UrbinoVillan

Liverpool certainly dominated possession but it's not as if Friedel was needed on too many occasions. We had the three best chances of the game (Downing volley, Gabby one-on-one, Carew header); they created next to nothing, then got a lucky break. Not much we could do about it. That said, our CM was poor until Milner moved inside, Petrov and NRC barely seemed to get out of our half. This happened so many times: full-back plays the ball up to a winger, winger hits it towards Gabby or John, they hold the ball up for a couple of seconds, but there's no support from the centre midfield, so we lose the ball. The same thing happened against Spurs. It would have been risky, but I'd have been tempted to match their 4-5-1 and put Delph in the middle with NRC and Petrov to provide some attacking threat through the middle. Still, I'm pretty sure we'll bounce back on Saturday.

to be fair, J'lloyd was very good in the (I think) 04 season where we finished 6th under O'Leary. Even got in the England squad as I recall. Shame about the downward spiral afterwards, but I put him above Shorey. Still, Bouma wins it comfortably, unsurprisingly

right now, I'd go 4-5-1, probably with Carew up top, NRC, Petrov and Sidwell in midfield with Milner and Young out wide. Once Downing gets back, I'd like to see 4-2-3-1, with NRC and Petrov in the middle, Downing and Milner out wide with Young in a free role behind Carew or Gabby (as Young does work very well with Gabby). Throw Van Der Vaart in there instead of Petrov and I don't think top 4 is a million miles away.

General, Are there any translators working at Villa or do they come in on a freelance basis? Keep up the good work, UV

Ashton for me. Also loving the idea of an Ashton-Villa strikeforce. Did wonders for my Villa team on FM