Liverpool 0-1 Villa: In game and Post Match Apocalypse

There's one or two posters being a little bit too quick with their "I told you so's" here. For sure Fabregas and Costa are proving to be top signings, but it hardly took a genius to see both would excell in the Premiership. My feeling is with both however that London was a big lure in them going where they did, and neither would have come to Liverpool.

As for our bigger signings, I wouldn't be writing them off quite so readily. Markovic is just a kid who looks a bit like a rabbit caught in the headlights at the moment. If you look though it's fairly clear he is chock a block full of ability, my guess is while this season will see him finding his feet and playing a bit part role we'll see him become a proper player somewhere in time. Hopefully that'll be in English football and with us, but there's no worries in my mind that he'll make a proper player. I hope with him that we cotton on fairly quickly to the idea that at this stage of his career he's going to fair better playing left side rather than right. The pitch will open up for him then so he can use his pace and dribbling skills, it's time to play him there next time we get the chance.



Lallana we know is a very good player, but it's worth remembering that he's not only just coming back from injury, he's also finding his way in a situation where he's no longer the biggest fish at the club. That'll take a little time to adjust to, but he'll get there and be an excellent player for us.

Lovren is the best centre half we've had at the club for many a year. If people can't see that it's a shame, but there it is.

All in all however we're still up there with the pack, only Chelsea showing us and everyone else a clean pair of heels at the moment. Sure there will be a bit of wrist slashing going on from the wrist slashing club until probably christmas at least, but my guess is that come the end of the season we'll be somewhere between 3rd and 5th in the league. Chill.     

I wonder if City had the same outpouring after they lost at home to Stoke?

I stayed away from the forums since Saturday because I knew there would be this huge reaction.

It was a really disappointing game, we looked flat, lacklustre, out of ideas and like a team that's still forming. I actually though Balo was one of the few players with the skill and balls to try and create something against a sh*t-house team that's parked the bus, so I was bemused when he got taken off. I'd have agreed with Lambert coming on alongside him, but Borini FFS? Sorry, gaffer got that one wrong.

I know everyone is p*ssed off, but it is way ott imo. This game had the right ingredients to be lost. We had just come out of internationals where we lost one of our best players to injury and two of our other best players played full games with one of them being rested for his sake.

I also thought that if we got the first goal, we would score 3 or 4 comfortably, but we gave away a cheap goal early on, which just set up the game for villa to park the bus.

Add to it there were a number of players in the starting 11 who have barely played together (and it showed) not to mention Villa's dirty tactics of kicking our players all over the pitch.

So, in short, I'm not excusing some of the very poor individual performances, but this isn't a catastrophe that some are making out to be. Man City lost to Stoke because they gave away an early goal and then couldn't break down a stubborn defence, it happens to the best of teams.

On some general analysis of the game, I thought Markovic and Gerrard were anonymous. Hendo always looks less effective against teams who are parking the bus, and Coutinho showed flashes of his skill but it's difficult to take on a player only to be met with a bus with no space for Balo to make a run for him to pass on. Borini is useless, simple as that. Villa gave us no space in the midfield, let alone in their penalty area.

Defence look very disorganised. Villa had such a small percentage of the posession, but when they did, they looked more likely to score than us - not because they're a good team, but there were a few occasions when they had players completely unmarked, which was very worrying.

We are brilliant against teams who want to play football and attack, but we are going to have to work on tactics that will break teams down when they park the buss, which more and more teams will inevitably do against us. That's where we need to get Couts, Sterling and Llalana playing together because they have the skill, speed and short range passing to do that. But I will not be surprised if those kind of tactics is what most teams who come to Anfield employ knowing how effective it is.

I'm as p*ssed off as most here, but let's not turn this into the usual "Blame FSG because they didn't give us enough money spend" charade. We don't have City, Chelsea or United's budget, get used to it, but this loss wasn't about not spending enough money. Can't see how Sanchez could have done anything different.

