Aston Villa v Liverpool Post Match Thread

[Sexual Ealing]

There are times During the game, when the manager has got to help the team, as much as I like Smith for all he has done.
He is failing in this part of his job.

Absolute rubbish. Is he supposed to put his boots on or something?

That's all I ask [/SteveBruce]

[Luffbralion]

Waited till today to comment as found most comments utterly depressing and wondering whether those making the most negative comments were actually at the game. I was thoroughly gutted at the end yesterday & still am today, but every single player was completely on it yesterday. Liverpool didn’t have an off day, they played well but we drew them into a scrap and were that close to beating the best team in Europe. I don’t want villa defined as plucky losers, but I don’t see how we can criticise the team or manager at all. Watching game back on MOTD by 9 said ‘what a header’ about Maine’s goal and he’s spot on, credit due. Wesley, Trez, El Ghazi stand outs for me, but they were all superb. The holte end stayed to applaud them off the pitch yesterday, that says it all, bring on wolves and newcastle

Agree completely. When I get back from Villa Park I always come on here to have a look at fans' reactions. Last night I thought "were they at the same game as me?"  Then I concluded some posters had not watched the game and had merely reacted to the gut-wrenching defeat. I then watched MOTD and loved the commentary and Ian Wright's view that we were "brilliant", without ignoring where we need to improve.

Everyone gave it their all, some of the defending was heroic and special appreciation to Nakamba (yet again living up to his first name), Trezeguet and Wesley, (both of whom caused problems for their defence).
Every player had a decent or better game and everyone of Deano's signings looks to be a good acquisition.
Let's also remember that we were up against a team that have won ten matches already, who have won six of those after falling behind, who have made the best start in the top division since 1960-61 and who have scored 35 injury time winners. They look even more relentless than Ferguson's United.

As I said, there are things to work on, especially seeing out games physically and mentally. Wouldn't JT be the man to advise on this?

Finally, the atmosphere yesterday was brilliant; the whole crowd rising at half-time and for each subsitution, the noise levels in the second half and the final whistle acknowledgement of the team's efforts.
Forget those nauseating half and half scarves, we are back and we're going to have fun this season. Utv!

[ktvillan]

Positives :

At least Trezeguet finally did something of note.

We almost got a result without our best player.

Some nice words about Villa and VP from Klopp and the commentator - although I wonder would Klopp have been so magnanimous in defeat or after a draw?

Not so positive:

Poor game management, insufficient fitness and poor ball retention are regularly costing us in second halves.  It's become a pattern, and it's something Smith must take responsibility for and sort out.

Yet another "inconsistent" ref, the same one who denied us a stonewall pen at Arsenal.

[dave.woodhall]

Positives :

At least Trezeguet finally did something of note.

We almost got a result without our best player.

Some nice words about Villa and VP from Klopp and the commentator - although I wonder would Klopp have been so magnanimous in defeat or after a draw?

Not so positive:

Poor game management, insufficient fitness and poor ball retention are regularly costing us in second halves.  It's become a pattern, and it's something Smith must take responsibility for and sort out.

Yet another "inconsistent" ref, the same one who denied us a stonewall pen at Arsenal.

Is it those things, or is it simply our substitutes aren't as good as theirs?

[Mister E]

Poor game management, insufficient fitness and poor ball retention are regularly costing us in second halves.  It's become a pattern, and it's something Smith must take responsibility for and sort out.

Agree with your assessment other than - on this occasion - "poor game management". The fact is that Smith does not have much on the bench to make things happen differently: many of the subs are lookalike players. I'd criticise him for bringing on Hourihane, mainly because he's hopeless when the team do not have the ball, and we were not retaining it very well when Conor did come on. I'd have looked for Konsa - or possibly - Lansbury to come on and shore things up.

[Risso]

As defeats go this hurt. I haven't felt this bad after a defeat since perhaps the Albion game at home earlier in the year. Whats annoying is it just felt like a matter of time that it happened, even leading 1-0 after 83 or so mins. The minute they equalised you knew what was coming.

Agreed.  I said to my mate that it was important that we didn't lose now, but that we almost certainly would.

[RamboandBruno]

Poor game management seems to be a trendy phrase these days. We were under the cosh for most of the 2nd half to a very good team and they put everything on the line to defend the lead & try & counter on the odd occasion. I’m not sure if some people expect us to be passing around Liverpool with 5 mins to go to run down time?? At this stage in where we are it’s not going to happen. They did there best but just came up short. Not Lansbury would of made any difference tbh & guess he brought Hourihane on as Luiz had had 3 games in a week and was tiring and in case we happened to get a free kick in shooting distance. My only criticism of Conor is that he should of shot instead of trying the cut bk to Wes.

[dorsetvillian]

There were more than a few moments in the 2nd half where just a split second of calmness would have meant us keeping the ball and building an attack. This must be worked on.

[Brend'Watkins]

Positives :

At least Trezeguet finally did something of note.

