly paid for it. Villa, quite simply, should have been at least 3 goals up at half time and out of sight.  Rodgers should not have tried to accommodate all 4 attacking players against a team that has a lot more muscle and height. Simple.

However, we got lucky and went in at half time only a goal down. The change needed was recognised by Rodgers and we were vastly superior for the opening 20 minutes of the second half. We got the deserved equaliser (dodgy penalty, but any ref on the planet would have given it so no controversy) and I thought we'd go on and win from there.

The Lucas injury knocked us back and from there, while we did have some chances to score a third, we were never firing on all cylinders.

A lot of the talk is about our defence and midfield, but we mustn't ignore the forward four. Coutinho was quite frankly atrocious and demonstrated why we need 3 up front and him on the bench. He's a class player, but his passing and shooting have really dipped and maybe he just needs a short break.  Suarez was frustrating for the entire first half and he reminded me of his early self (lots of talent but lots of whinging as well). Sturridge was pretty much missing and Sterling struggled with being targeted by the Villa right.

We lost the midfield battle inside 60 seconds with Gerrard and Henderson unable to cope.  I'd have preferred seeing a change earlier as it was blatantly obvious that a) Coutinho wasn't playing well and b) the midfield was over-run.  Coutinho off, Lucas on was the clear choice and could have been made after 25 mins (Rodgers did similar against Wigan last season when it wasn't working and Suso was sacrificed).

Defensively as much as I was embarrassed at how poor we were in the first half it is important to remember the injuries we are dealing with.  Agger, Sakho, Flanno and Enrique all out. Johnson on poor form and Aly Cissokho clearly third choice left back (a position in which we have been weak for years).  The first goal was more the midfields fault (Gerrard in particular) than the defences, but the second brought back memories of 1996/97 and David James completely missing crosses. I've been a strong defender of Mignolet as for the most part he has won us more points than he's lost us, but that attempted punch was one of the most ludicrous things I've seen in years. Embarrassing.  My hope is that the few saves he made in that game will help to rebuild some confidence as he does look low on it. It won't help if you can't trust the defence in front of you, but still.

Ultimately, I think the injury to Lucas, plus the amount of chasing we had done killed off our chances of a third goal. We were exhausted by 70 mins and a draw was probably fair.

There was an explosion of internet rage following the result as the players hadn't listened to the RAWK masses insisting on 5-0 hammerings, but it is one poor result against a lot of nice progress. Let's not forget that right now we have more points at this stage of the season than in 8 of the previous 10 seasons (and the 2 that we had more in we finished on 80+ points).

We are hampered by the fact that all the top 8 teams are performing above average at this stage, but it is reasonable to assume that some of those teams will drop back as the season progresses. We just have to make sure we aren't one of them.  To do that we have to take our chances when they come and desperately need our injured players in defence back.  In terms of the midfield we simply have to play 3 in the centre against teams with strong midfields. No excuses.

It's not the end of the world, but the home game against Everton has just taken on a whole new level of importance (if that was actually possible).

[lorenzo23]

One thing i never understood is why do we like to change so much to fit players in? For me at least i think it was simple if you want get Danny back in team you drop Sterling if you want get Alberto in team you drop Coutinho and so on(before anyone slates me saying FM crap) I am not saying is simple but you look for most closest players and style of play and switch them why we try to fit all best players in amaze me its not really doe Real any favours over last few years. Or City at times, you play your best functioning 11 and then rotate your squad and stars. Chelsea don't play their best 11 every game likewise for Real so why on earth would we need to? I really do hope this just goes down as bad day at the office and we learn from it. Also hope when Sahko is back he first choice along with Agger and Toure is 4 choice at best.

[Azi]

Funny how things work but I though Henderson's selection in a midfield 2 was more of a problem than Gerrard's selection. He got caught beyond the play too many times when the ball went up to Benteke.

Let's not forget we have been overrun with Lucas and Gerrard in there together before and the comments have been because Lucas gets no help.

That's not a criticism on Henderson, as for me he is pretty much an attacking player for us now.

for me Hendos problem was he didn't know whether to press (leaving the space behind him free ) or sit back and let them try and get past him theirs a moment in the first half where he goes to close benteke down and then stutters and drops

[Trump's tiny tiny hands]

The issue with that formation was the lack of width, or support to a player in a wide position. You play a midfield two then you should have good width to your play to work your way up the pitch.

On the left, which was the side we seemed to play towards most, we had Cissokho. No problem getting the ball to him but forward attacks stumbled when they did because he didn't have much in front of him and the inside ball from was quickly shut down. Sterling, our best player on the day IMO, didn't get a lot of good ball in decent areas but made space for himself. He had no support from Johnson. None.

There wasn't enough working of the channels from Sturridge and Suarez and our full backs were horrific in possession.

