Topic: Liverpool 0 - 1 Aston Villa post match winge

[DonkeyWan]

The Suarez thing is getting a bit ridiculous now. People (media, mainly media) seem to forget he was with the club for 3 1/2 seasons. Liverpool finished 6th, 8th and 7th with Suarez in the side. What elevated the team was not some god like zen bullshit from Suarez,it was the introduction of Sturridge and Coutinhio beside him that elevated the team as a whole, i.e. better players.

At this point I am more worried about the form of Coutinhio than I am about the absence of Suarez.

Liverpool also played shit last year against these same teams with Suarez in the side... barring the Saints I think. They had shit games with Suarez at his best too you know. Liverpool are actually better off points wise than last year against the same teams you know. A not altogether fair comparison, but fucking hell, a brand new season, 6 (count them, 6) new players in the side, missing 6 players through injury (Allen, Can, Sturridge, Johnson, Skrtel, Flanagan), after an international week, before a CL week (Sterling was rested for that and rightly so, he's 19)

Perspective, context, circumstances, these are all important too you know.

[killer-heels]

how are those 3 better than us.

ok,we just lost at home to Aston Villa,bit City lost at home to Stoke 2 weeks ago,Arsenal havent looked impressive this season so far,Chelsea always start a season with a winning run(although with Costa they seem to have got a goalscorer now).

im not saying were better than those 3,but i wouldnt say we are worse either,we had a bad result coupled with a very very bad performance,it doesnt make us a bad side overnight,2 weeks ago at Spurs we looked like a top 2 side yet this week(on RAWK)we look like we are gonna struggle to get Europe all together.

some people need to take a step back from their computers and look at the bigger picture.

They won't. Apparently losing to Stoke and drawing at Leicester is forgotten and those teams are still better than us. Also, like Spider-man, Suarez was a symbol of hope and a shining beacon for us to draw love, compassion and inspiration from and thats why in the games where we fell behind last season, it wasn't Suarez who was key to get us back into the game but other players, because they had hope in their heart that Suarez was there.

[Solomon Grundy]

The Suarez thing is getting a bit ridiculous now. People (media, mainly media) seem to forget he was with the club for 3 1/2 seasons. Liverpool finished 6th, 8th and 7th with Suarez in the side. What elevated the team was not some god like zen bullshit from Suarez,it was the introduction of Sturridge and Coutinhio beside him that elevated the team as a whole, i.e. better players.

At this point I am more worried about the form of Coutinhio than I am about the absence of Suarez.

Liverpool also played shit last year against these same teams with Suarez in the side... barring the Saints I think. They had shit games with Suarez at his best too you know. Liverpool are actually better off points wise than last year against the same teams you know. A not altogether fair comparison, but fucking hell, a brand new season, 6 (count them, 6) new players in the side, missing 6 players through injury (Allen, Can, Sturridge, Johnson, Skrtel, Flanagan), after an international week, before a CL week (Sterling was rested for that and rightly so, he's 19)

Perspective, context, circumstances, these are all important too you know.

Good post mate.

[killer-heels]

The Suarez thing is getting a bit ridiculous now. People (media, mainly media) seem to forget he was with the club for 3 1/2 seasons. Liverpool finished 6th, 8th and 7th with Suarez in the side. What elevated the team was not some god like zen bullshit from Suarez,it was the introduction of Sturridge and Coutinhio beside him that elevated the team as a whole, i.e. better players.

At this point I am more worried about the form of Coutinhio than I am about the absence of Suarez.

Liverpool also played shit last year against these same teams with Suarez in the side... barring the Saints I think. They had shit games with Suarez at his best too you know. Liverpool are actually better off points wise than last year against the same teams you know. A not altogether fair comparison, but fucking hell, a brand new season, 6 (count them, 6) new players in the side, missing 6 players through injury (Allen, Can, Sturridge, Johnson, Skrtel, Flanagan), after an international week, before a CL week (Sterling was rested for that and rightly so, he's 19)

Perspective, context, circumstances, these are all important too you know.

Last season, apart from the losses, we fell behind to Everton, Newcastle, Fulham, Cardiff and Villa. Which one of those games did Suarez get us level in? Sturridge at Everton, Sturridge and Gerrard at Newcastle, Sturridge and Coutinho at Fulham, Suarez at Cardiff and Gerrard and Sturridge against Villa. So one game. Suarez assisted at Newcastle twice (one penalty) and earned the penalty against Villa but those assists were as well by Gerrard a few times as well.

[Solomon Grundy]

Having slept on it I'm still pissed off we lost. I can take losing away to a decent side like City but, it's hard to take when you lose at home to a shite side like Villa. 

And for those who said Villa played well. I don't think they did really. They were well organized at the back that's it. And that's all they had to be due to the toothless display of our attack.