We almost got a result without our best player.

Some nice words about Villa and VP from Klopp and the commentator - although I wonder would Klopp have been so magnanimous in defeat or after a draw?

Not so positive:

Poor game management, insufficient fitness and poor ball retention are regularly costing us in second halves.  It's become a pattern, and it's something Smith must take responsibility for and sort out.

Yet another "inconsistent" ref, the same one who denied us a stonewall pen at Arsenal.

Regarding Trez, his goal and display probably brought us 20 Million more Egyptian fans. He’s as popular there as Salah.

[West Derby Villan]

After sleeping on it, I'm still gutted. Overall a good team performance. Trez stepped up and El Ghazi had his best performance. Nakamba was all over the field and thought the defence was solid. Wesley showed us that he can chase and got rightly applauded for it. SJM is a marked man and the opposition keep as close as they can and even double up on him, which usually helps Jack. There lies the rub, we struggled, especially in the second half, to clear our lines and take a breather, that's where Jack is so important to us and John McGinn. I thought we played exceptionally well yesterday, without probably our most influential player, and came close but not close enough.

[McGraths Dry Cleaning]

Observations from yesterday game:
1. I thought it was a great effort from Villa - show that kind of endevour and we will be better than at least 3 other teams this season.
2. Trez had his best game and he should be more effective if he carries on like this. Wesley started to chase the ball a bit more and the positive crowd reaction should encourage him to do this more
3. The referee was poor and inconsistent
4. I spotted at least 4 Liverpool fans in our bit of the Lower Doug (2 different sets of lads with Dads) in seats I assume are usually season ticket holders. I was asked for tickets from 4 different sets of Liverpool suporting friends and family (one from Leicester, one from Bucks, two from London - all of whom are armchair glory hounds. I'd rather iron my bollocks than give tickets to anyone other than a Villa fan no matter the price)
5. My 8 year old was quite upset when Mane (one of his favourite non Villa players) dived right in front of us and got a yellow. He threw his Match Attax card of him in the bin when he got home but I took it out and gave it back to him today and explained that over the season he'll realise lots of players dive and he'll run out of cards. He's vowed never to be Liverpool on Fifa again. He's getting proper tribal about the Villa which is good but breaks my heart a little that one year of the Premiership has shown him lots of gamesmanship (for want of a better word).
6. Felt we could of used our subs better
7. Sickening way to lose but overall we should take great heart. I think we've improved a lot since our first game. Bit of strenghtening in January and we can push on.

[RamboandBruno]

Away from the actual game, I was queuing for a pint at half time and said to the bloke in front of me that it was gonna be a tough 2nd half. He turned round & the broadest scouse accent said ‘that McGinns a great player hey”!! Saw him and a couple of others looking like fish out of water a few minutes later, Liverpool fans in the lower holte!

[AsTallAsLions]

As defeats go this hurt. I haven't felt this bad after a defeat since perhaps the Albion game at home earlier in the year. Whats annoying is it just felt like a matter of time that it happened, even leading 1-0 after 83 or so mins. The minute they equalised you knew what was coming.

Agreed.  I said to my mate that it was important that we didn't lose now, but that we almost certainly would.

We're on hols with another couple but we found the match on an African TV station in our flat (luck) and all 4 of us watched. We had to leave on 81 minutes so we wouldn't miss our table booking and the other 3 were elated for me. Mate's wife giving it the big "How great is it for Villa to beat the league leaders in their first season back?" I said "Promise you, there's no way we win this game."

Had no roaming data til we arrived at the restaurant. Logged on Wi-Fi. First thing to come through was a WhatsApp from our Scouse-bothering friend: "Well I don't know what to say mate..."

Knew before I'd even checked the score that we'd lost.

It was the predictability of it that hurt the most. I don't have a single friend or colleague who would believe - while leading with a few minutes to go - that a loss for their team was still more likely than a win.

I love the Villa but let's be honest, it's fucking awful being a Villa fan sometimes.

[Axl Rose]

As defeats go this hurt. I haven't felt this bad after a defeat since perhaps the Albion game at home earlier in the year. Whats annoying is it just felt like a matter of time that it happened, even leading 1-0 after 83 or so mins. The minute they equalised you knew what was coming.

Agreed.  I said to my mate that it was important that we didn't lose now, but that we almost certainly would.

My wife turned to me at 1-0 and said, 'you always tell me that you've seen Villa leading in games like this and completely throw it away at the end'.

I was too nervous to really laugh, but it was going through my head at the exact time she pointed that out, that I do indeed always say such things. I was keeping quiet hoping that if I did so, we might just see it out.

Robertson scored about 30 seconds later.

I put my hoodie over my head when Alexander Arnold had the free kick and decided to keep it there. The screeching of the Japanese commentary moments later and my wife's 'oh no' just topped off the day.

[AsTallAsLions]

Mad similarities in our stories Axl