Ratings & Reactions: LC5 Villa v Liverpool

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

2 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

Cup

We got the 3 points tonight, that's all that matters.

[VillanousOne]

10 minutes ago, GingerCollins29 said:

Very comfortable. Tough for smith now whether we start wes or kodj. 

Trez should have had a hatrick and jota got outmuscled by a 26 year old.

Had to mute the commentary when i heard alan smith knocking one out over the plop kids for the third time

presume you mean 16 year old? Unless something went on in the changing rooms.

Edited December 17, 2019 by VillanousOne

[A'Villan]

Moved the ball very well.

We retained possession and kept our build up play at a rate that only frustrated the Liverpool youngsters.

At the same time we were tidy and meaningful when playing it forward which allowed us to create and put the game firmly in our grip.

Through to a semi-final with a 5-0 win, I'll take it for sure. MOTM was Luiz for me, very sound performance.

In particular his delivery and touch meant that our transitions were purposeful and eventuated into threatening play.

Then his general play allowed us to move forward and keep things ticking to a beat and rhythm that suited us as a team.

Nyland played well, some of his saves and distribution were excellent. Really became an 11th option for passes without inviting pressure.

[ciggiesnbeer]

That was fun!  

[smg]

4 minutes ago, flashingqwerty said:

I think the scoreline papers over some massive cracks in this 'team'.

2nd best for most of the 1st half but for 2 moments of good fortune, and a quality finish.

Several top saves from Nyland.  Could have been a very different story.

Nyland - 9 my motm.  Made 4 or 5 quality stops.  His passing is dreadful, but if he makes that many quality saves every game, i think i'd take that.

Taylor - 4 absolutely dire.  Cant defend at all.  Kills almost every attack and hurls abuse at others for not doing his job for him.  Elliott might be a good player, but taylor made him look far better than he is.

Chester - 6 didnt do much wrong or right really.  Great to see him back.  But i think he is finished in the PL.

Konsa - 6 similar to chester, not much right or wrong.

Elmo - 6 god he annoys me.  One minute he is controlling it and putting about great passes/crosses the next he is giving it away too easily in dangerous positions.  I hope he isnt still here next season.

Luiz - 6 yes, he made some great passes and looked good on the ball at times.  He also spent a lot of time hiding from the defence the wrong side of an opponent and giving hospital passes back to defence.  There is a player in there, he just needs to learn not to need 50 touches and 20 minutes on the ball to do it.

Hourihane - 6 another who irritates me.  Great left foot, but thays about it.  Massive bottler.  Pulls out of challenges about 30 seconds before they happen and lacks aggression.

Lansbury - 6 looked like he was playing up front most of the game.  Closed down well and great energy, but wasteful with the ball and lacked any real quality.

Trez - 5 tries hard, has got pace, but either doesnt know how to use it or just isnt good enough to make the most of it.

Jota - 5 yeah, great feet, but he was done by half time and has no pace.  I cant see him ever playing well in the PL.

Kodjia - 8 great poachers goal and 2 very nice finishes.  What more can you ask?  He is lazy, selfish and his passing is poor, but he was close to his best tonight.

Wes - 7 put himself about a bit and got a very nice goal.  Another though who looks lazy when not near the ball.

Hause - 6 cant really recall him doing anything of note.  Looks to have lost a bit of weight.

Smith - 6 yeah, we won 5 - 0 but it could easily have been so different.  He continues to frustrate me with late and unused subs.  The midfield was crying out for fresh legs from 60m and he did nothing.  Yeah he maybe didnt want to risk mcginn and grealish but it could just as easily meant one of those on the pitch getting injured - i just dont get it.

It'll be a very different team against southampton, and a very different proposition, but the players will take some confidence from this, and fingers crossed for a similar scoreline!

They won’t take any confidence if they read this. Do you watch matches and look only for negatives?

[A'Villan]

Also thought we were quite organised and energetic defensively for most of the game. Good to see.

[jim]

Great win for confidence but still some worrying signs that despite the score line we were out played for the most part.

[WakefieldVillan]

Great to be in the semi finals but was underwhelmed with our performance though it really must have been a strange game to play in and fair play to their youngsters they looked decent on the ball and the scoreline was harsh and but for Nyland (MOTM for me) they would have had at least one.

Positives; 

Kodjia - although a touch rusty, may have done enough to get the nod for Saturday (his running into channels gives us another dimension).

Nyland - made some great saves, fair play. He's probably earned a semi final spot.

Chester - back on the pitch, good to see, but he's a bit off the first team squad yet (for me).

Big Wes - Tidy finish which will do him a world of good. I know he has lots of haters. But I'm not one. And yes I know it's only a goal against youngsters. 