[the 92A]

One bad game and the house crumbles for some

[Wernerred]

Six new players in starting lineup. Very amateurish mistake from Rodgers. AVB-esque. Don´t play footie manager Brendan. Shockingly disjointed performance but so predictable given the lineup. Lallana and Markovič were, well, utter garbage. On paper they´re better players than the likes of Lucas but football doesnt work like that. Kroos and Modrič at the base. That will end up in tears as well. Fucken predictable.

[Solomon Grundy]

One bad game and the house crumbles for some

It's not crumbled for me mate. Still plenty of games to play. I just hate getting beat off poor sides like Villa.

[Ken-Obi]

One bad game and the house crumbles for some

Imagine many of use who last seen the trophy in 1990...

Don´t play footie manager Brendan.

I think that's his job description mate.

[Solomon Grundy]

Six new players in starting lineup. Very amateurish mistake from Rodgers. AVB-esque. Don´t play footie manager Brendan. Shockingly disjointed performance but so predictable given the lineup. Lallana and Markovič were, well, utter garbage. On paper they´re better players than the likes of Lucas but football doesnt work like that. Kroos and Modrič at the base. That will end up in tears as well. Fucken predictable.

I think the defeat was more down to the formation more than anything else. I think if Allen had of been fit we would've played the diamond, but because he wasn't, he didn't trust the players he had available to play it.

[cox3100]

Six new players in starting lineup. Very amateurish mistake from Rodgers. AVB-esque. Don´t play footie manager Brendan. Shockingly disjointed performance but so predictable given the lineup. Lallana and Markovič were, well, utter garbage. On paper they´re better players than the likes of Lucas but football doesnt work like that. Kroos and Modrič at the base. That will end up in tears as well. Fucken predictable.

to be fair to Rodgers,he sees his players in training day in day out,so he must have thought they could play together(which in fairness they should have),shouldnt matter that it was 6 new players or not,they have trained together for a Month or 2 so should have an idea how each other plays,it was a bad day at the office that is all,its not the end of the world we still have 34 games to make amends,we will still finish in the top 4.

[Billy The Kid]

It's not crumbled for me mate. Still plenty of games to play. I just hate getting beat off poor sides like Villa.

Its frustrating. No doubt about that. But the league is a long war of attrition against 19 other teams

There will probably be games where we'll play shockingly bad and still nick 3 points

There will be games where we'll play well and not get the points we deserve

And there will probably be another result like yesterday, where we just wont click on the day and deserve to get beat

It won't just happen to us either. Those scenarios have happened to City, Spurs and Everton already this season. It will happen to the others too

[the 92A]

Perspective that's all I'm saying. We were terrible yesterday but We'll have setbacks I was pissed off as anyone yesterday but some of the posts are all doom and gloom and we'll be lucky to get 4th, So after Spurs we'll win the league and we'll be lucky to finish in the top 6 after villa. I expected a difficult game yesterday and we didn't have the guile to break them down but City aren't shit because they got beat last week and neither are we.

[redbyrdz]

Too many new players all playing quite similar. Lallana, Markovic, Coutinho all playing in one line, and then Ballotelli dropped deep too. Of our creative midfielders, Sterling makes the best runs, but he wasn't on the pitch. Without him, we should've really started Lambert to hold the ball up.

We had similar troubles last season when we went a goal down and had to move a bus. We all thought that's where Lambert can help, another reason he should've started.

And why did we wait until the 60 minute to make changes? Give the boys a bit of time to settle, yeah, but what about a change at half time?

[Caston]

Calm down people

[Solomon Grundy]

Its frustrating. No doubt about that. But the league is a long war of attrition against 19 other teams

There will probably be games where we'll play shockingly bad and still nick 3 points

There will be games where we'll play well and not get the points we deserve

And there will probably be another result like yesterday, where we just wont click on the day and deserve to get beat

It won't just happen to us either. Those scenarios have happened to City, Spurs and Everton already this season. It will happen to the others too

Perspective that's all I'm saying. We were terrible yesterday but We'll have setbacks I was pissed off as anyone yesterday but some of the posts are all doom and gloom and we'll be lucky to get 4th, So after Spurs we'll win the league and we'll be lucky to finish in the top 6 after villa. I expected a difficult game yesterday and we didn't have the guile to break them down but City aren't shit because they got beat last week and neither are we.

I agree with both of you.  Thankfully we've got another game on Tuesday that will hopefully help shake the frustration I had yesterday and today.

[[new username under construction]]

Not a huge problem a few players looked nervous on their home debuts, new players haven't quite clicked yet, it'll come and it won't be too late when it does imho

[L666KOP]

Villa just happen to have a gameplan that negates our style, and they are good at what they do.

If every team in the league did what they did last night we'd win a lot more than we won't.

