Aston Villa v Liverpool - Post-Match Thread

[Demitri_C]

If we lose to palace i would say its close tk a crisis though
 
1 win in 8 would be relegation form (not suggesting we will go down at all btw just thats it not good enough)

[Monty]

First thing, Liverpool are very very good, albeit in quite an anaesthetic way. Every time you think you see a way out you're shut down and the slow squeeze starts again. Like a footballing anaconda.

So no shame, no disgrace, and on another day we get one of those penalties (though we don't, of course, as This Is, after all, Anfield) and at that point who knows. But we have to deal with a few facts:

1) Bailey is, currently, bad;
2) McGinn too is, currently, not good;
3) we look so flat in this system and reliant on Rogers to do more than he's consistently capable of doing in order to break the lines;
4) we look so flimsy on defensive transitions and easily crowded out on attacking ones;
5) we used to be good at chipping over the press and now we're not.

There are other problems - Philogene should maybe be a right back, Carlos continues to lead our inventive mistakes division, Watkins looks like a plank of wood occasionally being thrown at a defender - but those five are the major ones.

No panic, but much to sort out.

[Bongo3355]

Not one to comment but people claiming the season is over at the start of November need to get a grip. We played much better tonight. The ref was poor but to be expected at Anfield. We'll sort it out and if I'm honest top 7 with the results we've had in Europe would be a great season in my eyes

[LukeJames]

That ref just looks utterly gormless. Nothing else to say really.

[brontebilly]

Thought in the main we played well. Strong shape to us and caused Liverpool lots of problems. Terrible organisation defending counters gave Nunez three great chances and he took one. Their crowd got very nervy until Carlos moment of madness.

Martinez 5 - maybe I'm being harsh but I thought he sat down too easily for the first goal definitely. Lucky to get away with one cross he got nowhere near.
Konsa 4 - awful on the ball at RB as per usual, one great saving tackle but no idea what he was doing running away from Salah for the second. Lost Nunez for that header
Carlos 6 - spoiled an otherwise very good display with that stupid header that sent Salah away
Torres 8 - very good in and out of possession, justified his selection
Digne 6 - starting position was terrible for first goal, solid that aside
Onana 8 - dominated midfield I thought. Ran and turned with the ball very well. Best midfielder on pitch
Tielemans 6 - decent first half until yellow checked him. Not as involved after half time
Bailey 5 - decent first half but awful in second until his inevitable replacement
Ramsey 7 - our best player in first half until limping off again, real problem now
Rogers 5 - awful first half and lucky not to be hooked at half time. Missed the best chance we had, too sloppy in possession
Watkins 5 - definitely worked a good bit harder but not much of a threat either

McGinn 7 - much better, some good deliveries, strong on the turn and a few wild tackles
Maatsen 8 - looked top quality in all honesty when he came on
Duran 6 - couldn't get that involved but looked more of a threat than Watkins
Kamara 6 - tidy enough in possession
Philogene 3 - really doesn't look near PL level, our right side in second half was poor

[Villatillidie25]

Our worst player tonight was funnily enough Rogers who barely got a pass right once over the halfway line.

Not sure it warrants the "funnily enough", that's been the case for the last four matches.

No i think bailey gets that award

Definitely Rogers. He’s been awful. I actually think the last two matches have started to scope some small green shoots for Bailey. Still miles off last year but a little better.

[VillaBoy_23]

That’s our season finished. Utter garbage. Slow, ponderous, kept giving the ball away, terrible set pieces, players then out of position and we make the same mistakes over and over and over again. And to top it off we threw away our only realistic chance at a trophy this season. Watkins, Rogers, Bailey, Philogene and McGinn completely ineffective. The one time we have momentum in the first half we drop off ten yards and let them have the ball uncontested. The honeymoon period is well and truly over.

What a ridiculous comment

Other than saying our season’s finished, which was said out of frustration, which part of what I said is wrong?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I reckon we are looking at 6th-10th this year but as we were dead and buried less than a decade ago, I'd rather be cheesed off we lost 2-0 at Anfield than at QPR...

