It turned out ok in the end but for a while this was turgid, pedestrian, uninspired shite. Understandable to a degree and we might see a fair bit more of this before the season is out, but in the end they found a way to get it done and it’s three points closer to a potential points record.
It’s easy to over-analyse these behind closed doors games and put any below par performances down to the lack of fans, or blame it on the fact we’ve already won the title and our intensity has understandably dropped. There’s almost certainly an element of that, but how do we really know?
Let’s not forget what happened last time we played Villa. It wasn’t exactly vintage was it? We needed two goals at the death to win it. At least this time we didn’t leave it that late. We probably played slightly better at Villa Park than here but until the triple substitution around the hour mark this was poor.
The thing is, we’ve had a number of games like this one this season and most of them took place in front of full houses (not many at Anfield though to be fair) so maybe we can’t just put it down to ‘lockdown footy’. It sure feels like it is though, doesn’t it?
The first half was largely a non-event. To be completely honest I was bored stiff watching it. Have we had a half that bad at Anfield this season? I’m struggling to remember one. We’ve had loads away from home, I know that, so this performance wasn’t actually THAT unusual.
Villa were resolute and did their jobs well but it was too easy for them. I can only think of one shot we had in the first half, and that was a tame volley from Mo that didn’t trouble Reina at all. We had a couple of penalty shouts too, both when Salah went down after being grabbed. The first one was never a pen, it was more of a coming together than anything else.
I thought the second one was a pen though. The defender reaches out and grabs Mo’s shoulder, pulling him back. He’s got no need to be putting his hands on him there. It would have been soft, but I’ve seen them given for less. I was more upset with our lack of creativity than any refereeing decision though. We offered virtually nothing.
You could even argue that Villa posed more of a threat. Not much more, but it was more than us. I can only remember them having one first half chance when Alisson made an easy save to deny Luiz, but if they had a bit more quality up front there were some counter attacking opportunities to be had.
They just weren’t good enough to make anything of them. Big difference to facing a fired up De Bruyne and Sterling, that’s for sure.
Klopp had freshened things up a little by resting Firmino, Henderson and Wijnaldum. That made for a more attacking looking midfield which in theory should have been ideal against a deep defending side like Villa. Having Origi up front should have helped too, giving us that penalty box presence and aerial threat.
It wasn’t ideal though. In fact, it was only when two of those players were replaced that we actually started to look like ourselves.
The last half an hour was pretty good actually. Not great, we can obviously play a lot better, but it was night and day compared to the first hour. The tempo immediately lifted with Hendo getting on the ball and injecting some urgency into our passing, while Bobby linked more with his fellow forwards in five minutes than Div had done in an hour.
I thought Keita was incredibly fortunate to have survived the hook because if anything he’d been even less effective than Ox. If I was Ox I’d have been annoyed that I’d been the one to make way, but Keita repaid Klopp’s show of faith by supplying the pass from which Mané finally broke the deadlock.
It was a nicely worked goal that and the pass from Naby is brilliant actually because it’s not even on at the moment he plays it. Great vision, great anticipation and great execution.
Definitely enough for his army of social media acolytes to use in their “Fabinho / Keita / Thiago” wet dream fantasies, but not enough to convince anybody else. Not yet. He needs to do more.
I’m not even exaggerating about the fanboys either. Search for “Keita Thiago” on twitter and see what comes up. One loon even posted a picture of Jordan, Pippen and Rodman and said “Fabinho, Keita and Thiago next season”. Jesus.
Keita was eventually brought off and his replacement scored. Don’t expect to see young Curtis being compared with…. well I’m assuming Keita was meant to be Michael Jordan in that imagery, with Fabinho as Rodman and Thiago as Pippen. Yeah, that’s where we’re at right now. Keita being compared to arguably the greatest sportsman of all time.
The Naby groupies are the “LFC Family” equivalent of those deluded United fans with their little green and gold twitter badges bigging up Wan Bissaka and Martial.
I was made up for Curtis getting his goal but I wasn’t surprised. That’s what he does. He got a bit lucky with the deflection but the instinctive movement that got him in space is something you can’t really teach, it’s just natural football smarts. The cross goes over his head but as soon as he sees Mo is going to get it he just drifts back a couple of yards to allow Mo to find him with a knockdown.
I like the options we have in most positions now but without labouring the point it is a concern seeing the drop off whenever one of the front three doesn’t play. Sometimes things don’t look great even when they do play, but take one of them away and it gets really bad.
I’m not scapegoating here because Salah and Mané were no great shakes either, but Origi did absolutely nothing. If Sadio and Mo don’t have great games they won’t be judged as harshly as they have nothing to prove. Divock on the other hand, has everything to prove.
I’ve made excuses for him who he’s been used wide left but this was his chance to do something at centre forward and I honestly can’t remember a single thing he did in the game. He didn’t win any headers, he didn’t try to take anybody on, he didn’t have any goal attempts. He was just there, standing out for his hair rather than his performance.
