juteface

Helenius looks decent with the ball at his feet. Stick him behind Benteke or Kozak and you're laughing, Tonev needs more time to settle but he does certainly have an Atomic strike. Marc looked good and hungry, getting back on form hopefully. Baker is pretty solid.

WHAT THE FUDGE?! Bacuna knocked him off, fair game. Peno not given. Offside goal??

Im sorry but he just hasn't got 'it' It has to be a no from me. What is this? The X-Factor?

Ok.

Awful commentary "Clark hand balled that on purpose didn't he"

Would have liked to have seen Poyet get this one.

They're nuts.

*Wishes there was a banhammer*

How can the FA prove that the referee WASN'T biased? Mental.

According to that site Czech Republic started with 10 men.....

Stick him in behind Benteke. With Gabby running at defences and Luna/Lowton swinging in crosses then you got two tanks in the air at the end of it. Ground/aerial assault FTW. I'd rather concede and score tons than win a dreary 1-0. We're not likely going to get much by way of silverwear at the minute anyway so it's nice to see some exciting football in the meantime.

Has anyone seen the Sky Sports highlights? http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/aston-villa/8896277/aston-villa-3-0-rotherham Weimann scores against Villa's keeper Shearer, oh and it was 4-0 not 3-0 apparently..... Fantastic journalism.

Toure barging Benteke comes to mind.

Da fuq?

I think Vlaar should be captain for the meantime. If there's to be a change I'd have both Gabby and Guzan in that role. Guzan is vocal and driven, however you can't expect him to come running out of the box to deal with the ref in a kerfuffle. Gabby is maturing and showing that he can be very vocal and driven, he's really gunning for it these days. We go down a goal and he's got the fires of hell inside him.

3 points after playing two top teams and a big spending team in 7 days isn't a bad return. Last season we would have collapsed after conceding, still leaking too much but the lads don't let their heads drop. Gabby seemed to be the only player that was looking to take the game by the scruff of the neck, he was always looking to push up and run at the defence. I'm disappointed but at the same time I get the feeling the lads were getting a bit wrecked from two previous high tempo games in quick succession. Liverpool practically parked a bus in the second half and we're missing that midfielder that can just open up a defence. Our attacking options are fast, having someone who can just read the game and thread a nice pass on to a forward would really help us control games. Delph looked game for it and really got into some form in the second half, his first touch is a bit off but hopefully that sharpens up. Bacuna looked ok, much better in RB. KEA looked pretty decent as well, broke up play on a number of occasions. Luna looks pretty handy with his feet, he skinned two Liverpool players at one point I couldn't believe I was watching a LB. Okore could well be something special. These things take time, I think we went at it pretty well in the second half and are a little unlucky to come off without a point. Still a good start to the campaign and I really think we'll do fine this year and hopefully build further next year. That's all we can really expect.

Looking a bit better, drawing them into a bit of a battle which seems to be our thing.

Ohhhhh snap! Bacuna in, this should be interesting. Maybe replaced by Tonev later in the game. Good sign though, having a more attacking midfielder in there possibly shows we aren't going to sit back and counter.

Rodgers seems to have trouble recalling our midfield, doesn't even mention the defence. I wonder how much homework he's done for this match.

Okore in. Want to see Tonev on as well but that might open us up too much but I certainly feel the team can take Liverpool. I think Liverpool have been slightly over rated in the past year and their fans have expectations that are a little high. They have a great squad and it'll be no walkover but if we perform with the energy and persistence as we have against Arsenal and Chelsea there's no reason we can't get something from this game. Unless Liverpool play a blinder that is. They looked good against Stoke last week and probably could have scored a few more. Head says draw, stomach says win. There'll be goals in this one. Their defence doesn't seem as sturdy as Chelseas. Their midfield will cause problems though and I think Coutinho, Aspas and Sturridge will need to be kept quiet. Sylla would be good for this match but it wouldn't really be fair to drop KEA. Maybe a 60th minute appearance from Sylla if fit to keep energy up in the middle of the park. 3-2 Villa.

Someone on another forum had a rather interesting post on manager image. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=82210528

Don't know if I should start a new thread for this or not. It's not really news to anyone but Lawro has a reduced role in next years MOTD. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/aug/01/mark-lawrenson-match-of-the-day Now, that's all fine and well but replacing him with the likes of Savage and Michael Owen, not to mention Shearer and Lineker still being there. Like the most half assed clear out they could have done. Can we have the likes of Dion Dublin, Pat Nevin etc? Any time those guys are on the quality of punditry is vastly improved (not to mention Savage just sits grinning like an idiot when Dublin is around). Think I'm going to have to start watching Skys coverage. EDIT: Sorry, thought this was in another section than the main forum!

Nice.