One word sums today up; atrocious.
Why the hell Rodgers went for that formation is beyond me, no matter what team, if they play that then they will get ripped apart.
This has eclipsed our worst performance to date this season and this is on par with the 3-0 hammering by West Brom at the start of last season. Will start with the keeper. Mignolet when he first signed and in his first handful of games for us I was confident, he looked assured and he looked like a very good signing. Now I am feeling less and less confident with every game that approaches because he is letting in more and more stupid goals, I know the defence play a big part in keeping a clean sheet but even without the defence side of things, Mignolet should have more shut outs than he has so far. Instead he is just getting more and more likely to let in a sloppy goal. Today he made a decent save from Agbonlahor I think it was but even then it was straight at him so it wasn't exactly difficult. The 2nd goal they scored, well, I have no idea what the hell he was playing at.
Johnson, my god I wish he would just retire now. He has been poor in recent months but today was probably the worst I have ever seen him play. I would make comment on him going forward in the game but I can't remember him having any sort of positive impact in doing so. Defensively he was once again no where to be seen, constantly out of position and he was just as much to blame for that 2nd goal as Mignolet. What them two were playing at is something only they know. Shocking and he needs to be spending some time on the bench, might give him the kick up the arse he needs.
Skrtel, was our est defender and even he wasn't great, half the time he was stood around looking dopey and playing astray passes when on the ball. However, he made some good tackles and was fairly decent in the air. Spends a lot of time having to cover one of the full backs that has gone missing.
Toure, another poor performance and showed why City never played him. Got beaten by the slowest step over in the history of world football that led to the opening goal. His performance was summed up when in the second half he went to head it, baring in mind there was no other player near him but completely missed the ball and then ended up having to scamper to get to it before the Villa player.
Aly "I've taken someone deserving of being a pro's place" Cissokho. Arguably one of our worst signings, right up there with Paul Konchesky. He was woeful defensively, got beaten so easily every time, especially when Agbonlahor eased past him and put in the cross for the 2nd goal. Was yelling at the tele when that happened!! Offered nothing going forward and we all know Suarez' infamous bite but when Cissokho had that abysmal shot I thought he'd be lucky to get away with just a bite from Suarez, thought he going to go over and batter the c**t to an inch of his life. COuld tell Suarez really didn't want to have to try and link up with him again after that point in the game. Could have done a lot better for the first goal too, he should have been aware of the player beyond him.
Gerrard, first half was shocking beyond belief. He was given the run round with ease, couldn't tackle, couldn't pass and was giving the ball away so cheaply when trying to travel with it. Was just as much at fault for the first goal as Cissokho, in fact I think he was just stood there with his hands on his hips looking at the Villa player, almost telling him to just put the ball in the net. Second half he was better but he was still playing badly. Took his penalty well though, will give him credit for that.
Hendo, I thought he played relatively well. He drifted in and out of the game and while he didn't help out much defensively he was more use than Gerrard in doing so. Was denied by a good save and got the assist from a clever pass on to Sturridge. The formation held him back in a game he could have taken control of IMO.
Coutinho, shocking. Will leave it at that because just thinking of his pass towards the corner flag alone if pissing me off.
Sterling I though played well, more so in the second half. Wasn't any use when it came to tracking back but he made some good runs with the ball and put a few Villa players on their arse more than once, tried linking up with SAS but was thwarted when it came to the vital moment. Not great but certainly one of our better players.
Suarez, looked very frustrated and probably regretted signing that new contract up until our first goal. Was given no service from the midfield and had to drop a lot deeper than he should be to get the ball. Played a big part in the opening goal and linked up fairly well with Sturridge. Wasn't a lot more he could have done today because of how poor everyone around him was and when he was in a good position to score it was fu**ed up, most notably Cissokho!! Let's not forget though, he did nearly score another beautiful free kick, was no way Guzan would have kept that out but for it going just wide.
Sturridge, much like Suarez he was given no service but dropped back into the midfield and showed them how it's done when you have to win the ball back. Took his goal well and kept his impressive goal rate going.
Lucas, sparked a bit of life into the team for about 5 minutes but faded big time after that, gave the ball away cheaply was taken off again after 25mins, something no player likes after being put on at half time.
Allen replace Lucas (apparently) only remember seeing some guy in the number 24 shirt spending most of his time on his arse from getting shoved off the ball constantly though.
Really poor team performance as a whole and although Rodgers can't accept responsibility for the on pitch performances by the players he does have to accept full responsibility for the way he set the team up. Today he went back a few months to when he couldn't work out what formation to use, except today it looked a lot like a case of having a very strong attacking players in SAS, Coutinho along with Hendo and Sterling who are in blistering form but had no idea how to play them.
It's all well and good thinking we showed good character and all that bullshit from coming back from 2-0 down but fact of the matter is, we shouldn't have been 2-0 down against a team like Villa in the first place. We were the home team today against a very average (at best) team but in truth we didn't deserve that point, even that was generous because for the majority of that game they ripped us apart and made us look like a very poor team that should be battling relegation. Not good enough.
The only good thing that could come from this result is that the owners were at the game so let's hope they realise the need to invest more in the team and get a move on in doing so or we wont get top 4 because we are now well behind Arsenal and City, Chelsea will pull ahead of us even more if they beat the Mancs, Everton will leap frog us if they win and Spurs will go level with us.
Very disgruntled Red here!!
Logged
