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Author Topic: Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa post match thread  (Read 18218 times)

Offline Risso

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Re: Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa post match thread
« Reply #165 on: December 13, 2021, 11:07:49 AM »
For this game alone the manager had to prioritise not losing. Had he played openly and we'd been dicked 4 or 5 can you just imagine the reaction from the fans? I think he was conscious of the behavior of Houllier and you could see that the way he handled himself on Saturday. That's without the gulf in class between the sides, and poor officiating.

Should we approach games in such a fashion on a regular basis then I will call in question his tactics but for Saturday he gets a pass from me.

...but we did lose.
Our goal led a charmed life and if it wasn't for Tyrone and Emi we could easily have lost by 2 or 3 goals even without the need for their penalty.
I'd sooner have a go at teams, show little respect and lose trying (remember it's not that long ago we scored 8 goals against them).

So would I but I can also see the Managers thinking. Gerrard is a pragmatist, that I think is obvious.

I appreciate your comments Nev.
It's early days and Saturday's performance never mind the result will hopefully be an exception to how we normally play.
Like most Villa fans probably, I've been fed up with Villa 'knowing their place' when playing the sl6 and hardly laying a glove on them. It's been refreshing the last few years ruffling the feathers of the majority of these clubs and taking our place close to if not on the top table. Saturday was a frustrating throw-back for me and one that I hope is rarely repeated.

We haven't got the players to go toe-to-toe with Liverpool. When we played them last year, Grealish was head and shoulders the best player in the league at the time, and Barkley had one of his 1 game in 20 worldie matches, and Liverpool couldn't live with them at all. Norwich will be an interesting match, because it's the first game for Gerrard where we're playing a team below us, and one we're expected to beat, and beat well.

Online Lastfootstamper

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Re: Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa post match thread
« Reply #166 on: December 13, 2021, 11:09:53 AM »
The Law's fine, it's its implementation that's raising blood pressure.

Online Somniloquism

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Re: Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa post match thread
« Reply #167 on: December 13, 2021, 11:11:22 AM »
Comparisons with Bruce are a bit off, not getting a shot on target against one of the best teams in the world is one thing but doing it against Cardiff or Sheffield Utd is a whole other thing entirely

Nah, they're not. Our possession in other games (Brighton, Palace and Man City) has been really low too, we'll create chances against weaker teams playing that way, but against Liverpool the system was exposed.

I'm pleased with everything Gerrard did (e.g. waving to our fans) and said (about the fuss around him being ex-Liverpool) and of course we need to tighten up the chances we gave conceded but I'm surprised at the line-up. effectively 4-5-1 and no width.

Possession has not been a strong point of our team for ages. The only league games this season when we had more possession was Watford and Everton and came out of those  W1L1. All Gerrard has done is to make us harder to score against and then is that really a surprise being as the players are all Smith's (with a hint of Bruce). Smith could have got us out of the rot if he hadn't persisted with obvious tactics that were not really working but I don't know if we would have had 9 from 15 against the teams we have played.

However the main judgement of Gerrard will be when we see the players he gets in and the positions.

Offline The Edge

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Re: Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa post match thread
« Reply #168 on: December 13, 2021, 11:20:31 AM »
Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa: Mohamed Salah penalty secures win on Steven's Gerrard Anfield return - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59529642
Liverpool fans are a bit "special" aren't they? Lots of them complaining that we didn't all out attack them and how dare we try to stop them scoring at Anfield. Professional victim fc.

Offline TonyD

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Re: Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa post match thread
« Reply #169 on: December 13, 2021, 11:21:30 AM »
In that 15 min spell in the second half we really took them apart.
Like to see more of that.   

Online eamonn

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Re: Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa post match thread
« Reply #170 on: December 13, 2021, 12:03:01 PM »
It's a tricky one to decide what game-plan to ultimately go for against one of the top three teams. In fairness to Gerrard, he said after the game that maybe he should have been more expansive earlier and it's something that he would reflect on.