[steveeastend]

Maybe he gives players too much respect?

Does he have another choice? The situation he came in, his age and reputation, all that is slowly growing. Benching a big name could have killed him just like it was the case with AVB.

...
We'll bounce back I think. We have the best coach. But some tough decisions to be made from Brendan. And I'm not sure the deficit at left back (Cissokho, willing but sub-standard) can be allowed to carry on much longer.

Agree with everything in your post. Bouncing back will be a lot more difficult though this time,  with the current issue in center midfield and our upcoming fixture list. We are depending on one player more than any other, and the solution is directely related to the question of PoP.

With the injury of Lucas we will need Gerrard at his current best in the next upcoming games, which means that he will have to work for the team entirely like he showed to be capable of against Stoke away. Overall, I am still suprised by his performance considering how promising it looked against Stoke. What was he thinking in this first half? Surely he will have to take off his superman cape and try to play in Lucas shoes just for those couple of games. For the team. And for himself, of course. Otherwise top 4 could be in danger.

[steveeastend]

Think back to last week......

Around the 35th minute in the game against Stoke Lucas took a nasty knock to his right knee in a tackle with Charlie Adam that took him quite some time to run off..........and he wasn't quite so good in the remaining minutes of the match.

Roll forward 1 week and Lucas is left out against lowly Villa and Rodgers in his post match interview said that training had been interrupted by some injuries.

Connected?  I think maybe so.

Maybe Rodgers wasn't being cavalier at all against Villa,  maybe,  just maybe neither Lucas or Allen (just returning from injury) were fit enough to start leaving SG & JH as the only central midfielders he could pick,  so he adjusted the team appropriately.

Only it went horribly wrong and he was forced to bring on Lucas;  if he was carrying a knock to the knee then the clash with Delph pushed it over it's limits.

Anyone else thinking the same?

Definitely.

But you cannot play Lucas all the time anyway and this was the perfect game in order to try out a different set up. I wouldn't blame Rodgers at all really, as at this point, he had no other choice then going for this line up. Again, it all comes down to the argument of PoP. Personally, I would have started without Sturridge and bring him on in the last couple of minutes as Sturridge always seems to take some time in order to get back to his match fitness. Benching Sturridge after his performance in favour for Allen didn't look like a serious option for Rodgers here..Sturridge though, definitely wasn't ready yet for 90 minutes.

[ThePoolMan]

Does he have another choice? The situation he came in, his age and reputation, all that is slowly growing. Benching a big name could have killed him just like it was the case with AVB.

The problem will only grow bigger the longer he does not deal with it...

[ThePoolMan]

Definitely.

But you cannot play Lucas all the time anyway and this was the perfect game in order to try out a different set up. I wouldn't blame Rodgers at all really, as at this point, he had no other choice then going for this line up. Again, it all comes down to the argument of PoP. Personally, I would have started without Sturridge and bring him on in the last couple of minutes as Sturridge always seems to take some time in order to get back to his match fitness. Benching Sturridge after his performance in favour for Allen didn't look like a serious option for Rodgers here..Sturridge though, definitely wasn't ready yet for 90 minutes.

Why is this the perfect game to try it out when the last time it was tried against Stoke, we were given a run for our money to win in the end, and when we have Everton, Spurs and United chasing close behind us for 4th place and every 3 points are precious? Wouldn't a disposable fixture like Fa Cup be a better choice than a must-win game at home to such a powerful counterattacking team like Villa?

[steveeastend]

Why is this the perfect game to try it out when the last time it was tried against Stoke, we were given a run for our money to win in the end, and when we have Everton, Spurs and United chasing close behind us for 4th place and every 3 points are precious? Wouldn't a disposable fixture like Fa Cup be a better choice than a must-win game at home to such a powerful counterattacking team like Villa?

Maybe. But then there would be the argument that this to be not a "real" test.

I don't see anything wrong with it as I still think it was up to the players to make it happen. It worked against Stoke away, so why not home against Villa?

[ThePoolMan]

Maybe. But then there would be the argument that this to be not a "real" test.

I don't see anything wrong with it as I still think it was up to the players to make it happen. It worked against Stoke away, so why not home against Villa?

Because we would be outnumbered in the MF with our anchoring DM a 33 year old player with a lot of miles on him and who can no longer hare around like he used to be able to?

[robgomm]

Indeed. But I think it wasn't his role that was the problem but the fact it was a 2. Take Gerrard out and put Allen or Lucas in and I still think we would have struggled.

Allen AND Lucas though and we'd have been OK

[JTK]

Well... they were just terrible weren't they?

I want us to stick to the 4-3-3 formation, we need to go back to playing as a team. I hate it when we try to change things around just to fit certain players in. It's a team game. The most I've enjoyed us this year is when we were beating teams 1-0 at the beginning of the season - playing as a team.