[Solomon Grundy]

One of the biggest problems with yesterday's performance was we never got any of those lung-bursting runs from Hendo beyond the forward line, because he was sitting much deeper with Stevie in a midfield two.

[killer-heels]

One of the biggest problems with yesterday's performance was we never got any of those lung-bursting runs from Hendo beyond the forward line, because he was sitting much deeper with Stevie in a midfield two.

He had no choice. Gerrard was man marked all game so he had to vacate his position to relieve the threat and give Henderson and Coutinho space to operate.

[L666KOP]

He had no choice. Gerrard was man marked all game so he had to vacate his position to relieve the threat and give Henderson and Coutinho space to operate.

The biggest issue for me was that Henderson is not a link man, and as a result Coutinho was dropping deeper and deeper to get the ball.

[Solomon Grundy]

He had no choice. Gerrard was man marked all game so he had to vacate his position to relieve the threat and give Henderson and Coutinho space to operate.

I'm not blaming him KH. I'm just saying that was one of the reason we struggled going forward.

[L666KOP]

I'm not blaming him KH. I'm just saying that was one of the reason we struggled going forward.

He was third choice tbf.

I think Allen, or Can would have played in that position if fit.

[peachybum]

The biggest issue for me was that Henderson is not a link man, and as a result Coutinho was dropping deeper and deeper to get the ball.

I thought that was a positive  We actually got Coutinho on the football unlike the game at Southampton where he was non-existant.

[L666KOP]

I thought that was a positive  We actually got Coutinho on the football unlike the game at Southampton where he was non-existant.

Oh I agree, but dropping into your own half as a number 10 to collect the ball is an issue we shouldn't be having.

[Solomon Grundy]

I think Allen, or Can would have played in that position if fit.

I think we would've played the diamond if either of those were fit mate.

[L666KOP]

I think we would've played the diamond if either of those were fit mate.

You're probably right, because Henderson was sorely mssed last night.

[Solomon Grundy]

You're probably right, because Henderson was sorely mssed last night.

Yeah, he was sorely missed going forward. He seems to thrive playing in that diamond formation. It's a shame Allen and Can weren't able to play. I think it's quite telling Lucas didn't even get any minutes on the pitch either.

[elpistolero7]

Yes, it will take time for players to settle. But we need some of them to perform right away. We've signed players for more than 100M and they can't all be passengers for a few months. They've been signed to perform. It's not too much to ask that one of the attacking players can fill in for Sterling. I know this may sound harsh, but I'm not saying they all have to perform at once, just that some need to.
The squad we have may not be as good as the ones Chelsea and City have. But it's good enough to give them a fight.

On the title talk. What last season taught us, was that we can be in the race for the title. It's possible. It's very difficult to win it, but it's possible. And if it was possible then, it's possible now. We've lost Suarez, but the squad is better. We should build on last season, not shy away from it. A title challenge requires 25+ wins. Wins that are easiest to get against the bottom half sides. If we look back, it wasn't the loss to Chelsea that cost us the title last season. Those games can go either way. It was the draw with Crystal Palace, the draw with Villa and the loss to Hull that cost us. We should have beaten them. Just like we should have beaten Villa today.

Sure, some need to. Start 6 new players together and you'll have disjointed passes and find a ten man bus quite hard to break down without that understanding.

Massive difference between last season and this. Game tuesday, game saturday, lets see how we cope.

[Gonebay]

Not a huge problem a few players looked nervous on their home debuts, new players haven't quite clicked yet, it'll come and it won't be too late when it does imho

Agree. Having slept on it, I am going to dismiss it as one off like Saints last year.

[vicar]

Having slept on it I'm still pissed off we lost. I can take losing away to a decent side like City but, it's hard to take when you lose at home to a shite side like Villa. 

And for those who said Villa played well. I don't think they did really. They were well organized at the back that's it. And that's all they had to be due to the toothless display of our attack.

Thats how I feel too. I think Villa were very poor, the early goal allowed them to execute their strategy. Mason allowed them to do a bit of kicking and we were pretty toothless. The three up to just didn't work, we were too slow moving the ball, but its really difficult when theres 11 behind the ball. You need something special to get through. I don't know the answer, but its something Brendan needs to work on because a lot of team will come to Anfield and sit deep.

[stevensr123]

Thing people are looking into things too much to be honest,  we had too many new players starting, and not enough pace up front compared to what we are normally used to. I think that was the overall reason. Why we was so bad. It's also a bit clear lallana isn't a central midfielder like people think he is, so we was essentially playing a two man midfield in Gerrard and henderson, and we all know Gerrard doesn't have the legs
 For that any more, at times it was like we was playing with just henderson because Gerrard has been instructed to play as basically a 3rd center back, and lallana is an attacking player

[Solomon Grundy]

Thats how I feel too. I think Villa were very poor, the early goal allowed them to execute their strategy. Mason allowed them to do a bit of kicking and we were pretty toothless. The three up to just didn't work, we were too slow moving the ball, but its really difficult when theres 11 behind the ball. You need something special to get through. I don't know the answer, but its something Brendan needs to work on because a lot of team will come to Anfield and sit deep.