I think when you're playing one of the best sides in Europe who are bang in-form, averaging 3 goals a game this season etc. it's understandable to be cautious. When we last played at Anfield in the Spring, Liverpool had lost an unprecendented five or six home games in a row. We were still bombarded by them in the early stages of that game but we settled-down and their confidence dropped with their recent results playing on their mind, no doubt. It needed Ross Barkley not giving two fucks about losing possession and Trent scoring a last minute worldy to win it for them then. I was a lot more gutted about that result/performance as they were actually there for the taking in that second half (Trez had that wonderful chance off the bar/line shortly before coming off with his terrible injury that he's still not back from). On Saturday, Liverpool were in-form and pretty relentless if not as fluid due to our organisation. The most irritating thing is the soft penalty they needed to win the game.

Offline OCD

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Re: Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa post match thread
« Reply #171 on: December 13, 2021, 12:52:26 PM »
Liverpool are a very different team when they're playing to a crowd than when it's behind closed doors. That's a big factor in the 2 recent games there.

Online baddowvillans

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Re: Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa post match thread
« Reply #172 on: December 13, 2021, 01:24:08 PM »
The ref also playing to the crowd helps too!

Offline The Edge

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Re: Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa post match thread
« Reply #173 on: December 13, 2021, 01:49:53 PM »
The ref also playing to the crowd helps too!
That's the biggest deciding factor. 100%.

Offline brontebilly

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Re: Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa post match thread
« Reply #174 on: December 13, 2021, 01:56:17 PM »
For this game alone the manager had to prioritise not losing. Had he played openly and we'd been dicked 4 or 5 can you just imagine the reaction from the fans? I think he was conscious of the behavior of Houllier and you could see that the way he handled himself on Saturday. That's without the gulf in class between the sides, and poor officiating.

Should we approach games in such a fashion on a regular basis then I will call in question his tactics but for Saturday he gets a pass from me.

...but we did lose.
Our goal led a charmed life and if it wasn't for Tyrone and Emi we could easily have lost by 2 or 3 goals even without the need for their penalty.
I'd sooner have a go at teams, show little respect and lose trying (remember it's not that long ago we scored 8 goals against them).

So would I but I can also see the Managers thinking. Gerrard is a pragmatist, that I think is obvious.

I appreciate your comments Nev.
It's early days and Saturday's performance never mind the result will hopefully be an exception to how we normally play.
Like most Villa fans probably, I've been fed up with Villa 'knowing their place' when playing the sl6 and hardly laying a glove on them. It's been refreshing the last few years ruffling the feathers of the majority of these clubs and taking our place close to if not on the top table. Saturday was a frustrating throw-back for me and one that I hope is rarely repeated.

We haven't got the players to go toe-to-toe with Liverpool. When we played them last year, Grealish was head and shoulders the best player in the league at the time, and Barkley had one of his 1 game in 20 worldie matches, and Liverpool couldn't live with them at all. Norwich will be an interesting match, because it's the first game for Gerrard where we're playing a team below us, and one we're expected to beat, and beat well.

Liverpool were very easy to play against last season. In both games against us really. Maybe they were a bit soft coming back after winning the league but they are a much different team this year. We couldn't cope with their pressing from the front on Saturday but I keep coming back that Nakamba is nowhere near good enough to get turned on the ball against that kind of pressure. Maybe Gerrard should have switched to a 4231 and put Luiz in next to him in the first half.

Online eamonn

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Re: Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa post match thread
« Reply #175 on: December 13, 2021, 02:10:03 PM »
The ref also playing to the crowd helps too!
That's the biggest deciding factor. 100%.

The crowd baying for 5 different penalties or whatever it was and urging their team on definitely makes a difference.
Being bang in-form compared to the losing run they were on last season when we played there also counts for a lot.

Offline dcdavecollett

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Re: Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa post match thread
« Reply #176 on: December 20, 2021, 12:44:45 AM »
Having Jurgen in the fourth official's ear all first half probably has an effect, too!

 


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