Ratings and Reactions: Liverpool v Villa

[jon_c]

Don't get all the Gestede hate, he's a striker and strikers are supposed to score goals. He did twice, (second was a great header IMO?). Would people rather him or a Heskey who works his socks off but never ever scores? We got lucky with Benteke and maybe just a little spoilt?

He needs to play with a partner, then he doesn't have to do all the work.

[matrim]

No urgency from the players and it looked to be a deliberate tactic from Sherwood. The couple of times we actually closed Liverpool down and attacked them we looked dangerous but unfortunately that only happened about 3 times.

We never even tried to change up the style of play and have a go at them even when we had a chance of getting back into the game.

Gestede did what he had to and got two goals but he doesn't suit a system where you are playing deep and looking to counter. He's too slow and you can't have a quick break

Edited September 26, 2015 by matrim

[Razor]

Sherwood is clueless isn't he? Loved him at first but his tactics and subs are simply awful. 

[flamingsombrero]

I just don't get it, we seem to be more than willing to go toe to toe with teams that are flying but sit back against anyone out of form and allow them to control of the game. That Liverpool team was as fragile as I've seen in a long time and boy did show when we actually tried to take the game to them. Not saying we would have won but certainly shouldn't have gifted them with three points in the way we did for the vast majority of the match. 

We have a lot of tough games coming up and the way we're going we will be cut adrift before we even get near Christmas. Stoke game is huge.

[KitKat]

I thought at the very least the one thing we would get from Sherwood would be to have a go and attack teams. We didn't do that today at all and the scoreline flattered us tremendously. I don't know how the game plan managed to end up consisting of letting a team badly low on confidence haveq all the time and space in the world to eventually pick us apart but lessons need to be learned... 

 

...And to add to that, it feels as if there has been no improvement at all in other areas people have started to question. Eg. Being proactive in changing the game with subs or tactics. Still a massive concern for me. 

 

If we're going to be shit let's at least be committed whilst we fail to win football matches! 

[NoelVilla]

Did turn the game off after about 55 minutes. No fun to watch when you know the ending. To many basic mistakes made from the manager and the players. If we can't defend better than that after a whole preseason and some games than there is something very wrong. New players or not the defensive setup must be better. Guzan MOTM and a honourable mention to Gestede. 

[Chewie]

Im set for us to go down more than any other season tbh i dont want us to scrape survival and do it all again i want us to play attacking expansive football next week we need to play the following

                           Guzan

Hutton   richards    clark    amavi

Gil    vererout     gana      traore

                     Grealish

             Gestede

 

I want gana and veretout to win the ball and give it to the flair players lets attack attack attack dont care if we lose just wanna go at teams. Liverpool werent great today but we gave the goals on a plate.

 

This is the exact formation I want to see. At the start of the season it would have seemed a bit gung ho and somewhat lightweight, but now we know 100%, almost without fail that we are going to concede goals in Premier League games so lets just play with pace (Traore), and crafty clever footballers (Gil, Grealish) and **** go for it. It's just painful to watch yet another toothless performance when we have creative players who can play beautiful and effective football. We should be seeing end to end with that team, 20+ shots per game, if we are going to be at the foot of the table then lets at least roll the dice so teams don't expect to play us for an easy 3 points.

Edit to add: I'm watching the Newcastle v Chelsea game, Newcastle are shit yet they are playing with real fire in their belly's. Why are we not seeing that from a young, hungry team with a motivated and motivator manager?

Edited September 26, 2015 by Chewie

[Ponky]

Took us 65 minutes and 2 goals against to venture out of our own half.

Our defence was a real worry today. Richards and Lescott were all over the shop leaving huge spaces in between them.

 

Westwood is also a concern. He does okay when he has time on the ball but his testicles shrink when he gets crowded. Sinclair also does my nut. Has zero presence and for a winger seems to lack pace. 

 

Hopefully though with Rudy's goals one piece of the puzzle seems revealed - get to the byline and cross it in.