No offence, Phil but we either shit or get off the pan. Comparing us to 10 years ago, we've moved on or at least I'd hoped we have. Tonight we were let down by some poor defending and some pub league attackers. If floating around the top 4 is not comfortable for some players we need to replace them, even if it's just on loan.

[Demitri_C]

First thing, Liverpool are very very good, albeit in quite an anaesthetic way. Every time you think you see a way out you're shut down and the slow squeeze starts again. Like a footballing anaconda.

So no shame, no disgrace, and on another day we get one of those penalties (though we don't, of course, as This Is, after all, Anfield) and at that point who knows. But we have to deal with a few facts:

1) Bailey is, currently, bad;
2) McGinn too is, currently, not good;
3) we look so flat in this system and reliant on Rogers to do more than he's consistently capable of doing in order to break the lines;
4) we look so flimsy on defensive transitions and easily crowded out on attacking ones;
5) we used to be good at chipping over the press and now we're not.

There are other problems - Philogene should maybe be a right back, Carlos continues to lead our inventive mistakes division, Watkins looks like a plank of wood occasionally being thrown at a defender - but those five are the major ones.

No panic, but much to sort out.

Philogene at right back is a interesting idea Monty. Quite clearly very bad at right side attack at this level so far

[ChicagoLion]

This is now officially a crisis.

No it's not.


It’s definitely not.

Well it’s not great is it?
It’s not just the defeats it’s the nature of the defeats.
We have so many players out of form and likely to fuck up at critical moments.
Watkins useless and in a strop, Roger’s looks like he has seen a ghost, Carlos a fuck up waiting to happen. Bailey , Mcginn so badly off form.We can’t even get a defensive set up from attacking corners.
All this happening at the same time.
Right , it’s not a crisis, so what is it exactly?

[olaftab]

So predictable, totally distraught tonight.

[itbrvilla]

This is now officially a crisis.

No it's not.


It’s definitely not.

Well it’s not great is it?
It’s not just the defeats it’s the nature of the defeats.
We have so many players out of form and likely to fuck up at critical moments.
Watkins useless and in a strop, Roger’s looks like he has seen a ghost, Carlos a fuck up waiting to happen. Bailey , Mcginn so badly off form.We can’t even get a defensive set up from attacking corners.
All this happening at the same time.
Right , it’s not a crisis, so what is it exactly?

add on top of that, we've thrown 2 games to achieve grand total of fuck all point.

[Villatillidie25]

That’s our season finished. Utter garbage. Slow, ponderous, kept giving the ball away, terrible set pieces, players then out of position and we make the same mistakes over and over and over again. And to top it off we threw away our only realistic chance at a trophy this season. Watkins, Rogers, Bailey, Philogene and McGinn completely ineffective. The one time we have momentum in the first half we drop off ten yards and let them have the ball uncontested. The honeymoon period is well and truly over.

What a ridiculous comment

Other than saying our season’s finished, which was said out of frustration, which part of what I said is wrong?

The whole comment was out of frustration though. It’s not so long ago we beat Bayern. A degree of perspective is needed, that’s all. We were also better today. And I think the honeymoon period ended 18m ago tbh. Now we’re just a good team playing poorly atm.

[olaftab]

Liverpool boss Arne Slot, speaking to TNT Sport: "It wasn't easy like most of our games have been now. Aston Villa were maybe not as aggressive as we thought they would be. We were patient. One thing they are very good at is set-pieces. In general we had control over the game and scored from two counter-attacks which is maybe not what we would expect."

[Gareth]

Crisis :-)

Thought we were ok…we’ve been below par since Bournemouth…with one appalling 45 mins thrown in at Spurs but no crisis.

Teilemans is a great example, popping the ball around of the cuff at will until Bournemouth but has lost that zip at the moment, break will do him good….get Onana and Rogers out of their international squads too.

As soon as it flashed up that Coote was the ref knew we’d get nothing from him, he’s just patently hopeless…shirt pulling is obv a foul outside the box but not in it…tool!