Aston Villa 0-2 Liverpool: Post-Match Analysis

In a fairly tame affair at Villa Park, a quietly efficient Liverpool eased through to a comfortable 2-0 victory. Although concentration seemed to be lost for a period at the start of the second half, the second lowest scoring team in all of Europe’s top five leagues were unable to convert any of the chances presented to them.

Gritty hard work was the order of the day in yesterday’s match – a solid performance from the defence for the majority of the match ensured that there weren’t many serious scares at the back. Sakho and Can in particular were excellent – Can demonstrated the advantages of having a ball-playing centre back on multiple occasions, frequently cleverly working his way out of tight spots. Sakho’s highlight was a perfectly timed sliding tackle on the edge of the box to deny Villa a clear-cut opportunity which even they might have managed to convert. Going forward, Liverpool showed good signs in the first half. Sterling didn’t quite look at the races, but Coutinho continued his good form of late and Moreno and Markovic posed a threat going forward. Henderson, too, was playing very well; it was his exquisite pass that led to the opening goal on 24 minutes. He clipped it into the middle of the box, just far enough away from Guzan, and Borini was on hand to guide it skilfully into the corner. Sadly, this moment of quality from the Italian was the anomaly of the game – his performance was largely underwhelming.

After this first goal went in, a multitude of half-chances followed for the visitors. The best opportunity fell to Sterling – he capitalised on a defensive error and ran clean through on goal, but he tried a clever chip over Guzan that ended up an easy catch for the keeper. Had he simply blasted it, Liverpool would surely have doubled their lead. As it was, they went into the break with just a one goal advantage. Once the second half got underway, it looked like we may be made to rue all of the missed chances. Villa upped their game; Benteke was only kept out by an excellent double save from Mignolet, and Baker missed a glorious opportunity. On the subject of Mignolet, I feel obliged to once again jump to his defence. Contrary to what many fans would have you believe, he is by no means our biggest problem. In fact, I would rate his overall contribution to the team as neutral; the semi-regular stupid errors he makes are cancelled out by the number of times he’s bailed us out with excellent saves.

He certainly helped us out in this game – had Villa managed to score, it is hard to imagine that the recovering but still frail Liverpool side would have managed to take the lead again. As it was, LFC weathered the storm. By the last 15 minutes Villa had tired themselves out through their efforts to equalise, and Liverpool were able to get on top again. This second period of pressure was marked by a goal from Rickie Lambert. After a poor pass from Delph was cut out by Sterling, Lambert turned smartly and unerringly found the corner with a shot from just outside the box – although he’s much too slow and reliant on crosses to fit into our team, his technique is undoubtedly good.

This goal all but killed the game, and the final few minutes were a formality. It was a performance that Liverpool can be very satisfied with. The defence were, on the whole, respectable – they guided the team to their third consecutive away clean sheet, a feat we haven’t achieved since the 08/09 season. The midfield can also be satisfied with the number of chances they created; once Sturridge and Balotelli are back up top rather than Borini or Lambert, these chances will surely be finished off on a more regular basis. The combination of a passable defence and high chance creation is a very promising one, and, if sustained, may well be enough to see us finish in the top 4.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Villa vs Liverpool- Post-Match Thoughts

On Easter Sunday, Liverpool faced Aston Villa in the Premier League. With Liverpool fighting for a Europa League place and Villa in a battle to avoid relegation, this wan an important game for both clubs. Despite being a goal down at half-time, Liverpool emerged as victors, winning 2-1.



Liverpool started the game brightly. Suarez came very close early on, and it looked as if we might be able to get an early goal, something we have been doing a lot in recent games. Our quick starts are a very good feature of our play. However, after about 10 minutes, we started to drop back a little, and Villa capitalised. Soon they were the ones looking the more likely to score, which midway through the first half they did, through prolific scorer Christian Benteke. Liverpool did step up the pressure again towards the end of the first half, but they couldn’t equalise.



They came out very strongly in the second half, and very quickly got back on level terms with Villa. A brilliant ball from Coutinho (who now has 2 goals and 3 assists in just 5 games) put Henderson through, who delicately chipped the ball past the oncoming keeper to level the scores.



From then on Liverpool had the lions share of the chances, and were certainly playing the better football. Glen Johnson came agonisingly close to putting Liverpool ahead when his shot rebounded off the post, and Suarez made a lot of chances. Eventually the second goal came for Liverpool. Suarez used his sublime skill to nutmeg Nathan Baker (who up to this point had been having a brilliant game), who then blatantly brought him down. A penalty was given, and Steven Gerrard converted the spot kick coolly, putting Liverpool ahead.



There were some nervy moments near the end, with Benteke having one goal disallowed for offside (correctly) and Gerrard making a stunning off-the-line clearance from a Benteke header. However, Liverpool held on for the win, and earned a good three points.



One thing I was surprised about was the fact that Daniel Sturridge didn’t feature. He has proved very effective when he has played for us, and at times in the game we seemed to lack ideas in attack (an example would be Suarez’s ridiculous shot from 45 yards out!) but he wasn’t brought on. I think he needs game time in order to fully gel with the rest of the team, because I think he has huge potential at this club. In the end though it didn’t matter, and the victory was heartening as it showed we can still win even when we are not at our best.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Liverpool vs Aston Villa- Post-Match Rant!

On 15th December, Liverpool put in a lacklustre performance against Aston Villa, resulting in a 3-1 loss. Although there were some decent individual performances, such as those of Glen Johnson and Stewart Downing, in my view a 3-1 loss to Aston Villa at home means that no player did their job well enough.

You may be thinking that this is a little harsh. Perhaps you’re right, but as a Liverpool fan I am fed up of seeing my team lose games we should be easily winning. We have a whole team of very talented players, and a very good manager, and yet the results still aren’t coming. I thought that maybe after our win at West Ham we’d turned a corner, but it seems not. It is so frustrating to know that had we played to our full potential this season we would be in the top 4, but as it is we are sitting in 12th place.

To be fair to Aston Villa, they did play well. I said on Twitter before the game that we would have to be wary of Benteke, a striker I rate very highly. I was proved right, as Benteke went on to score two and assist the other. Weimann was also impressive. However, the fact still remains that Aston Villa are a team we should be beating.

The worst part is there is nothing specific I can put my finger on to explain why we are doing so badly. Obviously one of the problems is finishing, but that can’t be the only reason. If the problem cannot be identified, then it is almost impossible to solve. I hope that one of the problems, the issue of having only one real striker, will be solved by the imminent return of Fabio Borini, but to be honest he didn’t impress me when he was fit at the start of the season.

In conclusion, Liverpool continue to frustrate me. I can see all of the talent in the team, but it just doesn’t seem to be working out. I am not used to seeing Liverpool in the bottom half of the table, and I don’t like it. I sincerely hope that we can turn the results around soon, because I am not sure I could take another loss to a relative weak team such as Aston Villa! We need wins, and we need them soon. Rant over.