Villa away

[thompsonsnose]

Excellent result today. Ugly win. Fantastic. Mignolet and Toure great. Lucas continues to be the weak link and a liability. We need an upgrade there, or it will cost us dear this season. Moaning after a win does make people look cuntish though. So ill stop.

 

Its not moaning.

It's using your eyes and expressing an opinion.

I support Rodgers and hope he does well, but i don't like his apparent refusal to fortify the midfield with some energy power and control.

We could have easily shipped 2 or 3 in the 2nd half.

Him saying we CHOSE to sit deep to combat counter attacks is causing me to rub my chin. Feverishly mind.

We looked over-run and out of control for long periods in that game.

It doesn't do to pretend otherwise.

Gerrard and Lucas are coming towards the end, we need some dynamism there.

We are crying out for it.

6 from 6 .

Having said all that, Clattenburg gave us absolutely fuck all today and as a team, we fought as best we were able.

[thompsonsnose]

He is being harsh but he's never been a fan of Lucas to be fair from what I've seen on here.

 

That said towards the end there were a few times I was pissed off with Lucas whilst watching. I don't think a DM is needed however, because if we get a better player for the wing Henderson can provide the cover and Coutinho will play in his stead.

 

Agree with the rest, easy to say when it's not your money I suppose but Rodgers needs to be given a budget and then allowed to live and die by his signings for me. He's shown that he can have us playing very well so he deserves that type of backing at this point.

 

How much more do you need to see fella?

[kalasoma]

Bloody hell fire. We're not going to make this easy on ourselves are we. The last 10 minutes you could feel the anxiety in the away end. I'd love a comfortable win this season, but if we're going to keep winning then I shouldn't complain.

[TheHowieLama]

I thought villa looked to have more stamina

 

Agreed, certainly in the middle of the field - Delph can run forever and is quick.

[Nightcat]

Excellent win. Villa are a difficult side to beat. We did look a bit tired(?). I'd say we need a DM.

[s(k)aturation]

Bloody hell fire. We're not going to make this easy on ourselves are we. The last 10 minutes you could feel the anxiety in the away end. I'd love a comfortable win this season, but if we're going to keep winning then I shouldn't complain.

 

We're saving it for United next week.

[fowler9]

We're saving it for United next week.

 

 

I would love it......

[Faustus]

I'm not slagging Cissokho - I just don't get why Sterling didn't come on.

 

We won. Shut up, knobhead.

[TrimmTrabb]

Its not moaning.

It's using your eyes and expressing an opinion.

I support Rodgers and hope he does well, but i don't like his apparent refusal to fortify the midfield with some energy power and control.

We could have easily shipped 2 or 3 in the 2nd half.

Him saying we CHOSE to sit deep to combat counter attacks is causing me to rub my chin. Feverishly mind.

We looked over-run and out of control for long periods in that game.

It doesn't do to pretend otherwise.

Gerrard and Lucas are coming towards the end, we need some dynamism there.

We are crying out for it.

6 from 6 .

Having said all that, Clattenburg gave us absolutely fuck all today and as a team, we fought as best we were able.

 

Gerrard was brilliant today. Filled me me confidence that he can do a disciplined and energetic job as an orthodox centre midfielder (we know that the long passes, goals and assists are to come). Still one of the top 2 or 3 midfielders in the league and has a few years left yet.

[Kevin D]

Why do some people on here insist on actually discussing the match, in the match thread?

 

Do you have no sense of decency?

[GJM]

The second half wasn't much fun, but, overall, we managed the game very well. The change in the way we approached the game in the second half was clearly tactical rather than us running out of steam. One week ago, Arsenal were a goal up and looking comfortable against this Villa team, but got picked off on the break in the second half. Chelsea were fortunate not to suffer a similar fate in mid-week. Having got the goal, Rodgers was determined that this would not happen to us and so played deep, filled up the space and let Villa have the ball, greatly reducing their threat in doing so. We were very poor with the ball for that second 45mins, but that was partly because the players were more concerned with holding their shape than in trying to break down Villa's.

 

It was a huge contrast to how we played before we got the goal and it made for nervous viewing as the game wore on, but it kept Villa out (who have only failed to score once in their previous 12 games), and won us the 3pts, so there really shouldn't be any complaints. Our aim is to win football matches, not beauty contests, and it's pleasing that Rodgers and the coaching staff now seem to be approaching games that way.