There's one or two posters being a little bit too quick with their "I told you so's" here. For sure Fabregas and Costa are proving to be top signings, but it hardly took a genius to see both would excell in the Premiership. My feeling is with both however that London was a big lure in them going where they did, and neither would have come to Liverpool.

As for our bigger signings, I wouldn't be writing them off quite so readily. Markovic is just a kid who looks a bit like a rabbit caught in the headlights at the moment. If you look though it's fairly clear he is chock a block full of ability, my guess is while this season will see him finding his feet and playing a bit part role we'll see him become a proper player somewhere in time. Hopefully that'll be in English football and with us, but there's no worries in my mind that he'll make a proper player. I hope with him that we cotton on fairly quickly to the idea that at this stage of his career he's going to fair better playing left side rather than right. The pitch will open up for him then so he can use his pace and dribbling skills, it's time to play him there next time we get the chance.



Lallana we know is a very good player, but it's worth remembering that he's not only just coming back from injury, he's also finding his way in a situation where he's no longer the biggest fish at the club. That'll take a little time to adjust to, but he'll get there and be an excellent player for us.

Lovren is the best centre half we've had at the club for many a year. If people can't see that it's a shame, but there it is.

All in all however we're still up there with the pack, only Chelsea showing us and everyone else a clean pair of heels at the moment. Sure there will be a bit of wrist slashing going on from the wrist slashing club until probably christmas at least, but my guess is that come the end of the season we'll be somewhere between 3rd and 5th in the league. Chill.     

Spot on.

We played completely into their hands by conceding the scruffy goal.

They are a team set up to defend deep behind 10 players and hit on the counterattack. Giving them the goal allowed them to play to their strengths. Introducing so many new players also made it difficult for us to string together brisk attacking play.

I seem to be one of very few that are not too upset with our performance. The result stinks, but I actually think we played some good footie at times. Our possession, passing, and ball retention were all very good. Villa scored a scrappy, early goal and then defended deep the rest of the game. To their credit, they were well organized and put in a good shift, but we had a number of decent chances to score. Lallana hit a good left footed volley just wide. Moreno could have done a bit better to pick out an unmarked Markovic on the far post. Manquillo had a cross that Balotelli could have headed home, but Markovic got go it first. Coutinho winged one of the post. Sterling had a shot blocked by his own teammate. We were by far the better teM, it just wasn't our day.....

I also expect us to continue to improve as our new lads settle in and build a better understanding with one another. Bring on Ludogorets and let's get back to winning ways!!

I seem to be one of very few that are not too upset with our performance. The result stinks, but I actually think we played some good footie at times. Our possession, passing, and ball retention were all very good. Villa scored a scrappy, early goal and then defended deep the rest of the game. To their credit, they were well organized and put in a good shift, but we had a number of decent chances to score. Lallana hit a good left footed volley just wide. Moreno could have done a bit better to pick out an unmarked Markovic on the far post. Manquillo had a cross that Balotelli could have headed home, but Markovic got go it first. Coutinho winged one of the post. Sterling had a shot blocked by his own teammate. We were by far the better teM, it just wasn't our day.....

I also expect us to continue to improve as our new lads settle in and build a better understanding with one another. Bring on Ludogorets and let's get back to winning ways!!

Completely agree. People are too quick to start crying out about the 60m we didn't spend on this and that player. I still maintain we have the players and infrastructure to be a dominant team for years to come. This result isn't going to change my mind.

I seem to be one of very few that are not too upset with our performance. The result stinks, but I actually think we played some good footie at times. Our possession, passing, and ball retention were all very good. Villa scored a scrappy, early goal and then defended deep the rest of the game. To their credit, they were well organized and put in a good shift, but we had a number of decent chances to score. Lallana hit a good left footed volley just wide. Moreno could have done a bit better to pick out an unmarked Markovic on the far post. Manquillo had a cross that Balotelli could have headed home, but Markovic got go it first. Coutinho winged one of the post. Sterling had a shot blocked by his own teammate. We were by far the better teM, it just wasn't our day.....

I also expect us to continue to improve as our new lads settle in and build a better understanding with one another. Bring on Ludogorets and let's get back to winning ways!!

