Liverpool FC Forum

[Rockthekop]

That performance, or lack thereof, reminds me of our away games in the first half of the season...truely awful!

[Bammo]

That was terrible. Apart from Pennant, who livened the game up a bit, no player had any sense of urgency. Even in thelast minute of stoppage time Finnan strolled up to take a throw...run!!!!!!!

In Fowler's one chance he demonstrated what we miss,a player getting into the 6 yard box for when the cross comes in.

I realise hindsight is a wonderful thing but we'd probably have done better with Pennant and Gonzalez running at them and forcing them back.

[The Ace1983]

The most boring and dissapointing game I've seen Liverpool play in a long time. It was a mis-shaped, disjointed, unadventurous and poor show. Villa aren't exactly in the same league (figuratively) as Arsenal are they and they're next. If we play like that, we don't diserve Europe next season. Gerrard needs to be in the middle too. He looked really rusty today and you can tell he wants off the right side. And the whole idea of having two holding players may work in spain but it doesn't work here because there has to be a link in attacking midfield or everything looks seperated. Luis Garcia would have been good today because he has so often made something out of nothing and today, we were nothing.

[Reg]

Terrible, especially the second half. We were never in danger of scoring, Bellamy did nowt, Kuyt made how many incomplete passes.. Alonso - dont know why he bothered coming on and yet again, we went to sleep in the last 10 minutes and gave the opposition how many chances? Thank god Berger was rusty. Frustrating to say the least.

[alxy]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ... huh.... what? Game is over already? That was the real game? Thought it was some training match being played, the way the urgency (or complete lack of it) was.

I guess this is reflective of the focus Rafa and the team has now. We're going all out for the Champion's League, while fourth place inthe Premiership will do for us.

[Pedro Maradona]

seems the priority is the Champions League based on that performance, The only plus out of the game was mascherano, who i thought did well at times and seems to be settling in well enough. I thought our forwards were shocking mind you we didnt create all that much for them from midfield, we can be appallingly negative at times, way to cautious especially against a team of the calibre of Villa. We really need to get our act together again in front of goal and to be honest Kuyt doesnt look the part when it comes to scoring goals despite his honesty and his workrate. I reckon Robbie has got to be an option at this stage , at least he is a threat.

[JC_81]

I guess this is reflective of the focus Rafa and the team has now. We're going all out for the Champion's League, while fourth place inthe Premiership will do for us.

I think that just about sums it up mate.

To be honest I struggle to get excited about league games at the moment because basically we're shafted as far as that competition goes.  It must affect the players in the same way.  Roll on PSV.

[kunilson]

well that was highly frustrating to watch....no urgency at all in our play. Obviously they were not the most adventurous team today, but neither were we. I thought Fowler should have been on much earlier, cos in a game like that with chances few and far between u need his finishing...and he almost did it for us in the end.

disappointing.

[metalhead]

our passes were horrible!!! I was very dissapointed on how we played, plus we were so lucky that the ref was sh*t today! What was finnan doing? is this how you bloody control the ball?

[Bad Bob]

Insipid doesn't begin to describe that performance and, once again, it's down to a lack of balance in midfield, IMO. 

First off, Aurelio is well short of the required quality at LM.  A couple of decent balls into the box but he's got no ability to take on a fullback.  Riise's better, Gonzales is better and I'd wager that Zenden might even give him a run in that position.  Play him at LB or don't play him at all would be my advice to Rafa.

Second, Momo again had a disappointing performance in central midfield.  He was all over the pitch, as usual, but his distribution was found wanting again.  That moment in the first half where he surged forward down the right only to bundle the ball out of play says it all.  With Momo in this kind of form there is no case for playing him ahead of Gerrard at CM.  None.

Mascherano was understandably rusty, I thought, but he showed glimpses of quality that makes me very glad we've signed him.  Bringing on Alonso to play next to him, however, just seemed redundant.  Gerrard should have moved to the middle when Momo came off and Pennant should have come on.

