Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Liverpool

[Brumstopdogs]

The XG was 1.45 for Villa and 1.75 for Liverpool.

We gave them a decent match which is more than I feared at the start!

[Dale]

15 minutes ago, nick76 said:

I’ve been critical of Gerrard but tonight you can’t be because it was a performance on the whole to be proud of against one of the top European teams.  Nobody would’ve argued if we had come away with at least a draw…their quality and the ref just nicked them the win.

Agreed. I've been critical of Gerrard, but these last couple of performances are promising. I personally would've kept the eleven from the weekend. 

[Sulberto21]

Stevie G needs to start paying the refs off properly otherwise he’ll be outta here sooner than he thinks. 

John Moss you bellend!

Seriously though good performance just a mistake with sub imo Tim Iroegbunam should have come on.

Edited May 10, 2022 by Sulberto21

[Jareth]

Very happy despite the loss to see our form continuing - dare I say we are finding some consistency. 

[allani]

7 minutes ago, hippo said:

Excellent performance ? Really ? - I don't recall the Liverpool keeper making a save.

I thought 1-2 flattered us tbh.

Apart from the Mane goal what chances did Liverpool create?  We had three excellent chances in the second half - Watkins messed the first up with a heavy touch that allowed the defender to get a block in, Ings messed the second up by trying to beat VVD rather than take an early shot and then Ings messed up the third with an awful touch that allowed their keeper to smother his shot.  And that is without the cross-shot that Allison parried straight past Carney - could just of easily have pushed that straight his chest.  I can remember a couple of free-kicks (off target) and a long range shot from Keita (also off target).

[rodders0223]

I've never been surrounded by so many oppo fans in the home end too. Sort it out.

[El Zen]

We certainly could, and perhaps should, have got something from that. Which I suppose is encouraging, considering who we were up against, but I’ve kind of had it with honourable defeats in these games. We need to somehow sort out the lapses and mistakes that make us, inevitably, walk away from a good performance with nothing over and over again. It probably requires a couple of very expensive signings in a few key positions. A big summer lies ahead of us. 

Douglas Luiz was very, very good as an 8, and should never have been moved out of that postition. Lucas Digne had an excellent game as well. Buendia showed once again why he really should be starting every game. 

But the big story from the game really needs to be Jon Moss’ refereeing. It was diabolical. Incompetent. Amateurish. Infuriating. A disgrace. Quite simply, it was an embarrasment to the league. The casual observer will probably say there were no outright scandals, but they need to look at his performance over 90 mins. He is clearly not in shape to follow the speed of the game, finding himself out of position, and very often in the way of attacks, because his range of movement is akin to that of a tortoise. He seems to take guesses instead of making decisions, and half of the time he isn’t even looking at the situation he’s supposed to referee, again because he can’t move. If I didn’t have a dog in the fight, I’d have probably laughed at the unbelievable incompetance of his performance, but honestly, what he delievered tonight was flat out disrespectful to paying, emotionally invested fans. We deserve better than an overweight ref who is frankly taking the p*ss with the utter rubbish he delievered today. Thank **** he’s retireing. 

[tommytenjobs]

Digne much improved. Can see the benefits of him if he plays like this. 
 

Luiz transformed further forward. He’s not a holding player and should never play there again. Give Tim or Marv the mins there for the rest of the season. 
 

Chuck coming on was odd at the time, he looks a player though, the way he moves and finds space. Needs experience and time….but with 30 odd mins left, felt odd today. 
 

ings…..if he could finish consistently we would have won today and v spurs. It’s the difference between a 30m striker and the 60 million four strikers that they have. Swap out forwards with theirs and we win that by 3 or 4. 
 

starting to think we might need to break up mings/ Konsa. And not just replacing one. Both are great on their day but they both have too many off days or mistakes overall. The composure at the other end was a marked difference at times. 
 

moss…..words fail me….but there was no absolute clanger / cheating pen  / ridiculous red etc. so only voted poor. I’m thinking with hindsight I was being generous! 
 

utv 

[switters]

Did pretty well, had as many chances as them, just didn't take them, Ings in particular guilty there. Liverpool rode their luck a bit tbh, e.g. the Alisson slip up could easily have bounced differently or that late save fallen to Chuk to tap in. Though you know they always do have the players who can step up when they need a winner, if it wasn't Mane, it would've been Salah, or Diaz, or Jota..

Referee diabolical, if true he is retiring that is good news for my rage levels. Unfit for the job in every way. 

Gave Luiz MOTM, he was certainly standout on our side for first hour (their Luis was MOTM on their side, threatening whenever has ball at feet and made the winner). Buendia did v well when he came on. Digne was consistently good and Watkins continued upturn in form.

Downsides player-wise were several ropey moments from both CBs, distribution from Martinez, finishing from Ings. 