The only thing we really lacked was a bit of good old fashioned nous.
The kind of know how that see's the most successful teams able to break down the opposition when they park the bus.

We nearly managed it anyway without having that bit extra.

I'm not worried.
The team is not yet fully fit and firing, but that will come.

The only thing we really lacked was a bit of good old fashioned nous.
The kind of know how that see's the most successful teams able to break down the opposition when they park the bus.

We nearly managed it anyway without having that bit extra.

I'm not worried.
The team is not yet fully fit and firing, but that will come.

Yeah, you could tell it was Lallana's first game for quite sometime, and it was a very unfamiliar lineup so it isn't much surprise that we weren't quite able to execute that final pass. The buildup was good, but the finishing was missing. That will come with better understanding and chemistry amongst the lads.

I seem to be one of very few that are not too upset with our performance. The result stinks, but I actually think we played some good footie at times. Our possession, passing, and ball retention were all very good. Villa scored a scrappy, early goal and then defended deep the rest of the game. To their credit, they were well organized and put in a good shift, but we had a number of decent chances to score. Lallana hit a good left footed volley just wide. Moreno could have done a bit better to pick out an unmarked Markovic on the far post. Manquillo had a cross that Balotelli could have headed home, but Markovic got go it first. Coutinho winged one of the post. Sterling had a shot blocked by his own teammate. We were by far the better teM, it just wasn't our day.....

I also expect us to continue to improve as our new lads settle in and build a better understanding with one another. Bring on Ludogorets and let's get back to winning ways!!

I've no idea what match you where watching. Our passing was slow, lethargic, it looked like we where playing on a heavy pitch. It was sloppy and we gave the ball away far too cheaply. The only reason we had so much possession is because Villa simply didn't want possession, their game plan was to smother us and hit us on the break in the hopes of scoring and when they did break, our defence never looked sure of itself. Nor did we defend corners with any conviction, lacking any organisation which is an ongoing concern for the club because despite buying more centre backs than I've had hot dinners, we're not improving in that aspect, something even Brendan Rodgers has grudgingly admitted.

F***ing gutted with that result. However, if history has told us anything about Rodgers is that he does seem to put things right in the following game after a loss.

I'm confident we'll get our flow soon. Just such a demoraliser after such a positive result at WHL.

Fingers F***ing crossed we sort this out quickly.

I've no idea what match you where watching. Our passing was slow, lethargic, it looked like we where playing on a heavy pitch. It was sloppy and we gave the ball away far too cheaply. The only reason we had so much possession is because Villa simply didn't want possession, their game plan was to smother us and hit us on the break in the hopes of scoring and when they did break, our defence never looked sure of itself. Nor did we defend corners with any conviction, lacking any organisation which is an ongoing concern for the club because despite buying more centre backs than I've had hot dinners, we're not improving in that aspect, something even Brendan Rodgers has grudgingly admitted.

Just going to have to agree to disagree. They were fortunate to score such a scrappy goal as their quality in open play was nonexistent. Once they had the lead they sat 11 behind the ball and dug their heels in. Even so, we still managed to create 18 shooting opportunities!! It was just unlucky that none of the shots (or subsequent deflections because it's damn near impossible to get a ball through that many bodies) fell to a red shirt in a decent position....

Re. Maureen, he identified his weak points, and went out and got them two lads (who by no means everyone thought were worth it/the right buys), and spent the few extra bob on 'marque' players (something only thicks do that don't know how to buy good young cheaper players).

Do find it frustrating that they've signed guys who can come in and make a big impact straight away. Really improving the 1st team from the off. And we're back to the 'need to give the young lads time' and hitting some poor results. One step back to hopefully take 2 forward.

Completely understand we need to give the new boys time. And 6 new lads starting on Sat last is tough. In saying that, can see Lovren and Moreno getting stuck in and performing already. But Markovic has disappointed me so far, Lallana looks rusty (has been injured), and Mario was a late signing when think we should've signed more firepower.
Basically in the top half of the pitch we're still very much depending on the lads from last year to produce, from the off.