Terry/Smith - Real touch of class going into the opposition dressing room after, makes me proud of what our club is about

Negatives;

Sloppy in possession, no cohesion, gifted several chances, we didn't dominate midfield enough and individually thought Taylor & Trez were very poor and Jota who obviously can pick a pass is just so lightweight, thought he would stand out more tonight to be honest.

UTV 

 

[Mazrim]

Our U23s would have won this tie.

[flashingqwerty]

5 minutes ago, smg said:

They won’t take any confidence if they read this. Do you watch matches and look only for negatives?

I write what i see, and for the most part we were 2nd best to a bunch of kids.

Nothing to be proud of for most of them.

Nyland and Kodjia deserve credit for winning the game, the rest, mostly meh.

Dont let the scoreline fool you, we were not 5 goals better than liverpool tonight, not by a very long way.

[DaveAV1]

10 minutes ago, flashingqwerty said:

Smith - 6 yeah, we won 5 - 0 but it could easily have been so different.  He continues to frustrate me with late and unused subs.  The midfield was crying out for fresh legs from 60m and he did nothing.  Yeah he maybe didnt want to risk mcginn and grealish but it could just as easily meant one of those on the pitch getting injured - i just dont get it.

His late sub scored a confidence busting goal and we strolled through the second half no-one was knackered. We were 4-0 up and cruising, I can only imagine your response if he had brought on McGinn or Grealish and they had picked up an injury. 

[Hornso]

Nyland made some incredibly important stops in the first 10 minutes. Then we somehow founds ourselves 2-0 up and we could relax a little.

Kodjia getting a couple, certainly gives Deano something to think about, but I'm glad Wesley managed to hit the score sheet when he came on. Hopefully it gets his confidence up.

[flashingqwerty]

1 minute ago, DaveAV1 said:

His late sub scored a confidence busting goal and we strolled through the second half no-one was knackered. We were 4-0 up and cruising, I can only imagine your response if he had brought on McGinn or Grealish and they had picked up an injury. 

If he was afraid to bring them on, why put them on the bench?

Not tired? Jota and lansbury were clearly huffing madly from about 55 minutes.  Each time liverpool had a spell of possession, they were able to stroll through our midfield with ease.

Too light weight, too sloppy and too weak.  But then, you could say that in nearly every game this season

[nick76]

Superstar Wes, nice goal!

[sne]

Chalk this one up as effective in the first and controlled in the second?

• 43% possession
• 5 goals from 8 shots on target
• 2-7 in corners
• Nyland MOTM

Job done.

 

[DaveAV1]

7 minutes ago, flashingqwerty said:

If he was afraid to bring them on, why put them on the bench?

Not tired? Jota and lansbury were clearly huffing madly from about 55 minutes.  Each time liverpool had a spell of possession, they were able to stroll through our midfield with ease.

Too light weight, too sloppy and too weak.  But then, you could say that in nearly every game this season

Lansbury was substituted. Why would you risk Jack or John even if Jota was knackered, which I don’t think he particularly was, but he hasn’t had much game time recently and so it was probably beneficial to keep him on the pitch. James Chester was playing his first game in 11 months, he probably was at risk of over doing it if he’d stayed on and so he was substituted. 

I’d say the reason he had some big hitters on the bench was in case things weren’t going our way and we needed a goal. As it happened the game was over by halftime and so that wasn’t necessary. All in all I think he got the balance about right. 

Edited December 17, 2019 by DaveAV1

[HKP90]

Tough crowd.

Short of coaching the opposition on how to beat us, not quite sure what else Smith could do to please after a 5 nil win with our 2nd team.

[imavillan]

Sky had a right wank over Liverpool even though they lost !!!!!

ffs it does your head in

[smg]

14 minutes ago, flashingqwerty said:

I write what i see, and for the most part we were 2nd best to a bunch of kids.

Nothing to be proud of for most of them.

Nyland and Kodjia deserve credit for winning the game, the rest, mostly meh.

Dont let the scoreline fool you, we were not 5 goals better than liverpool tonight, not by a very long way.

We were 5-0 up , nothing to be fooled by, we sat back we controlled them second half what else did we need to do ? 5-0, 10 nil same result.

[Nigel]

The result was a formality, good performance all round, but still a formality!

However the best thing was the sense of pride i have about our club atm.

After listening to the usual tripe spouted by talksport on the way back (Klopp is a disgrace apparently!) switched over to 5 live where they were reporting on how well the liverpool players felt after Smith and Terry went to there dressing room to congratulate them on their performance; It made their night apparently!

Its reassuring to know we have people at the club who care about more than results.

Taylor and Henri too were mentioned for their fantastic conduct on the pitch towards their players.

Its lovely to hear the club being mentioned in a positive light again; Kudos to all!