Brendan Rodgers named an unchanged team on the back the
opening day’s victory over Stoke, with
Daniel Sturridge and Iago Aspas again leading the line and Kolo Toure and
Daniel Agger, his preferred centre-half pairing with injuries to Skrtel and
Coates. Liverpool were looking to win
their opening two games for the first time in five years and with 9 wins and 1
defeat in 15 years on visits to Villa park confidence was definitely high.
The movement of Liverpool’s front three Coutinho, Aspas and
Sturridge caused the Villa defence no-end of consternation with their fluidity
and interchange, it almost appeared that they were chasing shadows. Gerrard sitting in the pocket quarter-back
style¸ literally controlling the tempo with little or no pressing, had time to
pick of runners spinning of midfielders and defenders alike and with Lucas
patrolling in front of the centre-halfs Villa were being outclassed.
It came as no surprise when Liverpool broke the
deadlock. But, when it came it was
fantastic in its simplicity, but majestic in its finish. Jose Enrique as he seems to do often, knocked
the ball into Coutinho, who imperiously let the ball run on to Sturridge, who
in the twinkling of an eye, brought the ball under control with the finesse and
delicacy of a diamond cutter before leaving Antonia Lunda for dead by taking
the silkily outside the defender, before rounding the keeper Brad Guzan and
expertly dismissing the ball high into the roof of the net. It was the finish of a master craftsman.
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| Daniel Sturridge majestically opens the scoring |
Liverpool’s dominance was so complete that for almost the
next twenty minutes they moved the ball round at will. For all the dominance of the away side the
lack of penetration was worrying and by half-time almost proved costly. Benteke, who until that point had been well
marshalled by Toure, finally broke free of his restraints and on the turn curled
a shot that his countrymen Mignolet pushed round the post. From the resultant corner, Liverpool once
again struggling with their achilles heel against set pieces and crosses failed
to clear the ball and were fortunate to see Weimann’s shot deflect off Agger
and up over the bar. It was a sign of things
to come.
The second-half was long an arduous for Liverpool supporters
who watched helpless as Brendan Rodgers side were in defensive mode almost
throughout, defending deeper as the half went on with Steven Gerrard leading by
example, intercepting and tackling as if showing the younger members of the
team how to do it.
Benteke with a prodigious leap from a corner almost brought
parity to Villa when heading just wide from a corner. Villa were now adding a constant threat to
their possession and under Benteke’s increasing potency Toure could only head
down to Agbonlahor, fortunately for him the Villa striker pulled his volley
wide of the goal from short range.
Liverpool’s inability to clear their lines almost cost them
five minutes from time, when Agger’s indecisive header was played back in for
Helenius to head through to Benteke to volley only for Mignolet to pull off a stunning save and for
the second week in succession give Liverpool a win when a draw steered us in
the face.
We are now unbeaten in 10 Premier League games since our
last win at Villa Park and it shows a teak resilience that Rodgers has built
into his side of technically gifted footballers. Yes, we can talk about the lack of cutting
edge given the amount of possession in the first half, but this is a Villa side
that had beaten Arsenal and competed very well against Chelsea.
Man of the Match:
Daniel Sturridge – his finish was that of a truly gifted football and all
about instinct. His relationship with
Coutinho was starting to flourish at the end of last season and with no
pre-season to work from their understanding is all the more remarkable. He had very little to work with in the
second-half, but never stopped running, even tracking back to help out in
defence in the second-half.
Critical-eye: With
pressure mounting in the second-half the lack of decision making in the
second-half seemed more than a tad strange from the manager. Deciding to play deeper to counter Villa’s
counter-attacking style Liverpool gave up territory, but invited pressure on themselves
being unable to hold on to the ball and match Villa’s intensity and Wisdom in
midfield may have been a better option than Allen who couldn’t seem to get a
grip in the engine room.
Team: 22
Mignolet, 2 Johnson, 3 Enrique, 4 Toure, 5 Agger, 8 Gerrard, 9 Aspas (Sterling,
72 mins), 10 Coutinho, 14 Henderson, 21 Lucas, 15 Sturridge
Substitutes: 1 Jones, 20 Cissokho, 47 Wisdom, 6
Alberto, 31 Sterling, 24 Allen, 29 Borini
Referee: Mark Clattenbourg
Attendance: 42,098
The most important aspect of the game is that we won despite not really creating many clear cut chances.
ReplyDeleteAgain very encouraged by the link-up play between Sturridge and Coutinho. The winning goal especially was a perfect example of their telepathic play and the finish by Sturridge showcased his silky quick feet - fantastic clinical finish!
Just felt that we are putting too much pressure on our defence by not getting a second goal -thus far the defence has been able to withstand the pressure but it would be nice to be able to enjoy our matches without the anxiety of a lack of a second goal creates.
Delighted with the win though and especially pleased with the clean sheet against the potentially intimidating presence of Villa centre forward Benteke.