Just to add, seeing Remy line out for Chavs was a kick in the balls - all that heart bollox. And resting Sterling for the CL?! Quote from Alien:
Ash: "Bring back life form. Priority One. All other priorities rescinded."
Substitute Ash for BR, and life form for title.

OK, spleen vented   Don't want this to come across as a "we're fu**ed", cause it isn't - we will improve.  Was just hoping for a slightly better start, as am sure everyone was. So close last year,  hope to go the extra step this year.  Looking forward to a return to the CL tomorrow night...

At the end of the day, it just seems that we don't have the quality in our squad to break down the massed defence tactic. So new lads or not, nothing has changed in that respect for the last 5 seasons, apart from the louis factor, which we now don't have. It was his trickery and energy that scared opponents into mistakes. The closest we have is Sterling, and he was rested. Seems it was another tactical cock up by Brendan. Without that pace, the other option was to have lambert up top to get the ball at his feet, hold it up and feed the support running off him. Unfortunately, on Sat, it was too little too late. We done neither until it was game over, and Villa had the wall well and truly embedded around their box.
Will we learn from it, probably not. we will see a lot more of that this season, home and away.

It's pretty clear to me what happened in the match has gone exactly to script ... us steady the ship for the first 15 minutes .... they attacked us furiously for the first 15 minutes, hope get a goal and sit back till the end of the game, cut off the supply line to Balo and he won't cause any damage as they only had Balo to deal with, and Balo was crowded out.

Why only attack them furiously in their box for the last 10 minutes and nearly scored, why not the full 90? Did we give them too much respect, or the new boys do not know that we need to play the big bully when it is at Anfield?

I can't understand why BR did not commit another striker when they parked the train and you'll never break down Villa by stroking the ball around our own half teasing Villa 3/4 of the game, with no real intention to score.  And seeing Villa trying to catch us in possession in our own half is the most frustrating thing I've ever seen for a long long time. Is it because we needed Hendo to lie deep  to accommodate and protect Stevie? Are we missing a world class DM so that we can push Stevie forward?

Utmost respect to Stevie, but I don't buy the idea of Stevie sitting deep to protect the back four. Stevie's is no longer 24 but nearing 34 and we can't ask him to do the defensive duty where he needs to zoom to the left and right all the time. Stevie's strength is as an AM and it's pretty clear. Someone needs to do the defensive side of things, not Stevie.

Watch carefully how teams attacked down Stevie's side most of the time, is it coincidence, I don't know. Don't believe me, watch the next game. Condemn me if you like, but Stevie lying deep is causing us more harm than good and BR has to quickly acknowledge that and push Stevie to a more advance role to utilise his strength. 


 

Re. Maureen, he identified his weak points, and went out and got them two lads (who by no means everyone thought were worth it/the right buys), and spent the few extra bob on 'marque' players (something only thicks do that don't know how to buy good young cheaper players).

Do find it frustrating that they've signed guys who can come in and make a big impact straight away. Really improving the 1st team from the off. And we're back to the 'need to give the young lads time' and hitting some poor results. One step back to hopefully take 2 forward.

Completely understand we need to give the new boys time. And 6 new lads starting on Sat last is tough. In saying that, can see Lovren and Moreno getting stuck in and performing already. But Markovic has disappointed me so far, Lallana looks rusty (has been injured), and Mario was a late signing when think we should've signed more firepower.
Basically in the top half of the pitch we're still very much depending on the lads from last year to produce, from the off.

Just to add, seeing Remy line out for Chavs was a kick in the balls - all that heart bollox. And resting Sterling for the CL?! Quote from Alien:
Ash: "Bring back life form. Priority One. All other priorities rescinded."
Substitute Ash for BR, and life form for title.

OK, spleen vented   Don't want this to come across as a "we're fu**ed", cause it isn't - we will improve.  Was just hoping for a slightly better start, as am sure everyone was. So close last year,  hope to go the extra step this year.  Looking forward to a return to the CL tomorrow night...

