Aston Villa 7 Liverpool 2 (Oct 4 2020)

[tlw content]

 

 

 

Report by

Dave Usher

 

Shit. Just what the fuck happened there? I’ve never seen anything like this in all my years of watching football. We never defended that badly even when we were rubbish. By defending I don’t specifically just mean the defenders, I mean the whole team. It was a shambles. 

 

This team hardly ever loses games, so to see them spanked like this is actually incomprehensible. If I hadn’t seen it I wouldn’t have believed this was even possible. Sure, we could have lost the game. I could see that happening. I could even see another Watford type result being possible. But this??? Nah, I never thought even in my worst nightmares this could happen.

 

I don’t really know what to say. It was only a few days ago the entire world was ready to just hand us the title. I felt like that too. I still do, despite this. The point is though literally everyone in the media had already decided that the title was staying here. Maybe that was the problem? 

 

The players have got fuck all to do these days other than train and then go home and watch telly. They can’t go anywhere, or do anything. So maybe they’ve just been sat around watching Sky Sports News all week having smoke blown up their arses, and this was the result of it. 

 

We didn't run away with the title last year just because we're better than everyone else. We ran away with it because we were focused and concentrated in every game we played (bar Watford) until the title was won. We didn't always play at our best, but we avoided the kind of bad results against inferior teams that had plagued us over the last 30 years. That's how you win titles.

 

So with that in mind, and having seen how we've approached almost every game in recent seasons, I think I can safely say that they just weren’t mentally prepared for this game, which tells me they didn’t take it as seriously as they would have if they’d been playing an Arsenal or a Chelsea. It’s not something you can level at these lads very often, but I don’t see how you can draw any other conclusion after this.

 

A fully switched on, fully motivated Liverpool does not concede seven goals against anybody, let alone Aston Villa. So therefore, clearly they weren’t switched on and motivated or this couldn’t have happened. It looked wrong right from the start. We've seen that before and usually we find a way to steady ourselves and get into the game. This time we never did.

 

Before I get fully into the inquest though I feel it needs saying that Villa played incredibly well and fully deserved this. It wasn’t lucky and we can’t say it was a freak result because it wasn’t. They were outstanding and could easily have scored more. Yes three of their goals were spawny deflections but considering they also hit the woodwork and missed four or five other great chances I don’t think we can say the scoreline flattered them at all. Credit where it's due.

 

We can have no complaints at all. We were fucking abysmal and deserved to be humiliated. How can this happen? I don’t think there’s any one simple answer. There are all sorts of factors that went into this and it just ended up being a perfect storm.

 

First of all it had been a troubling week at Melwood. Thiago and Sadio coming down with Covid shouldn’t in itself be a problem as ordinarily we should be able to cope without them. How has it impacted the group though? How many of them have had it on their minds this week or thought that they themselves had it? We don’t know how this kind of thing might affect them.  

 

Shit, I’d have demanded all of them were tested right on full time, because if Corona Virus was a football performance this would be it. Defensively this display was me in March / April when I’d struggle to summon the energy to go for a piss and then I’d immediately fall asleep for an hour afterwards. Even then I was more alert than Joe Gomez in this game.

 

 

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[KMD7]

Top write up Dave, and great Hendo insight as well. Definitely wouldn't have happened on his watch.

[Dr Nowt]

Noticed in his post-match that Klopp, while saying they’re still my boys and not being damning, also said “We know if we lose 30 challenges we lose the game”. Be interesting to see how he reacts.

[bigal]

Penalty incident was at 1-0 but it's irrelevant really, just more proof that Atkinson and VAR are crap. 

You're kinder than I am about Adrian and if he plays against Everton I think we'll be in trouble as they will look to exploit him and the lack of confidence in him. 

Otherwise I agree with everything you say, the attitude just stank from the defence (Robbo apart) and the midfield. Bobby has been my favourite in recent years but I don't recognise him these days as the man who was the key to how we played. Keita's fan club can bleat all they like but he's never convinced me and no idea what he was doing last night, Fabinho was awful too. It has to be attitude after we played so well 6 days before. Hendo's face on the sidelines was thunderous.

I have been watching Liverpool for 50 years and I am sure I have seen worse performances but I just can't recall one, perhaps some of the Souness era UEFA Cup games.

I thought Salah was Motm, took his goals so well though Robbo never gave in and created more than anyone else. 

[Trumo]

I can't recall if Bobby has ever assisted any goals in derby matches. He's certainly never scored in one.

[dave u]

Not really being kind to Adrian as he's a huge problem. Just saying really that singling him out just lets others off the hook, as you don't concede seven goals because of the goalkeeper.

[King Kenny 86]

He floats around being neat and tidy, but he’s meek as fuck and our midfield 

 

My missus actually said as they lined up for kick off about how weak and spindly Keita's legs were

[Spy Bee]

I don't think it was a penalty, as McGinn had the ball in playing distance, so he's allowed to shield it. 

 

Good report.

 

Bizarre.

[Anubis]

Just about to start reading with trepidation....

[aws]

We thought we just had to turn up to win and it's difficult to switch from coasting to full speed. When the deflections started to mount, our heads dropped and by the end they'd gone completely.

Outfought time and time again in midfield and minimal effective pressing so there was no protection at all for the defence. One decent pass is as all it took to put them clear on goal. 

Hendo, Thiago and Mane back will make a big difference but I don't think we'll recover that easily. Everybody will be copying what Villa and Leeds did and come flying at us on the break which will create space behind them but the Red Arrows haven't been functioning efficiently for quite a while now.  

I'm confident Jurgen will turn it around but it might take a while and the international break and Alison's injury couldn't have come at a worse time. 

[Mark M]

Completely agree with so much of that.

