Aston Villa v Liverpool - Match Thread

I was at work all day & evening. The game isn't on my EST (for some reason), anyone got any idea where I can watch it?

Don't bother.  You'll never get that hour and a half back.

Gotta say though, Some of Dossena's crosses today were excellent had curl and power on them, Anyone agree

Well  know and agree we played before par that has been the trend so far I think it is far too early in the season to be so negative about our title credentials, we have played only a handful of competitive matches and need more time to gel and get our game right. I think depsite the poor play we had chances to win that game Keane was 1 on 1 with Friedel and neededto bury that no excuse penalty or not. Ngog had a few opportunities I refer to his blocked shot in the 2nd half when he cut in to the box from the right he had space and time to get his shot on target. Villa are not a bad side and have enough quality to compete for the 6th or 7th spot again I second Rafa's careful approach Villa have a lot of pace and can be a constant threat on the attack.

We also need to consider that we went into the match without our captain and our best player limped off after 30 mins. I dont think no side has shown exhilarating football to warrant being clear title favourites. Yes Chelsea did thrash Portsmouth but were played off the park by mighty Wigan and clearly outplayed by the Spurs last night. Arsenal has not been convinicing either they were missing Cesc for the first 2weeks and played sh*te even lost to Fulham so what are we to expect without 2 key players at Villa??We have played 5 competitive matches conceded 1 goal and are joint top at the league yes we do have the Scum in 2 weeks and we are uncertain about Nando's injury but I have faith and confidence in Rafa to get it right.

IRWT

Well  know and agree we played before par that has been the trend so far I think it is far too early in the season to be so negative about our title credentials, we have played only a handful of competitive matches and need more time to gel and get our game right. I think depsite the poor play we had chances to win that game Keane was 1 on 1 with Friedel and neededto bury that no excuse penalty or not. Ngog had a few opportunities I refer to his blocked shot in the 2nd half when he cut in to the box from the right he had space and time to get his shot on target. Villa are not a bad side and have enough quality to compete for the 6th or 7th spot again I second Rafa's careful approach Villa have a lot of pace and can be a constant threat on the attack.

We also need to consider that we went into the match without our captain and our best player limped off after 30 mins. I dont think no side has shown exhilarating football to warrant being clear title favourites. Yes Chelsea did thrash Portsmouth but were played off the park by mighty Wigan and clearly outplayed by the Spurs last night. Arsenal has not been convinicing either they were missing Cesc for the first 2weeks and played sh*te even lost to Fulham so what are we to expect without 2 key players at Villa??We have played 5 competitive matches conceded 1 goal and are joint top at the league yes we do have the Scum in 2 weeks and we are uncertain about Nando's injury but I have faith and confidence in Rafa to get it right.

IRWT

Fantastic post made.

Good to see someone looking at things in a positive light and your right, no one is looking fantastic at the moment.

The thing that frustrated me the most is the intent we saw the table going in to the game a win would have put us on top of the table, and then a win against UTD would gave us some breathing space for some blunders. Even a loss against Utd would have meant that we would have been above them and only a point behind Chelsea if they’d won with UTD to play in there next fixture and if they drop points at Chelsea if we had won today and at Utd, they would have been under some early pressure.  I know its too early, but it was a massive opportunity. Yes, we were without Gerrard and Torres for the most part of the game, but we didn’t show aggression to take top spot, something that will be needed in this campaign.

There are two things that we IMO have lacked in recent years, firstly, to pounce on opportunities given by our rivals, our rivals drop points we drop more over the same period generally speaking and secondly that our bad performances stretch too long.  The good thing is we are still in a good position with 3 poor performances.  I just hope we can win against UTD, not bothered about the performances as they are exactly the games that performance doesn’t matter, I couldn’t care less if we win 1-0 and the goal is deflected from Gary nevilles back side or Kuyt Fist, its 6 points.

I missed the first 20 mins...slept through the alarm, I was that pissed. Doesn't sound like I missed too much though.

I was as pissed off as everyone else in Rafa's substitutions. Couldn't understand him not bringing Ryan on for Torres. I was actually shouting at him but I don't think he heard.

DLS in your next LFC story can you make Rafa get detention. It's his turn mate  . Surely us supporters can see the need for Ryan to come on when Torres went off. Why couldn't Rafa? I think it's a massive slap in the face for Ryan. We bought him as a striker, we play him on the left, then when the perfect opportunity for him to show Rafa what he is capable of doing up front in his preferred position, Rafa leaves him languishing on the bench and brings on Ngog, Aurelio and Yossi before him. Babel must be feeling very frustrated and I don't blame him.

Get it sorted Rafa before the Manc game...don't let any player go on International duty...tell all the International Managers to F**k off as the boys are being kept behind in Detention.

I'm going to come back and have a right rant later tonight. For now I'm just going to say that Rafa frustrates the FCK out of me sometimes with his team selections and his subs.

Take keane off for a player that has been nothing short of sht? Bring Ngog on when you have a player screaming to be given a chance up front in Babel? Put Lucas a DEFENSIVE midfielder on the wing when he has no pace and no ability to beat his man?

Cheers Lil Cisse mate I am confident Rafa will get it right very soon.

Let's make no mistake Rafa today was spot on, he limited Villa to only a few shots on target.Without Gerrard he knew Villa would dominate midfield hence putting three defensive players in. He stiffled the game ,done a great job and I praise Rafa for getting a very valuable point.