Lot of great points raised mate but this one of the bigger ones to hit home. Can't believe we didn't sign him when we were so keen on him, as was I. He goes to the F***ing Chavs and scores on debut. There looks like there is nothing wrong with the lad at all and I'm gutted we missed out on a player that would have been a great addition to our side, especially in times like these with Daniel out. Him and Balo would have been an ample for replacement for the Daniel and Balo combination.

I can see him coming back to taunt us this season. Gutted that Loic isn't wearing the Red of Liverpool.

We seems to be getting all the goody two shoes so far, but at times we will also need the odd burly fighter to do the dirty job and make things happen. Too many decent guys on the pitch makes things looks mundane and takes the fear factor out of playing at Anfield. It's clear that defenders are trying to agitate Balo, starting with that dirty b**tard senderos and very happy that Balo has dealt with it very well.

I see the trend in the way defenders will treat Balo to agitate him and BR must stop playing the Mr. nice guy and kept quiet, run to the sidelines shout at the referee that such treatment is not acceptable and make a fuss of things and gives the referee and player some pressure. Call me petty but such actions does affect the outcome of a game, defenders will be more careful, referees will be more cautious.

If Balo was in maureen's team and saw what happened to Balo, he'd most probably had ran to the centre circle to protest and make a fuss in the press which will make Balo's job easier.

Ive taken some time to away and digest so I will try and put a positive spin on this.

Too many new bodies that have not played together in a competitive match (they will need time, against a side we failed to beat twice last year with a fit and firing Suarez. Add to that the fact this side parked a double decker in the second half and had 10 players in their own half behind the ball.

But i am genuinely happy with our signings, whether you deem it as an excuse or not, i don't see the team gelling instantly because their are a lot of new faces expected to all play together and flow, its harder than it sounds.

Yeah well, rather than go over old ground I'll say this and leave it there - I don't believe that Brendan signed these players thinking that they'd need time to gel (if he did; he was, in effect, writing off the chances of us winning the title) and there wasn't too much talk about players needing to gel after the Spurs game.

The Villa game was a blip and not our first against them - 18 attempts on goal but only one on target might show something but it doesn't indicate a team who weren't 'gelling'. Anyhows... onward to tonight and a good result. 

Yeah well, rather than go over old ground I'll say this and leave it there - I don't believe that Brendan signed these players thinking that they'd need time to gel (if he did; he was, in effect, writing off the chances of us winning the title) and there wasn't too much talk about players needing to gel after the Spurs game.

The Villa game was a blip and not our first against them - 18 attempts on goal but only one on target might show something but it doesn't indicate a team who weren't 'gelling'. Anyhows... onward to tonight and a good result. 

Thought the same mate and now the red mist of frustration has cleared some encouraging distribution and multiple one touch exchanges come to mind.
 ''Gelling'' as a vague knee-jerk post match comment to avoid the negativity is fine, spotlighting some almost ESP team efforts is better still.   

We are brilliant against teams who want to play football and attack, but we are going to have to work on tactics that will break teams down when they park the buss, which more and more teams will inevitably do against us. That's where we need to get Couts, Sterling and Llalana playing together because they have the skill, speed and short range passing to do that. But I will not be surprised if those kind of tactics is what most teams who come to Anfield employ knowing how effective it is.

Reckon we should start considering settling for goaless draw against parking buses teams, work on it as it is becoming our 'Achilles heel' and take it from there.

Reckon we should start considering settling for draw against parking buses teams, work on it as it is becoming our 'Achilles heel' and take it from there.

A starting point would be not giving away sloppy goals after which teams automatically start thinking about parking the bus. Villa were fairly open before they scored, in fact for the first 15mins they were the better team.

Reckon we should start considering settling for draw against parking buses teams, work on it as it is becoming our 'Achilles heel' and take it from there.

Unfortunately Nikos sucker goals such as Villa scored are always a danger in such games, then the 10 men behind the ball plan is even more exaggerated.
If the park the bus team score early as they did, their game plan can be acted out to perfection.