Villa away

[Jennings]

Good interview explaining the performance from Brendan. Brilliant interview from Sturridge. Good team performance from him, too.

 

I was disappointed with the interview. Not with BR's answers but with the questioning. When he said "The fans want to know...", I expected him to follow with a question on whether there will be further additions to the team in the transfer window. Poor show from the interviewer.

[Batigol]

Good result, rubbish performance once villa showed up.

 

I still see little evidence of this pressing game. We just drop deep when not on the ball. It takes our midfield out of the game and makes the defence look wobblyer then it actually is.

 

Im delighted with the start to the season points wise but we need to play our game for 90 mins. Play like that next week and we are fucked.

 

The points on the board are doing little to hide all our flaws imo. We simply havent really stremghtened much, if at all, this summer. Lots of glaring weaknesses remain unaddressed.

[ZonkoVille77]

Lucas was sluggish but hardly terrible. we managed benteke well which was important.

delighted with that win.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Did look like Rodgers set things up to grind out the win' date=' or made the tactical change after the goal.

 

Very few runs by either Johnson or Enrique.

 

And very few chances for them on the counter.[/quote']

 

Yeah, good points. It wasn't comfortable to watch, but it was a tactical choice.

 

Chelsea struggled, Arsenal were rolled over. We said, 'fuck off, your name's not down, so you're not coming in'. Do whatever it takes to win.

[mike23]

Thought we were really good in the first half apart from the last 5 minutes. Second half was poor but at least we were solid and ground out the win and after the way we started last season it's really nice to have 6 points out of 6. Great goal from Sturridge and Mignolet producing another vital save right near the end again to ensure the win.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Lucas was sluggish but hardly terrible. we managed benteke well which was important.

delighted with that win.

 

He just doesnt have the mobility, mate. Needs to be half a foot taller and/or half a yard quicker.

[Coro]

Benteke's a beast. Villa's main threat is the counter attack but we let them play in front of us and a striker like him will always get a couple of chances.

 

It's a good early season performance. A couple of additions this week would really put us in a good position to build from. Over to FSG n the boys.

[Phoenix]

Did look like Rodgers set things up to grind out the win, or made the tactical change after the goal.

 

Very few runs by either Johnson or Enrique.

 

And very few chances for them on the counter.

 

"We just needed to defend a bit deeper today, Aston Villa are brilliant on the counter and we had to deny them chances..."

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Benteke's a beast. Villa's main threat is the counter attack but we let them play in front of us and a striker like him will always get a couple of chances.

 

It's a good early season performance. A couple of additions this week would really put us in a good position to build from. Over to FSG n the boys.

 

Spot on.

[James Dean]

Thought that too. Doesn't suit our game though, so understandably we looked a bit awkward at times.

[Dr. J]

Apart from bagging 6 from 6 it takes a lot of pressure off next week - would have hated going into that needing 3 points. As it is, winning begets winning. I think we'll be flying high against the mancs.

[Gym Beglin]

I'd love to see Coutinho pushed further forward. They won't be as quickto foul him 20 yards from goal.

[WhiskeyJar]

Apart from bagging 6 from 6 it takes a lot of pressure off next week - would have hated going into that needing 3 points. As it is, winning begets winning. I think we'll be flying high against the mancs.

 

We can only hope, them playing Chelsea on Monday benefits us.

[WhiskeyJar]

I'd love to see Coutinho pushed further forward. They won't be as quickto foul him 20 yards from goal.

 

My only gripe today.

 

Wasted out wide but will bounce back I'm sure.

[dennis tooth]

Quick and strong you mean?

 

The lad just had his debut and did well.

 

I was on about sterling?

[lebron]

 

He just doesnt have the mobility' date=' mate. Needs to be half a foot taller and/or half a yard quicker.[/quote']

 

He tired badly last 5 mins of the first half (thought he did really well until then), and should probably have been hooked after 60-70 mins. Glad I'm not the one trying to mop up our other players squandering of posession though.

 

Anyway, delighted with the result, and for once we can go into a meeting with the Mancs relatively relaxed (6 out of 9 is something I would gladly have taken before the season started)...

[Gav]

Lurtz is right, bunch of fucking moaners on here ......6 points from 6 and 2 clean sheets..thats a cracking start to the season.Toure was very good today and that was a incredible finish by Sturridge.Villa are like we used be under Ged..all set up to counter but no real guile or smarts to open up a packed defence.

 

Clattenberg is a cunt ,gave Countinho no protection and that penalty decision was a disgrace

[KevieG]

Lucas was sluggish but hardly terrible. we managed benteke well which was important.

delighted with that win.

 

I'm not a Lucas basher but he was very poor tonight. Gave the ball away and was poor positionally on quite a few occasions. Lucky not to cost us.

 

agger wasn't far behind him.

[vanball]

Aly ran the ball up the line and won us a throw. Brilliantly.

 

I thought he did ok for getting his feet wet - on the whole, we were dead worried about Benteke going into the game, and he only got a couple of chances, we bent but did not break. Kolo was huge, as was Gerrard - Danny was brilliant, and I don't mean the goal - knocked the ball off players for key throw ins.

The rest got a little rattled under pressure and will need the senior players and Rodgers to keep them calm.

Credit to Villa, they stepped into us and made ball retention more difficult, and was wondering myself, why not Stirling or Ibe for pace, but can also see why a defender in front of Enrique might be thought of.

Glen has to have better awareness of when to move the ball - again, when Villa stepped up the pressure, he did not adjust.

Look, it was a tough game - Arsenal wilted, Chelsea felt it, and so did we - credit to us for not conceding even if we could have played better second half.

[MLB]

Benteke's a beast. Villa's main threat is the counter attack but we let them play in front of us and a striker like him will always get a couple of chances.

 

It's a good early season performance. A couple of additions this week would really put us in a good position to build from. Over to FSG n the boys.

 

 

Perfect summary.

[Brownie]

Made up with that overall. For the majority of the first half I thought we were absolutely brilliant. They couldn't get the ball off us and we looked so controlled. They started to get a foothold in the last few minutes of the half and carried into the 2nd, and from then on we were really poor I thought.

 

It was interesting to hear Rodgers after the game saying that we sat deep purposely to nulify their counter-attacking strength. It's not something you would normally associate with a BR team so it's promising that our tactical approach led to the win. 1-0 to Rodgers' tactical acumen there.

 

I thought Mignolets save from Benteke in the 2nd half was excellent and I couldn't help feel that we'd have conceded if it was last season. So all in all not a great performance but refreshing to see us win when not playing well. If we can add that to our repetoire on a consistent basis then we'll have a good season.

[vanball]

He just doesnt have the mobility, mate. Needs to be half a foot taller and/or half a yard quicker.

 

NV - he looked great in the first half - I think his pace is an issue when they come through the mid with possession, but when pressure is higher, and the balls are passed through the mid, his brain and timing come to the fore for interceptions. The second half was not played this strengths - Gerrard on the other hand, and Toure, love a good race, as they win most of them.

[littletedwest]

poor second half but villa ain't the pushovers they have been in past.

[old skool tom]

great start too the season......defo need someone like Diame with energy when we under the cosh though....some more legs to help stevie and bench Lucas as hes like his 1st couple of seasons giving lots of silly fouls away

[The Golden Eel]

Confidence from wins is very important of course