Liverpool vs. Aston Villa ||| Saturday January 18th 17:30 GMT

Disappointed

Just so many things wrong in this game I don't even want to comment about it

Nishank wrote:Depressing.

Konchesky = Cissokho.

Thank god Werner was in for this match, We will struggle for 4th if we continue with this squad.

BR atleast changed things after going 2-0 down unlike the Arsenal game. Lucas injured

Don't insult Konchesky now!!    

One way to look at it is that we got 1 point more than Arsenal from their home game against Villa. But I think we are mostly looking at it like 2 points dropped at home against a turd that won't flush.

Got our tactics badly wrong in the first half. While I liked the line-up experiment, we were trying to play a far too rushed and pressing game against a side that like to bypass the midfield and attack on the counter. Hopefully this particular sort of tactical mismatch was the last one of its kind this season.

Can't blame Sturridge or Suarez, both did their best, one scoring and one earning a penalty. They saw more of the ball in the 2nd half, but I still felt a bit sorry for them; they we're feeding off scraps in the first half and seeing Sturridge often to drop off to play the role of an attacking midfielder, well, that just felt a little wrong considering we are all so excited about our SAS striker partnership. We need players around them that can free them to do their thing in goal-scoring areas, today was not such a day. And it wasn't the first time

Sterling was great again, imo, can't ask more of a 19-yo winger. Worked hard both ways, did what a winger is supposed to and rarely lost the ball. The only problem is, we've got SAS out there and right now it looks like we haven't got the midfield out there to get the best out of these three players.

Finally, things that I've come to dread to see:

1. Johnson defending crosses (still). On top of that, well, I've been one to keep faith in him, but I'm afraid it's time I join Arquitecto's choir and say that bench this guy. He offered absolutely zero in midfield or attack, at home, against a possession-poor Aston Villa. What he did in this game, Kelly can do too, and most likely exceed.

2. Cissokho dribbling. Oh my, I admire his courage to try it, but it just always looks dead-certain to end up bad. When is Enrique expected back again?

3. Coutinho's deteriorating form. It was there to be observed before this game that, like Sepi put it, Sterling >>> Coutinho in our previous games. But this was still shocking. So many misplaced passes and little contribution overall. No wonder he got subbed at half-time, but the fact is we need him. Please come back stronger ASAP!


It's not the end of the world, this result, but certainly calls for a response, both from a few players and Rodgers as manager. It's a huge game next in the league as we are hosting Everton and Martinez has got them to play some very good ball. Can not, simply can not afford as shaky display as this in that top-4 six-pointer.

@Fahim89 wrote:

That'd be funny if he actually was worse than Johnson in this game, but he wasn't. At least Aly was trying to get forward, Glen did absolutely nothing.

Coutinho worst player on the pitch today.

No that was definitely Johnson or Cissokho

Johnson, Skrtel, Lucas worst players on the pitch today. Just terrible. The only reason we dropped 2 points.
 
We showed great character to come from 2-0 down, who would of thought we'd come back from 2-0 down to Aston Villa.
 
I really hope Gerrard continues to play the holding role, he does a great job at it. Completely dominated them in that first half, we were just unlucky Villa took their chances. I'm glad Lucas is injured, now we can see Gerrard playing there more regularly.
 
Lambert has to be the best tactician in the game, first manager to beat Rodgers tactically. I don't think Rodgers was wrong to play a 4222/424 against a counter-attacking side, I blame the players for not showing up. My only problem with Rodgers is why he didn't bring Aspas on for Henderson at half time, and why Moses didn't get on the pitch.
 
Arsenal lost the same fixture at home, so we should be looking at it as 1 point gained, so it's okay, we didn't need to win this one.

The whole team can be shit, yet there could still be a player that would warrant the tag 'worst player on the pitch'.

Worst player on the pitch was obviously the manager.

Johnson wasn't that bad, been used as a scape goat, again. He came into the game in the second half, when we actually had a controller on the pitch and had the freedom to roam forward. He defended okay, he only stuffed up once in a set piece where they hit the bar, but it's known we don't practice defending set pieces in training, so not too sure why we can blame him there.

Kolo-Skrtel don't work. Sakho needs to come back.

Cissokho was bad, but he's been a scape goat too. He did okay defensively, nothing going forward... but he did okay.

Worst player in that first half was Gerrard... he has no idea on how to play the role. The amount of space he left behind, was at fault for losing Weimann for their first goal, couldn't get on the ball, didn't come deep to collect the ball, he just can't play the role. Stevie only got into it when he played a little further up the pitch when we got our game going.