Not many teams will win at villa park this season.The fact he knew chelsea only drew and when Torres came off that was the final straw,he was content with the point.

Yes it was a great defensive performance,another clean sheet and that is a good basis to win the league. The performance attacking wise wasn't pretty but you can bet he wouldn't play that formation at Anfield. 7 points out of nine I am content,level with chelsea and united and 1 ahead of arsenal thats excellent we've not been at our best.

I agree with you to an extent, i.e not many teams will come away from Villa Park with a share of the spoils, therefore, it's hard to criticise when we've come away with a point.  However, that game was there to be won yesterday and i'm not having a go at Rafa's team selection but the substitutions baffled me.  I've no doubt that Ngog has got potential but he didn't have enough experience for a game like that.  It would be better using him against the likes of Stoke (no disrepect to them) when the game is won, and that would ease him into the Premiership, but that's just my opinion.
Ryan Babel should have been brought on for Torres because he is an obvious goal threat, and he must be wondering what he has to do to get a chance in his preferred position.  El Zhar came on against Standard Liege and, in my opinion, made a big difference, but Aurelio and Benayoun (who seemingly can do no wrong) were used ahead of him. 

I think a draw was a fair result but without a doubt Keane should of had a penalty,he also had more of the game in the middle so maybe when Riera makes the team we shall Robbie Keane play to his full potential.If anyone is upset with the result thank your lucky stars you do not support N-Everton ,then you would have reason to be upset,

I think a draw was a fair result but without a doubt Keane should of had a penalty,he also had more of the game in the middle so maybe when Riera makes the team we shall Robbie Keane play to his full potential.If anyone is upset with the result thank your lucky stars you do not support N-Everton ,then you would have reason to be upset,

I don't think it's a case of being upset because the majority of us would have been happy with a point prior to the match... But it's a case of looking at the bigger picture, and i couldn't give two shiny sh*tes about Everton, no disrespect to you.

Yes, we're getting decent results playing poorly, but that will only last so long... I do think we'll hit the right form though, but it's got to come sooner rather than later because Chelsea and Man Utd will punish us if it doesn't.

Bloody Hell!!

No shots on target, that's disgraceful. 
I hope Torres doesn't miss the Manc game, and hope Gerrard's back as well. I can't imagine what the game will be like without these two. This was a sh*t performance, but i hope to dear God that Rafa sorts us out before the Manc game, we cannot lose to those idiots again.

Rafa has a lot to deal with right now, he has two weeks to sort us out, and i also hope he gives a couple of players kicks in their backsides, because they are not playing up to their standards but also the standards of Liverpool FC.

Gotta say though, Some of Dossena's crosses today were excellent had curl and power on them, Anyone agree

I think he looks pretty decent.  Appears to be a much better defender than Riise, and does look capable of pinging in some accurate crosses.

I think he looks pretty decent.  Appears to be a much better defender than Riise, and does look capable of pinging in some accurate crosses.

Agreed and considering the difference in Italy to England I think hes started quite well

There's not a lot to say that hasn't already been said........unfortunatel y.


We were very mediocre against Villa, but then again Villa are a reasonable side and the home side should always win.....shouldn't they, especially as Villa have been described as being the team to break in to the top four :

What frustrated me was, all the fancy passing in the middle of the park which didn't seem to get us anywhere, then kuyt gives the ball away 

No width again, seeing all the players bunched into the middle of the park 

We certainly seemed void of idea's, the fact that Gerrard wasn't playing and Torres limped off after half an hour says a lot about our 'big' squad, the problem is we really have no - one good enough to take the places of these players when they get injured.

Surely when your not winning and you have lost your best striker to injury and have Ryan Babel on the bench, would you not think of putting him on?
I can't understand Rafa at times, it would have been a great opportunity for Ryan to show Rafa what he can do playing up front for an hour, but Rafa puts N'Gog on, someone with no premiership experience  Baffling really.
I'd be well pissed off if I was Babel.

Two weeks before we play the scum Rafa...........get it right for Gods sake.

Let's just hope for all our sakes that we have Stevie and Nando back.

I think a draw was a fair result but without a doubt Keane should of had a penalty,he also had more of the game in the middle so maybe when Riera makes the team we shall Robbie Keane play to his full potential.If anyone is upset with the result thank your lucky stars you do not support N-Everton ,then you would have reason to be upset,

Wasn't a penalty in my opinion. Reo Coker won the ball, It was Keane who took too long and he got punished for it. I agree about the Riera part though hopefully when he comes he'll be played in the left and Keane will be playing as a support striker his best position. Also you have to remember with Keane is that he always start slow every season, He never scored in August for Tottenham last season but he was still there joint top scorer i think.

Agree wasnt a pen IMHO felt really sorry for keane as he was played out of position (why are we the only side that does this seemingly?)
also the subs are defo a hark back the WTF Rafa days, no reason for them think everyone was like WTF??
I have to say i havent been very impressed with Dossena maybe he is trying to fill the left wing as at times there were huge gaps but he just seems a little rushed and perhaps needs a few games to settle down, or get a left sided player who knows how to hold his position, and this will settle him down.
Anyway here's hoping Rafa settles the ship lets get the transfer window out the way, that'll one less headache, i dont think the boardroom antics are helping once more, havent the american idiots been told they only have 6 months to pay the loan back? and also they cant raise the money for the next phase of the stadium? what a fcuking mess i just hope they take note of what Man city have done and follwo suit with DIC.