You'd have thought after what happened last night it would be a big wake up call to the Naby fan boys on how poor he's been for us and how much Hendo brings to our midfield they tend to be Hendo haters as well. 

The firmino shout for being dropped is bang on as well - he's been driving me mad with his performances recently and getting away with not producing for a good while now 

[Anubis]

Quote

I’m now beginning to realise that we can’t do that week in week out in empty stadiums though. In theory it shouldn’t make that much of a difference, but in reality it does.

I think we part company here, Skip.

 

In my view we absolutely can and should be able to do it regularly. It's about mentality. We, of all teams, know what it takes to reach those levels and empty stadiums or not, we should also know what the pitfalls are by now. Go out, and do what they do against the Blueshite, and we set it right and get back on track.

[Dr Nowt]

Don’t know whether Buvac gave these quotes being attributed to him in the media today before the game and they’re only now being released. Might just be unfortunate timing and a genuine coincidence. If it’s not that though, what a fucking opportunistic snake. Wasn’t coming out with this shit when Klopp was winning the European cup and English title without him.

[dockers_strike]

Good report Dave and covered all bases.

 

I dont think this game will be pivot in the season but I fear Alisson's injury might be. Out for 6 weeks is a lot of games given the schedule even with an international break. If the 'unthinkable' happens in the derby, that would put the shite 6 points clear and would be a massive confidence boost to them even if they are in a run of easy fixtures. look what happened with Ollie when he was appointed on the back of 12 piss easy games and results.

 

The first thing Jurgen needs to do is impress on everyone, achterburg, Adrian and the players is stop putting the keeper under pressure. Even Alisson cocked up a poor needless back pass from Robbo and he did it again at Villa. That's not absolving Adrian. He's poor with his feet so stop fucking passing it back to him and he needs to be told you cant play with your feet so stop trying.

 

I agree the players were not focused for this game. Why? Who knows. Do we overtrain sometimes? I know Jurgen likes a sessions the evening before a game but if the adrenalin isnt flowing as much due to no crowds, is that affecting the players?

 

We just didnt look organised especially at the back. Even when Fabinho replaced Gomez it was no better, why? I like it that Robbo said even at 4-1 he thought we'd get back in the game but fuck me, you need to do that from a solid base like retaining the ball.

 

Trent's positioning for the last goal was just a joke. I feel the same about Naby and Bobby. Both are not delivering. Jurgen is very loyal to his players or appears to be but he needs to resolve this issue and quick.

[piphomer]

I've finally had to give up defending Bobby to my Spurs-supporting mates now. I had to concede last night that he brings nothing to the team currently.

[Arnaud]

We’ve had defensive issues since February. Even more since the new season , nothing has seemed t o be changed.
 
We may be a bit patronizing, all this crap about records, best team of t he world, best team ever.
 
Horrible reality check, the  game at Goodison is massive to asses our mental strength .

 

Every auto goals were right after mistakes by our players. Only us to blame.

I’ m happy I don’t have a match report to write.

[Nolongerathletic]

I think if you showed that report to all the players involved they couldn't disagree with much...very good.

 

Adrian will get the blame, fair enough he started the shit show but he couldn't have done much about the other 6 they scored or the other clear chances they created. Maybe Allison might have made a better fist of them as his (Adrians) positioning strange at times.

 

The unpredictability of games without crowds, happening all over. West Ham mate even said to me (in jest) that given Sundays scorelines he was disappointed with only scoring 3. When I looked at that game again they could easily have done so, against what I would consider not the worst defence in the world. They did same V Wolves and could have scored more!

 

This trend will continue and best way given the keeper situation is to get those 3 on the pitch with Thiago leading it by bossing the possession game. Less pressure on the back 4 by keeping the bloody ball!!

 

Anyway we could be an awful lot worse...we have 3 top players to return in Thiago, Henderson and Mane...not Downing, Charlie fckn Adam and Andy Carroll!!

 

 

 

 

[Arnaud]

7/2, we were tragic, and it tells something, what ? I don’t know.

 

But it’s more than complacency and attitude. Hope it’s not too bad , but the result and the way we play are going to say a lot about our guts.

 

And I totally agree on Hendo, we did miss his leadership and energy.

[DalyanPete]

Fucking Barkley with a deflected shot that looped over Adrian. It was the only way that turd was going to score as he missed every other chance he had, the breeze block headed cunt.

 

No-one has better put downs than a Scouser.

 

Great report as usual in difficult circumstances.

I'm lucky as I don't see anyone who could take the piss. 

No more Naby, haven't been convinced from his first game.

I can understand Adrian being Billy big bollocks after being fucked off by West ham but you have to earn it in our goal. Fancy he will have a worldwide against the shite.(if that's possible)

[johnsusername]

I think Keita might work in a team that's fully functioning and playing well. But unless everything is perfect then he's nowhere near good enough. 

 

Hoping he's going to come good now is more than wishful thinking. 

 

[Daisy]

No way near harsh enough on Adrian. That goon set the tone. 

 

What's the difference between Monday and Sunday? 

 

Adrian. Twat

[stringvest]

Adrian's performance in that game wasn't the worst.  There were at least three or four worse than him.    But overall, that was the worst performance I've seen from us since Hodgson.  Mad bad.

[ManéMan]

It must have been a shock to the players to learn about Alisson being out for that length of time...and the early error just compounded that feeling. Klopp did mention that they seem to lose the plot after the first goal.

[Arnaud]

56 minutes ago, stringvest said:

Adrian's performance in that game wasn't the worst.  There were at least three or four worse than him.    But overall, that was the worst performance I've seen from us since Hodgson.  Mad bad.

The worst was the 6-1 to Stoke for Gerrard’ last match for us.  
 

B-Rod should have been sacked Right after. Which would have been terrible mistake eventually.

[Kevin D]

I am vindicated.