GeordieVillan

He’s an excellent crosser - very much a stand and deliver crosser in a Beckham style. He’s been great in the last few games, but against the better teams he doesn’t have legs to cover the whole of the left hand side and even though the back 4 was left exposed yesterday, he feels the most vulnerable 1-on-1. It’s not his fault, but the injury to Mings has meant Torres playing every game, and Torres and Digne together don’t have any real pace. Moreno will solve this problem hopefully. I also noticed him pulling out of tackles a few times. Not a good luck.

Clearly since the injury to Mings, he’s already become very important to us. Torres and to an extent Konsa are more “passive”, Lenglet from what I have seen is the same. Carlos is as close to a replacement as we can get for Mings in terms of strength and physical presence. After he went of yesterday, we looked soft and weak at centre half and centre mid.

Stephen Warnock highlighted something on MOTD2 which I hadn’t noticed at the match. Trent was coming inside to the centre back position rather than into centre midfield. When he did this, Matip was going out to the right back position. It was something new that Klopp hasn’t done before. I’m not saying this excuses our lack of pressing, but maybe we were set up to contain Trent at right back and at centre mid, and in order to do this we were going to leave the centre backs with space because they posed less of a threat. Klopp making this change was what gave Trent all the space to play the balls over the top. The only concern would be that if Stephen Warnock saw this, then why did no one on our bench!

I don’t want to go off topic, but just as a comparison I wanted to share my experience from Anfield today. I was in their hospitality section, for which my ticket had a face value of £479. I can assure that I did not pay for it, I was a corporate guest! On that ticket, you have access to an unlimited food buffet before the game, and receive a match day programme. There are no drinks vouchers, but you do get ONE free drink at half time. The seat has a cushion, and it was located in the middle tier of the equivalent of our Trinity Road stand, basically close to the far end where our North Stand is (so at the opposite side to where the Kop/Holte End holds the home fans). The hospitality area was basically the same as the Terrace View in terms of facilities, but bigger and with a larger capacity. Now obviously Liverpool have been more successful than Villa (and have a larger following?) so you would expect their pricing to be higher, but I can honestly say that I thought £82 per game for the Terrace View compares very favourably with what I experienced today at a price of £479.

There was no noticeable change in effort after the Salah goal - we were off the pace all game! Obviously players heads will go down when you are 3-0 and the game is over, but the game just fizzled out, especially when substitutes came on. Things might change if you can nick a goal, but that didn’t happen. I actually thought Duran made a positive impact. I’ve heard him described as “agent of chaos” and I think that’s fair. He makes a difference, unsettles defenders and gets in their faces. He’s physically stronger than Ollie. But his decision making is poor and he looks very raw - but those are things that can improve with coaching. I do wonder if we could somehow get Duran on the pitch with Ollie at the same time, maybe it would ease some of the physical burden on Ollie as he looked out of his depth today, but it seems in our system it’s one or other, not both.

I think we probably did, or we couldn’t find the “right” player. It’s clear we only buy players we know are the “right” fit now.

I like Ollie, he has good games and bad, and runs hot and cold. That’s what he is. That’s our level currently. I feel we will go for another striker in January and sell Ollie next summer. I don’t think it’s easy to find better strikers than him, but I think we are looking. And the fact we let Archer go suggests to me that we might have someone lined up.

Aside from organisation, our set piece issue may be that we generally have smaller players than other teams? It feels like we don’t have any height to defend these corners and free kicks. We aren’t going to be able to progress if we physically can’t compete to defend and attack on set pieces. Genuinely I think a team like West Ham will have a field day against us.

This is a perfect synopsis. 4 games in, 2 wins, 2 defeats against tough away opponents. Sort the above issues and we might have a chance of doing something. I also like that you havn’t highlighted any major issues with the defence as such. For me it’s the way we are set up against the better teams, rather than weak personnel.

He’s raw and makes bad choices. But he did more today than Watkins did. He managed to stretch the defence and he was getting himself into positions where his team mates could find him. Watkins is obviously the better player and won’t be usurped as the no1 striker, but I would be more concerned about him today than Duran.

Didn’t have a great game, but the whole back 4 was left massively exposed today. We are missing Ramsey and Buendia who set the tone on the press, which McGinn then follows. Hopefully when Ramsey returns, he will be able to drag the others with him.

