Aston Villa v Liverpool - Post-Match Thread

[AV82EC]

Much better performance even though we lost. Scores on the doors from me:

Martinez - 6 - seemed to be distributing the ball in a more varied fashion tonight but lost a mark as i think he could have come out to Salah more for the second.
Konsa - 6 - Kept Luiz reasonably quiet but really needs to add distribution to his game.
Carlos - 5 - reasonably solid but the odd loose pass and gifted them a goal trying to be cute with that header.
Torres - 7 defended well and was a threat at set pieces, seemed to grow into the game with his passing and drive from the back.
Digne - 5 - solid enough against Salah but offered nothing going forward
Onana - 4 - statuesque and limited in posession, passing accuracy was appaling.
Tielemans - 6 - solid game from Youri tonight and another who grew into the game
Bailey - 5 better in the first half where he worked well with and without the ball but was appaling in the second half
Ramsey - 7 playing well then got injured
Rogers - 3 abysmal, lost possession, made wrong choices, missed an absolute sitter and needs to be taken out of the team imv.
Watkins - 4 wasn't great tonight but when your main supply lines are an under-performing Bailey and a 10 in Rogers who keeps giving the ball away what are you supposed to do? He gets no service

Duran - 5 - came on, did nothing other than hold the ball up a touch better than Watkins
McGinn - 6.5 - a good bustling performance from John tonight came on and caused issues and was a constant threat
Kamara - 6 much more progressive with the ball than Onana
Maatsen - 6.5 did really well when he came on, a constant threat and some good runs forward

All in all our best performance since Fulham. We really pushed in the last 20 minutes and with more composure in the final third could have got something. However, the issues with certain starters remain, I'm convinced Watkins is massively suffering with having to play with Bailey/Rogers currently as they are not playing at all well and are both out of form and unable to provide passes, crosses or the type of balls Ollie likes. Duran offers not much when he comes on as a like for like swap. Unai also seems absolutely determined to keep playing Rogers and never sub him in or out and this isn't being helped by Buendia seemingly not able to step up to the plate.

A welcome international break and we can hopefully regroup before the next tranche of fixtures.

[martyn ellis]

The odds were stacked against us from the start. Three away matches in a week, less time to recover than the media darlings Liverpool, who frankly bullied us off the ball far too frequently, which is what I thought was the main reason they were sometime dominant; but some of our play was encouraging. JJ was the best player on the pitch IMO until the dreaded hamstring kicked in.
But the things that rankle the most are, first, one of the most biased pre-match and in-match commentaries I've ever heard, TNT willing Liverpool to be 5 points clear throughout.
Then the officials: if the ref missed the shirt pull on Torres, how could VAR also deem it acceptable. And then Kamara gets a card for the same offence in the second half. And if that is not a penalty on Torres just before the break for their second goal, I'll never understand what constitutes a foul. I'm the last person to cry 'corruption' in our league, but some of the officials' behaviour tonight was heavily influenced by the occasion and the media's desperation for Liverpool to go five points clear. I'll calm down eventually, but those decisions also  change matches (as well as chances missed).

[PaulWinch again]

Harsh to single out Carlos’ “mistake” - he was gambling to keep our attack going as the clock ticked down (isn’t that what we want?), and that’s what sometimes happens when you gamble; you lose.

Also McGinn (like Bailey) was better than recent form. Thought he did pretty well, to be honest.

We were done twice tonight by Salah’s pace, leaving ourselves too exposed on the break. For me, that was the difference.

I’d say that’s a fair assessment. We really weren’t that bad in terms of performance level tonight. It was very different to the last three games, where we had just plodded around.

[brontebilly]

Harsh to single out Carlos’ “mistake” - he was gambling to keep our attack going as the clock ticked down (isn’t that what we want?), and that’s what sometimes happens when you gamble; you lose.

Ah stop...he was the last man and actually did really well to cover for Torres that time, so just nod the ball into the stand. Heading it back near Salah was asking for trouble.

[Demitri_C]

The odds were stacked against us from the start. Three away matches in a week, less time to recover than the media darlings Liverpool, who frankly bullied us off the ball far too frequently, which is what I thought was the main reason they were sometime dominant; but some of our play was encouraging. JJ was the best player on the pitch IMO until the dreaded hamstring kicked in.
But the things that rankle the most are, first, one of the most biased pre-match and in-match commentaries I've ever heard, TNT willing Liverpool to be 5 points clear throughout.
Then the officials: if the ref missed the shirt pull on Torres, how could VAR also deem it acceptable. And then Kamara gets a card for the same offence in the second half. And if that is not a penalty on Torres just before the break for their second goal, I'll never understand what constitutes a foul. I'm the last person to cry 'corruption' in our league, but some of the officials' behaviour tonight was heavily influenced by the occasion and the media's desperation for Liverpool to go five points clear. I'll calm down eventually, but those decisions also  change matches (as well as chances missed).