I think a more dynamic midfielder is needed in the future along with a similar striker to Daniel Sturridge. Remy would've been perfect, but hey-ho it never happened.

[L666KOP]

Yeah, he was sorely missed going forward. He seems to thrive playing in that diamond formation. It's a shame Allen can weren't able to play. I think it's quite telling Lucas didn't even get any minutes on the pitch either.

We both know that the Lucas/Gerrard axis doesn't work, and I can see why Henderson was used, he has the legs to cover Gerrard when Villa counter with pace, It just means we were short in the middle third.

Delph and Cleverley were brilliant last night, intelligent pressing and quick to release Gabby, they also covered the ground superbly to support him as well.

[Bolrick]

We should really change our tactics against team which sit back. I reckon almost all team are gonna sit back when they come to anfield.

Its almost as if ... we don't score the 1st goal, the team does not know how to carve open teams which sit back. It doesn't help when gerrard sits so far back (almost playing like a 3rd central defender).

Is it really necessary to play with a deep laying playmaker (Regista) ? Maybe if we play with a conventional defensive midfielder (Lucas)... the team will be able to press higher up without worrying about counter-attack ?

[The Batman.]

Still fuming at this. Chance to go 2nd, and put some space between us and Arsenal, City and Spurs. 4 games in and Chelsea are on the brink ofrunning away with it. Win next weekend away at City and that will be 8 points between them.

We have 6 'winnable games' coming up now before we play Chelsea at Anfield, and we need to win every single one of them if we want to stay in touch with them before that game. Do that and we're probably the leagues best hope at stopping them running away with it. After yesterday though, I'll be stunned if we do that.

Last season we had that core group, there was never many changes in the team, then yesterday, more than half the team was new players. We did a Spurs yesterday. Throwing 6 new players in.

[L666KOP]

Thats how I feel too. I think Villa were very poor, the early goal allowed them to execute their strategy. Mason allowed them to do a bit of kicking and we were pretty toothless. The three up to just didn't work, we were too slow moving the ball, but its really difficult when theres 11 behind the ball. You need something special to get through. I don't know the answer, but its something Brendan needs to work on because a lot of team will come to Anfield and sit deep.

Disagree.

Villa were brilliant.

If we do that in the Bernabeu it will be hailed as a tactical masterclass, typical European away performance.

It was us that were poor.

We know how they set up, the early goal gave them something to hold on to, and they were good enough to achieve their aim.

[killer-heels]

Still fuming at this. Chance to go 2nd, and put some space between us and Arsenal, City and Spurs. 4 games in and Chelsea are on the brink ofrunning away with it. Win next weekend away at City and that will be 8 points between them.

We have 6 'winnable games' coming up now before we play Chelsea at Anfield, and we need to win every single one of them if we want to stay in touch with them before that game. Do that and we're probably the leagues best hope at stopping them running away with it. After yesterday though, I'll be stunned if we do that.

Last season we had that core group, there was never many changes in the team, then yesterday, more than half the team was new players. We did a Spurs yesterday. Throwing 6 new players in.

To be fair, Skrtel, Johnson, Flanagan, Allen, Sturridge and Suarez were not available. Only Sterling available that wasnt played. Rodgers had to throw them all in. Shudder to think what the team would have been last season if they were all out.

[jason67]

Woke up about 15 minutes ago. First thought of the day is still devastation of the result yesterday. I don't even expect to challenge for the league now but top four looks very difficult, can't afford to not take some opposition seriously.

Fuckin hell.

I didn't think that your post could get anymore depressing after reading this, how wrong I was.

Oh, and Kidder's post on the other page was great.     

[Fromola]

to be fair to Rodgers,he sees his players in training day in day out,so he must have thought they could play together(which in fairness they should have),shouldnt matter that it was 6 new players or not,they have trained together for a Month or 2 so should have an idea how each other plays,it was a bad day at the office that is all,its not the end of the world we still have 34 games to make amends,we will still finish in the top 4.

Markovic and Lallana have barely had a pre-season or kicked a ball for the club. Balotelli had had one game. Coutinho had been travelling around America with Brazil for two weeks as well, so the front four was always going to be disjointed and Henderson/Gerrard as a midfield two led to the horrorshow of a first half the last time we played Villa. We had injuries but it wasn't the game to rest Sterling given the above.

Learn from your mistakes, don't keep making them.