I managed to get a ticket to the game and did the 8 hour round trip to sit in the Liverpool end with a mate. The journey back was honestly brutal and depressing. I have my concerns about the high line, and as has been discussed to death - sometimes we will get caught out. However, what I don’t understand is how we can play the high line, and not press at the same time. That is suicide. The Liverpool fans around me all commented that they didn’t realise Villa played such a high line, “they play as high as us” etc. But they also very quickly observed the difference was that when we were high in the first half, sometimes as high as the half way line, we weren’t applying any pressure on the ball. We got caught out with a simple ball over the top and quick one-two every time Liverpool went forward. Let’s be clear, I had high hopes before the game, by no means expecting to win, but I thought we had a chance, and at least was confident that we would put on a show and make a game of it. McGinn was well off it today, missing simple short passes, back down to earth after I said I wouldn’t trade him for any midfielder in the league other than KDB! Likewise Watkins, his confidence in the league looks shot to bits already, he desperately needs a league goal. Duran genuinely made a difference when he came on - he’s raw and makes bad choices, but he stretched the game, got involved and posed a small threat, which is more than Watkins did today. Luiz and Kamara are neat and tidy, but they were bullied at times today. Same as at Newcastle. Likewise Digne was pulling out of tackles from what I could see, maybe he doesn’t want to miss out on a transfer this week. Ramsey and Moreno will be straight back into this team. Robertson had Bailey on toast, other than one moment of magic. I don’t think Bailey can play in these away games, he’s a passenger, and it might have been better to bring on Chambers for Carlos, and leave Cash on the right wing. We could have scored 3 or 4 goals with the chances we had, but honestly it felt like Liverpool could have scored 9 or 10. This was a worse performance than Newcastle for me. A very bad day at the office, and there will be more days like this. No knee-jerk reactions, the players are generally still good enough and the manager is still the man. One last point, surely Salah was in an offside position and blocking Martinez’s view on the first goal? I havnt seen any of the tv coverage but there has been no discussion on the radio as there was about the Man City goal yesterday?

Hated seeing that.

Agree, and I’m one of the people suggesting we consider Maguire! Lenglet would be very decent cover and arguably would be pushing for a starting place on day one…

Newcastle being linked with Harry Maguire….still feel like he would be a good loan signing for us as cover (if we could get him on loan). Especially if we are playing 3 centrebacks, he would do a job on the left of the 3 as cover. If he goes to Newcastle and does a good job, it might one of those we look back on and regret.

Playing well, adding a lot to the team, but needs a league goal soon before his head goes down too much. He looked gutted when he came off!

Very solid. Loves a long pass by the looks of it, if he can get his radar a bit more accurate, it could be a very useful weapon…

Think he will be playing the same role against Liverpool. Looked very comfortable and provided good cover for Konsa when he stepped forward. Unai is a genius!

Not sure we can sell him the way he’s currently playing. Seems to have formed a good link with McGinn on the left now as well.

Right now I’m not sure if I would trade him for any other midfielder in the league. Maybe a fully fit De Bruyne? Can’t think of anyone else. He’s becoming the leader and the talisman we thought Grealish was going to be long term for us. In fact he might have already surpassed that given that it now seems we are operating at a higher level.

Bullied a bit for the goal, and that might happen a few more times this season, but he brings a lot to the team and he looks like he will be able to fill the Mings role, even if it’s a very different style. And what about those eyes.

Come on, Emi is quality and I love him, but he usually has a flap or two in each game. But he is generally amazing so we tolerate it and laugh it off as his style etc. Prime example was the “tackle” on Almiron. Let’s give Olsen some credit today, he was generally fine. One issue with his feet that you could say was Kamara as much as him, and then he was a hit stranded for the Rodriguez header. Reserve the criticism for when it’s deserved.

Before the Newcastle game I would have taken 6 points from the first 3 games with a positive goal difference. If you offered it to me. Consider the injuries and disturbance to the settled team as well. Something to build on.

Solid today, had a couple of moments, but then so does Emi in most games…but we controlled a lot of the game today and that might not be the case next week…

Looked good when Ollie was there to bring him in to the game. Quiet last 10-15 mins after the changes. Should have squared it to Ollie as well, Unai will be in his ear about that I’m sure!