I've been quite critical of Pennant this season but these are the games where he's useful.  Some pace and directness to keep Villa pinned back and a few crosses into the box and it might have been a different game.  The great Fowler chance in injury time just made you wonder what might have happened if the two of them had been on from the outset.  Prior to Pennant's arrival Gerrard was spending all of his time in field--which I don't blame him for since he was barely getting a touch with Momo and Mascherano's scattershot passing in the first half.  It's so frustrating to see Stevie isolated from the game in these situations.

I might as well talk about Kuyt, too, since he played mostly in midfield today (as opposed to Bellamy, who stuck to leading the line and was rewarded with appalling service).  Yes, his work rate is fantastic and his spirit is never in doubt.  Of late, though, his touch has been very heavy and his distribution has been spotty.  Since he's trying to act as a link-up man, that's a problem.  I think he could use a rest in the league.  Give Robbie a series of games during the run-in and we'll just see how 'past it' he is.  He will not let the team down.

A final word on Rafa's bizarre (yet again) substitutions:

1) Yes, bringing Momo off made sense but putting Alonso on alongside Mascherano did not.  We don't need two deep-lying midfielders against Villa.  Had Rafa moved Gerrard to the middle and brought on Pennant at that point, I think we would have created a lot more chances.

2) Pennant on for Bellamy?  I know Craig wasn't having a great impact but that was due to the lack of service.  We had every reason to believe the game was there to be won so I hate seeing a striker coming off for a midfielder in that situation.  If you have to take Bellamy off, stick Fowler on FFS.

3) Gerrard off for Fowler?  Why take off one of your best attackers with less than 5 minutes left after you've just won a corner?  It's not like that'll give Stevie a real rest before international duty.  Bizarre.

For me, I would have liked to see Pennant on for Momo at half time, Fowler on for Kuyt at around the 65 minute mark and Gonzales on for Aurelio at the 75 minute mark.  That might have injected some urgency into an utterly complacent side.

[anfieldadorer]

we have succeeded in changing the pattern from
high ball possession, rapid shots on goal, no goal
to
poor ball possession, low shots on goal, no goal

[Pedro Maradona]

Insipid doesn't begin to describe that performance and, once again, it's down to a lack of balance in midfield, IMO. 

First off, Aurelio is well short of the required quality at LM.  A couple of decent balls into the box but he's got no ability to take on a fullback.  Riise's better, Gonzales is better and I'd wager that Zenden might even give him a run in that position.  Play him at LB or don't play him at all would be my advice to Rafa.

Second, Momo again had a disappointing performance in central midfield.  He was all over the pitch, as usual, but his distribution was found wanting again.  That moment in the first half where he surged forward down the right only to bundle the ball out of play says it all.  With Momo in this kind of form there is no case for playing him ahead of Gerrard at CM.  None.

Mascherano was understandably rusty, I thought, but he showed glimpses of quality that makes me very glad we've signed him.  Bringing on Alonso to play next to him, however, just seemed redundant.  Gerrard should have moved to the middle when Momo came off and Pennant should have come on.

I've been quite critical of Pennant this season but these are the games where he's useful.  Some pace and directness to keep Villa pinned back and a few crosses into the box and it might have been a different game.  The great Fowler chance in injury time just made you wonder what might have happened if the two of them had been on from the outset.  Prior to Pennant's arrival Gerrard was spending all of his time in field--which I don't blame him for since he was barely getting a touch with Momo and Mascherano's scattershot passing in the first half.  It's so frustrating to see Stevie isolated from the game in these situations.

I might as well talk about Kuyt, too, since he played mostly in midfield today (as opposed to Bellamy, who stuck to leading the line and was rewarded with appalling service).  Yes, his work rate is fantastic and his spirit is never in doubt.  Of late, though, his touch has been very heavy and his distribution has been spotty.  Since he's trying to act as a link-up man, that's a problem.  I think he could use a rest in the league.  Give Robbie a series of games during the run-in and we'll just see how 'past it' he is.  He will not let the team down.