[avfc1982am]

CB's x 2 a DM to replace Nakamba and replace McGinn. Konsa needs to shut his trap and concentrate on himself. Mings too slow in possession. Nakamba is shit. McGinn all arse no quality. Oh and Ings WTF! 

[AvonVillain]

44 minutes ago, WallisFrizz said:

The Chuk sub wasn’t right. Or at least it was too early.

Must admit that's the first time I've read this here.

[CLARETANDBLUEFOXY]

Buendia not starting - didn’t make sense. Nakamba starting didn’t make sense. Chuk coming on didn’t make sense. The referees decisions didn’t make sense. The fact we couldn’t hold the lead for more than three minutes didn’t make sense. Ings and his woeful finishing didn’t make sense. The fact we didn’t get a point didn’t make sense. Annoying game but we held our own all the above considered. 

[VillanousOne]

1 minute ago, CLARETANDBLUEFOXY said:

Buendia not starting - didn’t make sense. Nakamba starting didn’t make sense. Chuk coming on didn’t make sense. The referees decisions didn’t make sense. The fact we couldn’t hold the lead for more than three minutes didn’t make sense. Ings and his woeful finishing didn’t make sense. The fact we didn’t get a point didn’t make sense. Annoying game but we held our own all the above considered. 

I'm sorry but your just not making any sense

i'll get me coat

[Marka Ragnos]

56 minutes ago, a m ole said:

Chukwuemeka is a fantastic footballer but it was the wrong decision, Luiz was easily the best performer on the pitch and should have been kept in his position.

Iroebugnam was the right move for Nakamba.

Annoying.

A "contract negotiation" sub, meant to demonstrate Gerrard's commitment to a player? 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Marka Ragnos

[chappy]

We played really well. Good atmosphere at VP tonight too, best for a while. Unfortunately we came up against the most obviously blatantly biased ref I’ve seen in years and  a front line who will punish mistakes, as they did for the winner which we absolutely gifted them. 
 

Luiz MOTM (at 8). He shows his class when further forward. Nakamba was great, shame he couldn’t last longer than an hour. McGinn was decent tonight too.

Konsa was better than of late but still looked a bit shaky. Mings solid and the full backs had good games.

Coutinho had a few flashes of brilliance and got on the ball well, Buendia was good once he came on. Impressed by both Ings and Watkins too. Loved seeing a wild Bertie appear, hope he’s still here next season.

Hard to get anything from a game against a team when the ref is so far in their pocket but we should be proud of the lads tonight. Bring on Palace!

[WallisFrizz]

10 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

There wasn't a weakness in the diamond until the player at the base of it got removed and replaced by a number 8.

Gerrard made a mistake swapping Nakamba for Chuk. If Nakamba was blowing,  which he was, it should have been Tim or Chambers coming on for him.

If he wanted Chuk to have a platform, he should have removed McGinn (or Luiz, except he was the best player on the pitch at the time).

Gerrard's in game management was poor tonight, but he set us up very well to get at Liverpool, and but for a shit ref, we might have still got a point even with the poor subs.

We've come a long way with that performance compared with out other efforts against the top 6 this season,  and Gerrard has to get the credit for that.

Agree all of this.

[foreveryoung]

11 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

There wasn't a weakness in the diamond until the player at the base of it got removed and replaced by a number 8.

Gerrard made a mistake swapping Nakamba for Chuk. If Nakamba was blowing,  which he was, it should have been Tim or Chambers coming on for him.

If he wanted Chuk to have a platform, he should have removed McGinn (or Luiz, except he was the best player on the pitch at the time).

Gerrard's in game management was poor tonight, but he set us up very well to get at Liverpool, and but for a shit ref, we might have still got a point even with the poor subs.

We've come a long way with that performance compared with out other efforts against the top 6 this season,  and Gerrard has to get the credit for that.

Good post, about bang on!

[rjw63]

1 hour ago, MrBlack said:

Is the poll ends up anything other than staying 100% very poor I question the logic of VTers...

The constant comedy votes make the voting pointless

[HalfTimePost]

13 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

There wasn't a weakness in the diamond until the player at the base of it got removed and replaced by a number 8.

Gerrard made a mistake swapping Nakamba for Chuk. If Nakamba was blowing,  which he was, it should have been Tim or Chambers coming on for him.

If he wanted Chuk to have a platform, he should have removed McGinn (or Luiz, except he was the best player on the pitch at the time).

Gerrard's in game management was poor tonight, but he set us up very well to get at Liverpool, and but for a shit ref, we might have still got a point even with the poor subs.

We've come a long way with that performance compared with out other efforts against the top 6 this season,  and Gerrard has to get the credit for that.

Great post, agree with it all

[It's Your Round]

We gave them a decent game which is what most of us hoped for as the minimum. On another day Ings buries one of those chances and we get a draw. It was a good performance from Villa but still let down by lapses in concentration, individual errors and bad decision making. The story of our footballing lives. Still, there’s positives we can take into next season.