Klopp has a decision to make next season. Is Origi really the answer as the fourth forward? Would Brewster be a better option? Do we need to buy? To me it’s clearly option three, but Klopp better than I do, so we’ll see what he decides.
Going back to Keita for a second, I can see ability and occasionally he’ll do something that makes you go “yeah that was nice”, but it’s not enough really is it? He’s been here two years now, he should be showing more. In fairness, so should Ox. We’ve seen flashes from him but he’s another who often flatters to deceive.
Ox, Keita and Origi were all given a chance to shine in this game and none of them took it. Keita at least did something worthwhile but none of them did anything to seriously threaten any of the first choice lads places.
I think a big part of it is that none of them play week in week out and it’s difficult to show your best form when you don’t play regularly. When Ox has had a little extended run he’s usually got into some good form. When Naby has an extended run he’s always gotten injured. Origi hasn’t had an extended run for about four years.
We’ve got our first choice midfield three, then we have Keita and Ox, so that is making it difficult for Jones to get the minutes he deserves. Personally I’m at the stage now where I’d happily give him the minutes Keita is getting. I think he deserves it because he’s done more with far less playing time. It won’t happen though because Klopp loves Keita and seems convinced that he’ll come good.
Maybe he will, let’s hope so. I have a lot more confidence in Jones establishing himself in the team than I do Keita. I love the swagger Jones has. He has a lot of improvement to make defensively, but he makes things happen when he’s on the pitch. He’s positive, he tries things and he scores goals. He needs more minutes and hopefully a start or two before the end of this season.
I hope to see more of him over the next few weeks because he’s fun to watch. Not necessarily starting all the time, but he needs more minutes than he’s been getting. Same with Williams. He should start the next game, probably at right back but you could even try him on the left, even if it’s just for 45 minutes before switching him over. That way Trent and Robbo are only playing a half each.
It’s a difficult balance though, I get that. Klopp won’t talk about points records and I genuinely believe him when he says it’s not something he thinks about. He does, however, want to win every game, which in turn will lead the record. And because he want to win every game you’re not going to get him making six or seven changes from his usual line up.
He also has too much respect for the competition to fuck about with his team selections when we’re playing teams at the bottom. I don’t expect him to go close to full strength against one relegation struggler and then rest everyone against another. So we’ll probably see three, maybe four changes each game.
I’m good with that as I want the record but I also want to see the kids getting some meaningful minutes. Not necessarily all at the same time, in fact I’d prefer it if it were one at a time in an otherwise strong line up. I want to see Jones playing with Firmino, Salah and Mane. Not with Elliott, Origi and Shaqiri.
All in all this was a decent enough win. It was shite for an hour but in the end we wore them down and it’s a win and clean sheet. I’ll take this every game between now and the end of the season, although obviously I’d much prefer performances to be like what we produced against Palace. I just don’t think it’s realistic though. Maybe occasionally but I don’t believe it’s sustainable week in week out with no crowds and nothing really to play for other than pride and the points record.
Villa deserve some credit too though I think. We were shite but that’s partly because of how organised and resolute they were. All season I’ve been banging on in the round ups about how much I want Villa to go down. Well I’ve had one of my trademark changes of heart. I hope they stay up now. Why? Couple of reasons really.
The first is Dean Smith. I really like the guy and I feel like a bad arlarse wanting him relegated just because Villa’s fans are generally knobheads and some of them threw a party on a train to Wembley when it was Stevie’s birthday. I am a petty man and I’ll hold a grudge with the best of them but I’ll admit I’m struggling to hold onto this one.
Especially after the guard of honour they gave us. Correct me if I’m wrong, but they didn’t have to do that, did they? If City had refused last week that would have been frowned upon as it was our first game after clinching the title. I don’t think everyone we face has to do it though, do they? It’s been that long since we won it that I genuinely have no idea.
I dunno, maybe they do. Doesn’t matter anyway, the thing that stood out to me was that Villa did it properly. They showed proper respect in the way they lined up and the way they applauded. They didn’t have to but they did. Fair play.
Last week the body language of most of the City players was fucking terrible, and that little rat fuck Bernardo didn’t applaud at all. Some of them fucked off before all of our players had even reached the pitch. Petty gobshites.
You see how Villa did it and it shows City up for what they are. So, if Villa manage to get out of this mess then good for them, I won’t begrudge them it at all. And if they don’t, I’ll just focus on those train nonces in their party hats and I’ll take great comfort in them having to watch Championship football again while their hero Grealish moves on to pastures new.
Star man is… *exhales* I don’t know. I don’t think anyone was at their best or even close to it. Alisson did what he had to and made a class save late on from Grealish, but the game changed when the three subs came on, and of the three subs Hendo probably had the most impact so fuck it, I’ll give it to him even though I don’t feel good about it. I’m tempted to give it to Jones, but that really would be taking the piss seeing as how he was only on five minutes.
Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson (Williams); Fabinho (Henderson), Oxlade-Chamberlain (Wijnaldum), Keita (Jones); Salah, Origi (Firmino), Mané:
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