 

Individually, I thought Agger and Johson had poor games, and Coutinho got the kind of attention that he is going to have to get used to over the coming weeks as teams set up to stop the threat that he poses. That said, I thought he got very poor protection from the referee yesterday. Toure and Mignolet had excellent games and Sturridge is on his way to being a very very fine player. Two games, 6pts, no goals conceded. Who wouldn't have taken that 2 weeks ago?

[Mustangt125]

Toure needs to be careful jumping on people's backs like that. The mancs will go down and get penalties if he keeps it up

[Brownie]

People are fully entitled to air their views, whether they be positive or negative. Just because we won, it doesn't mean that everything is rosey.

 

I'd personally rather focus on the positives but there's no rules when discussing the match so I don't like seeing people being told to shut up.

[aRdja]

 

How much more do you need to see fella?

 

Utd didn't play with a dedicated DM and they walked the league last year.. I say lets copy them

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

I called it totally, totally wrong. I was convinced they'd be fucked after the first hour. We played exactly the way I said for the first 40 minutes. I was really happy with how we kept possession and made them chase it. At that point I was thinking, 'great, now we'll bring on Sterling at 60 minutes and rip them apart'.

 

Then it all crumbled. They didn't fade, they grew stronger. I think, had we got another goal, they might have faded. Mentally if nothing else. But they thought they could get a goal and nick a point. We Houllier'd the fuck out of it to get the point. Not something I enjoyed. Still, when United play shit and win, I'm fucking furious. It builds their persona that even when they're shit they're better than you.

[smilezzz]

Happy with the win. I was shit scared that we were going to concede in the 2nd half, but fortunately Mingy's a stingy bastard when it comes to giving away goals.

 

I think Toure had another good game, as Benteke is a fucking beast. I said earlier this transfer window that I think he's a one season wonder and I was wrong. He's the player that Carroll should have been for us.

 

Aspas and Coutinho were a bit off the pace, but were afforded. no protection from that cunt in the black. Clattenberg just can't seem to be unbiased against us can he? We're fortunate that we didn't get a sending off (I feel Aspas was hooked mainly because of his card), or an injury from all the ankle clips and elbows to the spines. Getting roughed up is, unfortunately, something that they'll need to get used to.

 

Some observations. Cissokho looked ordinary, but it's way too early to judge, as it was his first game for us, and he came on when we were on the back foot. He did do well towards the death in relieving pressure off our defence. We desperately need a more physical midfielder, as well as another creative outlet, perhaps not a winger, but an attacking mid in the mould of Mata or Kaka?

[Mustangt125]

Perhaps look at taking off Lucas when it's late and putting on Cissokho to run around and hassle people?

[liverpoolsno9]

I've just woken up from my drunken haze & was convinced I'd got it wrong & we'd actually lost after reading this page. We actually won, there's some right moaning bastards on here. Sometimes you gotta win ugly & we did. Last season we'd have played well & wouldn't have won that. We fuckin won, deal with it.

[xerxes]

A good win, a 100% record, no goals against and the best start since the halcyon days of Rafa.

 

We got the rub of the green on the refereeing too when Toure charged benteke in the box.

 

Mignolet is also vindicating King Brenny's judgement in replacing Pepe. Are we worse off without him on the pitch? No. But FSf are £60k a wek better off- smart business.

 

Sturridge is looking the business, focussed and committed, Couts continues to impress and Gerrard is playing with a smile on his face.

 

Reasons to be cheerful.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

We got the rub of the green on the refereeing too when Toure charged benteke in the box.

 

Thought we deserved a pen.

[Phoenix]

That Toure challenge was never a penalty. He was quality in the game.

 

I liked the fact took charge with a sliding challenge on their right back early in the game who took a couple of players, otherwise that would have been similar to the Benteke goal at |Anfield last season.

[Tyler Durden]

Got to be honest I don't really rate Aspas and don't think he's good enough to be starting, just an early impression and I hope I'm wrong but he looks wasteful to me

[xerxes]

Thought we deserved a pen.

 

Difficult to award when the offence is committed by one of our own players against an opponent in our own box!

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Difficult to award when the offence is committed by one of our own players against an opponent in our own box!

 

I was referring to the rub of the green. When Guzan brought down Sturridge, I thought we deserved a pen. That's not really getting the rub of the green.

[Captain]

It seems I'm the only one who doesn't think it was a pen for Sturridge. To me it looked like Guzan got his fingers on the ball too.