Aston Villa -1 Jon Moss’s Liverpool - 2 Post Match Thread

[Mister E]

Gently encouraged by last night. It’s interesting that in the games against the best teams that all the good and bad of your players and Manager are exposed to the best level. I don’t think we learnt that much to be honest, we know Cash and Digne are good full backs, Emi M needs to work a bit on his distribution, Konsa lacks the ability to play out from the back, Mings has the odd mistake/brain fart in him, Marvellous is useless with the ball at his feet, Doug is an 8 not a 6, McGinn is better further forward, Phillipe and Emi can be mercurial, Ings is a yard off in the biggest games both in pace and thought and Ollie needs to work on his touch and finishing. And everyone needs to wear longer studs. The Manager got it broadly right in terms of his selection but maybe didn’t have the embarrassment of riches currently afforded to Klopp to make effective substitutions.

However despite all the deficiencies when we play and compete, this is a team  heading  in the right direction. To improve it, better defensive distribution(Konsa the weak link for me)more midfield athleticism and physicality (1 x DCM and a more athletic version of Doug/SJM) and more composure and creativity in the strikers (Ings not really what we need ). Some of these three things are minor changes but some particularly the midfield are major changes.

Yes, I'd agree with this, and I'd add that I don't think we're yet seeing the individual and collective improvement that we'd expect (especially given the accolades that the coaching staff got when they all came into Villa). Our ball retention is terrible (from the hack out from the back to Ollie's attempts to trap a bag of cement): hopefully, the pre-season will deal with some of this, along with the right acquisitions.

[Clampy]

We played well I thought and Klopp couldn't have complained had we got a point, even though he would have. I thought we had them rattled in those first few minutes, the noise was tremendous then the ref decided to get involved. I think he should be advised to retire a few games early.

[Vegas]

Where are all the young referees?

Go to any Saturday/Sunday parks football at any level to get the answer to that one

Precisely. A ref at my son’s team’s match this season (U17s) got his car keyed after the game by an angry parent unhappy with the call to give a corner not a goal kick. He won’t be reffing again.

[Legion]

Where are all the young referees?

Go to any Saturday/Sunday parks football at any level to get the answer to that one

Spot on.

[LeeB]

Gently encouraged by last night. It’s interesting that in the games against the best teams that all the good and bad of your players and Manager are exposed to the best level. I don’t think we learnt that much to be honest, we know Cash and Digne are good full backs, Emi M needs to work a bit on his distribution, Konsa lacks the ability to play out from the back, Mings has the odd mistake/brain fart in him, Marvellous is useless with the ball at his feet, Doug is an 8 not a 6, McGinn is better further forward, Phillipe and Emi can be mercurial, Ings is a yard off in the biggest games both in pace and thought and Ollie needs to work on his touch and finishing. And everyone needs to wear longer studs. The Manager got it broadly right in terms of his selection but maybe didn’t have the embarrassment of riches currently afforded to Klopp to make effective substitutions.

However despite all the deficiencies when we play and compete, this is a team  heading  in the right direction. To improve it, better defensive distribution(Konsa the weak link for me)more midfield athleticism and physicality (1 x DCM and a more athletic version of Doug/SJM) and more composure and creativity in the strikers (Ings not really what we need ). Some of these three things are minor changes but some particularly the midfield are major changes.

I agree with all of this

[Nev]

Where are all the young referees?

Go to any Saturday/Sunday parks football at any level to get the answer to that one

Precisely. A ref at my son’s team’s match this season (U17s) got his car keyed after the game by an angry parent unhappy with the call to give a corner not a goal kick. He won’t be reffing again.

I hate to criticise the officials for precisely this reason, my Godson is a ref and has taken plenty of stick from "adults" when they should know better.

But performances of the kind we saw last night only makes things worse, to have 40 odd thousand howling at the ref isn't a great recruiting tool even if he thoroughly deserved it. I didn't think he was as bad second half and I'm convinced one of the other officials had a word with him.

[Nii Lamptey]

Enjoyed last night. Yes, we lost... but at least we lost 'competing'. We kept them hanging on right until the final whistle. Crowd was a step up from recent months too.

The litmus test will be taking that performance into the Palace and Burnley games and WINNING!

The one thing which annoyed me last night were the abundance of 'half and half' scarves I saw in Trinity Road. Who the fuck buys these things - Fans wearing them should be refused entry imo.   😉

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

Still baffled by a strange substitution at a crucial stage in the game on 60 minutes. Bringing Carney on for Nakamba affected 2 positions within our team and weakened us, which redscouse going for the pl title took full advantage of. In the end they didn’t need a dodgy ref to get them over the line.

[Gareth]

Thoroughly enjoyed the game, thought we went toe to toe with them and gave them some uncomfortable moments. 

Not sure Gerrard learnt a lot from it, he knows we have some good players and he also knows our weak area are centre backs in particular distribution when you want to build from the back and defensive midfield.  Address those areas in the summer and we have to be looking towards European qualification and Cup runs next season.

Moss…what an utter clown performance - if you look at their forums they genuinely think he was on our side :-) - he might be a very good VAR watching the tv rather than running around but he should have had his whistle removed years ago.

[Bad English]

I'd just like to take time out from my game of "pétanque" to point out that my rating for Nakamaba was a spoof rating. I accept that my not noticing him in the first half is due to me not being observant and not having my eye on the screen for 100% of the time.

[AV82EC]

Oh and on Jon Moss. He’s not corrupt I personally don’t believe any of them  are he’s just utterly incompetent. His assistant on the Trinity side got at least 3 thrown ins and 2 offsides wrong as well. Think some one had a word at half time as it was slightly better in the second half but it couldn’t have been any worse than his clown car performance in the first half. He’s quite patently not fit enough to keep up with play, I watched him at one point in the second half when Liverpool were breaking at pace and he was in my field of view and quite frankly it was embarrassing watching a fat old man who looked like he’s won a competition struggling to keep pace with Thiago who was virtually walking.

PGMOL is not fit for purpose.

[olaftab]

Still baffled by a strange substitution at a crucial stage in the game on 60 minutes. Bringing Carney on for Nakamba affected 2 positions within our team and weakened us, which redscouse going for the pl title took full advantage of. In the end they didn’t need a dodgy ref to get them over the line.

However we were a  much better attacking force after that and should have at least got a point based on last 20 minutes.

[olaftab]

Enjoyed last night. Yes, we lost... but at least we lost 'competing'. We kept them hanging on right until the final whistle. Crowd was a step up from recent months too.

The litmus test will be taking that performance into the Palace and Burnley games and WINNING!

The one thing which annoyed me last night were the abundance of 'half and half' scarves I saw in Trinity Road. Who the fuck buys these things - Fans wearing them should be refused entry imo.   😉

Agree with your performance  comment.
As for half and half scarfs I noticed that most of the hawkers had a scouse accent so it must be a thing up there on match days.

[olaftab]

I'd just like to take time out from my game of "pétanque" to point out that my rating for Nakamaba was a spoof rating. I accept that my not noticing him in the first half is due to me not being observant and not having my eye on the screen for 100% of the time.

I think the forum appreciates your remarkably candid admission. A game of Petanque is an absolute fabled legend and requires enormous physical strength and highest level of mental agility just to watch. However I am confused as to whether you were not being observant or not having your eye on the screen 100%?

[Pete3206]

Someone ought to look into the ref's betting history. Some of the worst officiating I've ever witnessed.