 

There were some really obvious subs to made in this game and Sherwood made none of them. Yet so much that is obvious to all of us seems to be an esoteric mystery to Sherwood and his team.

[thunderball]

Rubbish. Sherwood out now please before it's impossible to retrieve.

 

 

[VillanousOne]

Guzan, Amavi and Richards all good. The rest were crap.

MOTM Guzan.

Gestede?

He was crap.

if he scores two goals every week and is crap then i hope he's crap every week!

[Phumfeinz]

Haven't bothered with Villa for a couple of weeks, was Agbonlahor dropped or just injured for this one?

[BigJim]

Disappointed to see the witch hunt is well and truly under way. I was never in favour of appointing Sherwood but come on, he deserves a bit more leeway. We need to be patient because to get on the players’ and the manager’s back now is going to sink us.

We were up against a side who have been streets ahead of us for years, who happen to be in an unrealistic position given the players they’ve got, playing in their back yard. We are very much a work in progress. Our recent record against them has been a statistical fluke, which today’s result has corrected slightly.

I expected Liverpool to dominate and I think the tactic was right to stay deep even given the early goal against, and try to hold tight until the last quarter before bringing more flare players on. It didn’t work, but it might have done if we had not been so ******** careless after pulling a goal back.

Gana was a gamble (not quite fit) that didn’t pay off. Same with Traore. We might have started with Ayew instead of Sinclair but it would have been a huge ask for him to play anything like he did the other night. It would more likely have damaged his confidence.

Tim has signed some fine players, I think we all agreed on that before the season started. Of course it will take time to get them to play together as he wants, and injuries early on haven’t helped. We need to start picking up points soon, and I think we can if the fanbase can stay on side a bit longer.

[djdabush]

Haven't bothered with Villa for a couple of weeks, was Agbonlahor dropped or just injured for this one?

Injured. No doubt he would have started if fit.

[Phumfeinz]

Haven't bothered with Villa for a couple of weeks, was Agbonlahor dropped or just injured for this one?

Injured. No doubt he would have started if fit.

Thought as much, cheers. Might check in next game whenever that is, probably won't. Really bored with this club.

[foreveryoung]

Was Sherwood thinking it was the old school Liverplop, when they used to win stuff. We were sitting so deep most of the game, as good as trying to park the bus, inviting so much pressure. Mind numbing tactically. Shock horror when we started to attack we got a couple. Liverpool where shite. A bit of pressure on Sturridge would have shut him out the game. It was obvious he was gonna be a goal scorer, he didn't even look fully fit, should have give him a clip here and there.

i wanted him here, but it looks as though Lescott is gonna be like playing with 10 men every game.

[avfc456]

'Our performances have merited better than one win in seven games but I said from the start it would be an uphill struggle. We need to stay in the division and if we do we will be stronger next year'

Sorry Timothy cannot agree the table does not lie and we were pants again today. Sherwood out. 

[Rodders]

Sherwoods going to finish what Lambert started

given the summer turnover, this would be entirely on sherwood

[PongRiddims]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, no bottle and no one that knows how to grab a game by the scruff of the neck, same problem we've had for years. No leader on the pitch, no winners. It doesn't matter how fancy you play if you haven't got a strong character or two willing to take one for the team, willing to dig deep when it really matters

[hycus-flange]

I'm glad Tim had the clear out of the loosing mentality players and replaced them with winners over the summer because if he hadn't we would definitely be in the bottom 3 by now!!!

 

[Marka Ragnos]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, no bottle and no one that knows how to grab a game by the scruff of the neck, same problem we've had for years. No leader on the pitch, no winners. It doesn't matter how fancy you play if you haven't got a strong character or two willing to take one for the team, willing to dig deep when it really matters

Leadership -- exactly. We have a bunch of extremely talented noobs who seem to be looking around at each for a leader.

 Who would fill the role? I actually felt that Vlaar had the makings of a leader.