Although i agree with most of your post the part i don't agree with is the extra day off part. We rested  a whole team practically for spurs game and were even worse than this game.

We have to take accountability for some of the performances.  Its been really dire.

We haven't really got started this season. 

[AV82EC]

Harsh to single out Carlos’ “mistake” - he was gambling to keep our attack going as the clock ticked down (isn’t that what we want?), and that’s what sometimes happens when you gamble; you lose.

Ah stop...he was the last man and actually did really well to cover for Torres that time, so just nod the ball into the stand. Heading it back near Salah was asking for trouble.

Yep, Row Z in that scenario please.

[Villa Lew]

Apart from the 2 goals gifted to them, that was a much better performance, particularly in the 1st half, against a side, who are now 5 points clear at the top and by some distance the best side in the league at present. On our present form, I was fearing a thrashing, but that never looked like happening.

JJ had his best match since his long term absence, was gutted he had to go off, hopefully the injury won't be too serious. Morgan's going through a tough time at the moment, but he's only 22 and this was probably always gonna happen, I reckon it won't be long before he's back to his best.

[ChicagoLion]

Harsh to single out Carlos’ “mistake” - he was gambling to keep our attack going as the clock ticked down (isn’t that what we want?), and that’s what sometimes happens when you gamble; you lose.

Also McGinn (like Bailey) was better than recent form. Thought he did pretty well, to be honest.

We were done twice tonight by Salah’s pace, leaving ourselves too exposed on the break. For me, that was the difference.

I’d say that’s a fair assessment. We really weren’t that bad in terms of performance level tonight. It was very different to the last three games, where we had just plodded around.

We have all seen these runs before, put in a decent performance against a top team, still lose because of glaring inadequacies, repeat.
It’s obvious that there is a problem.

[Legion]

https://www.skysports.com/football/liverpool-vs-aston-villa/report/505911

[eye digress]

Oh, and Rogers has (predictably, really) hit a wall. Opposing defences have sussed out his game and are waiting for him. He needs a few fresh ideas on how he is going to get the better of them.

Plus, he’s not yet finishing like a forward. I mentioned this in pre-season, but he lacks determination and conviction in his finishing.  Personally, I think it will come, but we’re saying that about an uncomfortably large number of players right now.

[django]

We’ve not been at the same level as last season. Bailey is clearly lacking all confidence, to the point we shouldn’t be playing him. It’s impacting everything we do.

I think Emery has signed Onana to try and control games more but it’s not really working and we only really look effective springing forward quickly from a low block which we did at times today.

Unfortunately our forward players are all painfully out of form so some promising breaks and chances came to nothing, but we were very much in that game till the second goal.

My fear for this season was that we could generally play well but just not have the breaks go our way in tight games against the teams above and around us like we did last season.

Tonight, Spurs, Arsenal, all games we could have got points in and did last season, but didn’t get anything this time round. It leaves us a lot of ground to make up if we’re to finish in the top 4 again. If we’re to do it this period has to be the blip, we can’t afford another one.

[Legion]

It's still extremely close at the top of the table.

[ChicagoLion]

We play like we don’t believe we can score.

[Ads]

They had 3 really good chances, scored 2 and all of them were absolute gifts from us.

Add it to the list over the past few games. Maddening. Another clanger from Carlos. Not quite sure how he manages to find a midgets head, bur there we are.

But...unlike the last 3 games, we looked decent. Carried a threat, I thought from JJ in particular. Rogers has to score at the start of the 2nd half. Final ball not quite there from him, but he's absolutely integral to the way we play.

Felt Bailey faded quite noticeably and Philogene hasn't got to grips yet with the attacking side of the game.

Not overly impressed with Liverpool, I think they're worse than last season, but the league looks a yard or two off what it was. Just doing enough though and they're top, with Man City, us and Arsenal having a bit of a moment.

Fleeting though, as the quality is quite obviously there. Wee break will do us good.

[passport1]

We gave a good account of ourselves.  Cut out the naive mistakes and we will be rather good. Onwards and upwards!