A final word on Rafa's bizarre (yet again) substitutions:

1) Yes, bringing Momo off made sense but putting Alonso on alongside Mascherano did not.  We don't need two deep-lying midfielders against Villa.  Had Rafa moved Gerrard to the middle and brought on Pennant at that point, I think we would have created a lot more chances.

2) Pennant on for Bellamy?  I know Craig wasn't having a great impact but that was due to the lack of service.  We had every reason to believe the game was there to be won so I hate seeing a striker coming off for a midfielder in that situation.  If you have to take Bellamy off, stick Fowler on FFS.

3) Gerrard off for Fowler?  Why take off one of your best attackers with less than 5 minutes left after you've just won a corner?  It's not like that'll give Stevie a real rest before international duty.  Bizarre.

For me, I would have liked to see Pennant on for Momo at half time, Fowler on for Kuyt at around the 65 minute mark and Gonzales on for Aurelio at the 75 minute mark.  That might have injected some urgency into an utterly complacent side.

good points bob, especially in relation kuyt and the substitutions. I felt sorry for bellamy out there, we created so little in the game it was frightening. Alonso and Momo were quite poor when they were on the pitch, and pennant and fowler shud have got a lot more time on the pitch as they were the only ones out there with a bit of urgency.

Im away to watch Arsenal against the Toffees....a nice nil all result would suit me i reckon.

[mikopool]

That break certainly hurt us, a lack of urgency is dissapointing, but its hard to be up for it against a club like Villa and with such little momentum to work off of, I see what Rafa was going for with the formation, almost a 4-2-4 sort of thing, but if the 2 wide players play it means pretty much nothing. Dissapointing but at least we got a point, a loss would have made this day alot worse.

[jaytoothetee]

tbh, i think the only positive we can take out of that game is that it is over.
But seriously, we were shocking. No imagination at all. We won't even get 4th if we play like that until the end of the season. At least Momo's passing was better today. He might not have done much with the ball and IMO there was no need for him to be on the field today against a side as poor as Villa, but at least his passes reached the right man most of the time. But apart from that, everyone else seemed not to have woken up properly after 10 days off.

Also, up until now, I have thought that Riise hasn't deserved criticism for his form. But tbh, he was very poor today, and probably should've gone off for gonzalez, and Aurelio moved to left back.

Overall, very disappointing game, and some more confusing subs form Rafa. He seems insistent on bringing off bellamy for pennant nearly every game, and i still can't work out why he does it. After 10 days without a game, it isn't as if he'd be tired or anything.

*Sorry for going on, but I'm just trying to work out what the point of that match was*

[The_Rock]

Awful performance.... What is rafa thinking by putting a sissoko and mascarano central midfield ? And with a wingback (auerlio) at LW, no wonder we didn't create any note-worthy chances. I hate to say this...and those who know me will testify to it because i hate manure to the core....But AF picks a strong starting 11 for every match (and look at how matches they have played recently) and just see how they tear up every team they face. And now compare that with rafa ? ....i am just disappointed. RAFA HAS NOT LEARNED ANYTHING (esp with the premier league) IN HIS 3 SEASONS AT THIS CLUB.

BTW this is not a dig at KUJT, but this just sums up what i think about him..... please note, i am not making him the scapegoat.... But when u spend 10 million on a striker.. he has to be a little better than just closing down defenders doesn't he ? I mean Baros & Cisse gets bashed left and right in this forum ....but they got the goals when it matters (people have to remember that baros often played as a lone striker in rafa's 1st season and cisse got 19 goals last season).

Kujt hasn't at all played well for the last 2 months....and never even gets subbed in matches.... Bellamy who is our most dynamic striker gets subbed almost every match no matter how he plays.

Well...i shall end my rant now..... Time to look forward to champions league....RAFA HAS TO PICK HIS STRONGEST STARTING 11.....