Henderson was anonymous in this game too, he's only contribution was that flick to Sturridge for our goal.

Rodgers stuffed this one up, again... but let's continue to blame Johnson, Cissokho and Coutinho.

Or maybe we just played to lose so Rodgers could convince JWH to spend this window...

#itallmakessensenow

So i've slept and woken up and still can't believe we didn't get all 3 points, these 2 points dropped hurt too much, we'll be on even points with spurs and behind everton by the end of the round.

Must beat Everton at Anfield if we want to get back into the top 4.

A draw doesn't help us. If we drop behind Spurs, I'm going to laugh. Even United caught up to us ffs.

As long as we somehow win 2 of the next 3 in this 5 game block then we'll still be on track in our 2 points per game average.

Their goals

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Gerrard playing DM wasn't the problem, the problem was that in the first-half we were set up to press high up the pitch, but Aston Villa are a difficult side to do it against. Another problem was that Coutinho was supposedly our third CM and it was probably a combination of lack of experience and lack of instructions that he didn't really play a CM game, resulting in us being very attack-heavy without actually getting the ball to our forwards. We were rarely settled in possession in the first-half but instead rushed in our passing and decision-making, desperately trying to get the ball to our danger men up front without having the midfield to do that. The number of long balls in the first-half was a sad sight as attempts to play short passes in the center of the park were doomed. After Coutinho was subbed for an actual CM we were much more balanced (and Gerrard was very fine in the DM role then). I'm pretty sure that Coutinho will be on the bench against Everton unless Rodgers thinks he can play that CM role after a lesson learnt from this match.

I have said it often enough, we simply don't have the squad to mount a sustainable challenge for T4. We have barely any quality on the bench and when any player from the starting XI flops or we are in need of a Plan B, we are left high and dry.

Enough has been said about Cissoko, but let's face it, it's his quality. He can't do any better. However I think Kelly wouldn't do any worse than Johnson. Besides Coutinho & Raheem we have Moses, besides Suarez & Sturridge we have Aspas and with Lucas injured only option will be Alberto.

I don't think playing Coutinho in the middle was a great idea.

Nishank wrote:

@Red Alert wrote:

I really hope Gerrard continues to play the holding role, he does a great job at it. Completely dominated them in that first half, we were just unlucky Villa took their chances. I'm glad Lucas is injured, now we can see Gerrard playing there more regularly.

No way, Gerrard's best moments in the game came when he had Lucas and Allen behind him. Gerrard was run over throughout the first half.


----
Its a +1 in H2H comparison from last year though

No he wasn't. Gerrard can defend and play the role, trust.

@Art Morte wrote:Gerrard playing DM wasn't the problem, the problem was that in the first-half we were set up to press high up the pitch, but Aston Villa are a difficult side to do it against. Another problem was that Coutinho was supposedly our third CM and it was probably a combination of lack of experience and lack of instructions that he didn't really play a CM game, resulting in us being very attack-heavy without actually getting the ball to our forwards. We were rarely settled in possession in the first-half but instead rushed in our passing and decision-making, desperately trying to get the ball to our danger men up front without having the midfield to do that. The number of long balls in the first-half was a sad sight as attempts to play short passes in the center of the park were doomed. After Coutinho was subbed for an actual CM we were much more balanced (and Gerrard was very fine in the DM role then). I'm pretty sure that Coutinho will be on the bench against Everton unless Rodgers thinks he can play that CM role after a lesson learnt from this match.

Problem in the first half?

I'll get into more detail later on, but 5 reasons we didn't turn up.

1) Tactics. 424 doesn't work. 2 man duo in midfield hasn't worked, ever. Lucas and Gerrard got the blame at the start of the season for a lack of mobility, well we had the engine in Henderson there today and got overrun too. We've played the 424 on 3-4 different occassions, and we've "lost out" on every single of those games. (That includes against Oldham in the FA cup last season, Aston Villa just now, in the second half against Cardiff and there's 1 more, but can't remember from the top of my head.) Coutinho wasn't playing in the middle, he was playing on the left flank. It was a 442 with the wingers in the "4" playing up high up the pitch. So it was a 424/4222, whichever way you look at it, it didn't work.

2) Experimentations. Gerrard CAN'T PLAY THAT ROLE AS THE CONTROLLER. He's played there for a total amount of 135 minutes (90 mins last week, 45 last night) and we've conceded 5. Our only "dominant" play came in 15 minutes, when Lucas was playing that role. As soon as Leiva got injured, we fell to pieces... again. The amount of space we left behind the midfield was unbelievable. And we couldn't even control possession. Gerrard was playing further forward, in a box to box role in the second half. He wasn't playing as the DM when Coutinho came off.