Sturridge or Suarez can go out wide. Two strikers is a luxury we cant afford in most games. I really dont know what to do with Gerrard. If he was a new transfer, he would not be playing. He is playing because his names Steven Gerrard. It worries me that Brendan straight away disrupted the 3 of Lucas, Allen of Henderson and shoehorned Gerrard in despite the way they were playing. How to we fit him in? Our midfield looks worse for having him in it, he’s still got a lot to offer but I’m not sure if the positives outweigh the negatives at the moment.

The defence was dire. They wouldn't have looked out of place in a relegation threatened team, and I'm not even exaggerating. Skrtel was better, the soon Sakho & Enrique are back the better. Mignolet looks shaky. Hope this changes, not sure what else we can do at this stage of the season.

Onto the derby and our first real ‘must-win’ game of the season.

[killer-heels]

Allen AND Lucas though and we'd have been OK

Gerrard and Lucas/Allen would have been ok as well, as illustrated in the 2nd half.

[ThePoolMan]

Gerrard and Lucas/Allen would have been ok as well, as illustrated in the 2nd half.

But with Lucas or Allen at the base rather than Gerrard.

[redoneusa]

To be fair Rodgers held is hand up for the first half which was clearly not good enough. Most of the players had a bad first half, we made some changes and things got much better. Gerrard had a hell of a time in the DM role, like many have said since the game anyone wondering what Lucas does for the team should know after this game.

Credit to Villa for turning up and executing there own game plan. Onwards to the next game the biggest thing was to no lose and we pulled that off.

[ThePoolMan]

To be fair Rodgers held is hand up for the first half which was clearly not good enough. Most of the players had a bad first half, we made some changes and things got much better. Gerrard had a hell of a time in the DM role, like many have said since the game anyone wondering what Lucas does for the team should know after this game.

Credit to Villa for turning up and executing there own game plan. Onwards to the next game the biggest thing was to no lose and we pulled that off.

martinez would have been hoping that Rodgers repeats his experiment in his next game.

[robgomm]

Gerrard and Lucas/Allen would have been ok as well, as illustrated in the 2nd half.

Yes, also would've worked better I think. Gerrard can't hold the way we played on Saturday, indeed his role was too 'in-between'. Needs to be a defined holder or in the 2 in a 1-2.

[Owl]

After watching Villa a few times this season against the bigger teams, and watching their 3 in the middle and seeing the rumored team line up with Hendo and Gerrard in the middle for us I was hoping it won't be true. 

After few first mins in the game, especially the early villa chance where they just put the ball wide. I was worried to death.

It was very strange to see us play the first 30 mins as we were hoofing it up front and never had any control of the game while Villa was bossing the midfield and creating chances.

I can't figure out what Rodgers was thinking with that lineup, probably thinking that our attacking four would be too much for them to cope with. But the problem was they rarely had the ball.

It was one of the most frustrating games of the season, because if we started the game with 3 in the middle Villa would never get 2 goals in the first half. In second half they rarely created anything dangerous.

2 points lost before the kick off in my opinion and this one has to be on rodgers. Frustrating.

[spider-neil]

I think any combination of a two would have struggled even if it were the two defensive combo of Lucas and Allen. We needed bodies to link the midfield and attack and act as a sheild for the counter attack. Villa must have been licking their lips when they saw the starting line up and must have known full well it would have been a piece of piss to stop the supply like to Sturridge and Suarez.
I think this is the last time we go two in midfield again and if that is indeed the case then this game would have been worth it.

[spider-neil]

2 points lost before the kick off in my opinion and this one has to be on rodgers. Frustrating.

This.

[robgomm]

I think any combination of a two would have struggled even if it were the two defensive combo of Lucas and Allen. We needed bodies to link the midfield and attack and act as a sheild for the counter attack. Villa must have been licking their lips when they saw the starting line up and must have known full well it would have been a piece of piss to stop the supply like to Sturridge and Suarez.
I think this is the last time we go two in midfield again and if that is indeed the case then this game would have been worth it.

A deep lying pair with the full-backs pushing on to receive the ball in front of them would've handled things fine. There's nothing inherently wrong with two in midfield, it's the way you present it that matters.

[spider-neil]

A deep lying pair with the full-backs pushing on to receive the ball in front of them would've handled things fine. There's nothing inherently wrong with two in midfield, it's the way you present it that matters.

Lucas and Gerrard individually and collectively lack the mobilty to plug holes all over the pitch. When every one is fit it should be a combination of Allen and Henderson with Lucas or Gerrard taking the third spot.
The most balanced we've looked is with Henderson, Allen and Lucas but I think Gerrard can be okay with Allen and Henderson in front of him. Any other combination lacks mobility (imho).
Anyway we'll soon find out whether Gerrard, Allen and Henderson can work but I don't see Lucas coming back any time soon.