3) We didn't play our game. We went back to operation SAS, instead of playing as a team/death by football. Which we normally play at home. We lumped it forward and hope SAS would do something with it. To their credit, Aston Villa defended brilliantly and were all over us on the counter. I can't remember how long ago it was, but Southampton had over 75% possession against Villa when they played them. 75%.

4) Rodgers clearly underestimated them. There was absolutely no balance in the midfield. I've stated it 1,000 times, we need a defensive minded player in the midfield. Gerrard isn't that. We also need to play with 3 in the middle.

5) We were getting dominated by Villa in the first 10 minutes. We continued to get dominated in the 20 minutes. Rodgers didn't change the formation / how he set up. He could of easily went to a 4231 with Coutinho coming in the hole but he didn't. Terrible day at the office. Normally gets 'em wrong away from home, but he's gotten it wrong with Southampton and Villa at Anfield now.

Bonus point... 6) Kolo Toure has become the defender that I feared he would become before we signed him. He was great early, good debut, solid game when we played with 9 at the back, but he's been average for months now. That's probably down to not having consistent game time, but he's not showing leadership, he's not a great defender, horrible in the air, hoofs the ball every 3rd touch, it's just frustrating to watch. Can't wait for Sakho to come back. Benteke was all over Kolo yesterday, and I fear Lukaku is going dominate him if Toure plays in the derby.

I feared that 4-2-4 is going to bring us down yday and the same happened. Another thing which was really frustrating to watch is BR didnt react quickly enough to change things. He waited for them to score and then changed it. It should have changed the game much more in our favour.

I agree Gerrard was bad but then my straight opinion is we must drop someone. I think Gerrard as DM might work only if there are two good midfielders playing in front of him. Going forward I just cant see what role should he play. Lucas, Hendo and Allen looked so superior midfield to watch compared to what we play only Gerrard and Lucas together (last season also I remember Hendo had not started the game for us and the results was 3-1).

I am getting pissed of with this SAS thing, frrack I am sure although if we play Suarez out wide we would probably score same amount of goals and probably same result on the match but only tactics different. I think SAS as front duo should be used as a weapon when probably things are not working for us. Better play a 4-3-3 with three proper midfielders. Sterling and Coutinho can fight for one of the position OR bring Coutinho for a CM as another option to try. I think its always better to keep some cards in hand.

No wonders, we are not talking about Mignolet howler because there are so many things to talk. I had some doubts over him about 'consistently performing for a big club', but he had given some terrific performances to win me over. Jones is clearly better than Mig with crosses and balls in the air. I hope that is nothing like a bad form for him and he will come to his best soon.

If Rodgers' intention was to play 4-2-4 then the blame is all on him, but I have a feeling that Coutinho was supposed to be a CM in this game and our formation to be 4-3-3, but his natural instinct to play higher up and lack of CM experience resulted in a failed experiment.

Gerrard says we played 3 at the back in the second half. (If that's back, FFS.)

Would explain why Johnson stayed back and Cissokho forward. Raheem would of played as the wing back. Keep attacking Glen though.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:
No wonders, we are not talking about Mignolet howler because there are so many things to talk. I had some doubts over him about 'consistently performing for a big club', but he had given some terrific performances to win me over. Jones is clearly better than Mig with crosses and balls in the air. I hope that is nothing like a bad form for him and he will come to his best soon.

He's had a poor month, but there's nothing wrong with Mignolet

Even Pepe's first season he was poor.
As was De Gea's.

Keeper's need time to adjust too. Especially when we have 10 different defensive back 4s / 3 at the back experimentations / playing with no balance in midfield.

He's made silly mistakes, but he'll get better. Still fairly young. And he's done a solid job for us. Definitely potential to be world class.

If you guys are talking about the second goal, I don't think it was Mig's fault. Johnson should have been guarding the Villa players. What was he doing going for the ball and leaving a player totally unguarded. Ok may be Mig should have called, but even if he missed the ball but Johnson was guarding the Villa player, goal might have been avoided.

No way in hell, it's 100% mig's fault, if your coming out as a keeper, you must get the ball, Johnson had that ball covered till mig got in the way, he might of touched it by a fraction or maybe not, but he distracted Johnson because he saw the fist coming at his head, another embarrassing blunder by mig.