Liverpool 2 Aston Villa 2: Rodgers flawed plan cost Liverpool dear

Brendan Rodgers spoke in the week of Liverpool challenging for the Premiership title.  What we have is an excellent attack which has taken us into the top four with Jordan Henderson.

I was absolutely stunned to see us start with a midfield which had little chance of standing up to the physical presence of a three man Villa midfield with Jordan Henderson alone in the middle and Gerrard sitting deep and being curtailed by the more agile Weimann.

Gerrard looked every inch his almost 34 years in the first half and Rodgers if he was brilliant with the Sturridge substitution against Stoke, was too slow in changing a formation which was patently all at sea against an Aston Villa side dominating in all quarters.

If we learnt anything in this game it’s that the squad needs bolstering and soon.  The message was there loud and clear against Stoke, but we got out of jailed saved by our brilliant strike force.  This is a Liverpool side with two outstanding forwards and in Henderson and Sterling, midfielders who are playing the best football of their careers carrying the team.

There is no question Aly Cissokho is as poor a defender as seen at Anfield for many a year.   The French International possesses very little positional sense, is flimsy in the tackle and going forward adds very little threat.

Kolo Toure was exposed for the second game in succession.  His lack of pace and indecision was shown up by a revitalised Benteke, he looked slow and inept.  I don’t expect to see neither he nor Cissokho gracing Anfield’s hallowed turf next season.

Lambert and his Villa side with more lethal finishing should have had the game wrapped up by half-time.  In the opening minute Benteke’s prodigious leap and flick header left Agbonlahor bearing down on goal.  The England striker explicably shot wide with only Mignolet to beat.

Villa controlled possession and at times left us floundering against a side who had only won one of their last seven league games.  Westwood shooting straight at Mignolet and Ciaran Clark’s header thudding against the post should put the game out of sight.

Agbonlahor lay open Liverpool’s lethargy, brilliantly putting himself up against Toure, slowing him up and then beating him to the by-line to cut the ball across for Weimann, leaving Gerrard in his wake, to tap home.

Mignolet looking shot to pieces, flailed at the ball allowing Benteke to nod home unopposed.  Rodgers has a choice to make on whether to keep faith in a goalkeeper whose mistakes have proven costly this season.

It looked bleak especially with Suarez and Sturridge living on scraps up front with Countinho having moved inside unable to provide the quality service they require.  But with quality strikers one chance is usually all they require.

Excellent interchange on the edge of box between Coutinho, Suarez and Henderson, resulted in deft flick by the latter through to Sturridge to chip over the onrushing Guzan to give Liverpool a lifeline in the second minute of injury time.

Lucas replaced the ineffective Coutinho at the break with Steven Gerrard moving further forward which provided dividends almost immediately.  He devastating through ball to Suarez sent the Uruguayan surging in the penalty area before being brought down by Guzan as he attempted to go past him.

Gerrard made no mistake from the spot.

Suarez showed his impudence and sharpness of mind with a quickly taken free-kick from 40 yards which floated just over the bar with Gurzon back peddling.  Delph in turn, produced an exquisite piece of skill leaving Lucas flat footed and then from 25 yards bending the ball just beyond the post.

Once again we fail to win a game in which Suarez didn’t score.  In the last half-hour of the game and with Gerrard prompting and probing we failed to cause Villa defence much concern.  An instinctive shot by Suarez which was easily saved, a shot by Jordan Henderson well saved low down by Guzon and a 30 yard Suarez free-kick which was just off-target was all Liverpool could muster in the last half hour and must be a concern to the manager.

Man of the Match:  Luis Suarez – not on the score sheet, but played a vital part in both goals with his link up and play and his running off the last man to put himself in a position to get the penalty.

Critical eye:  I have said before that Coutinho’s final ball is a concern and today was no exception.  There’s in no denying his ability on the ball, but given his position and the amount of possession he has he is integral in terms of his creative output which at the moment he is not delivering.

His ineffectiveness was shown with Suarez coming more into the game once Gerrard moved further up field.  It also brings into question Gerrard’s own position.  If he is to remain in the team for the foreseeable whether playing deep or further forward he requires a more powerful midfield to help him and Liverpool certainly need that if we are to start games with a quartet of Suarez, Sturridge, Coutinho and Sterling.

Jordan Henderson before the change in formation looked as though he was playing in the centre by himself with Gerrard sitting in front of the back four.

The transfer policy has left Liverpool with players like Cissokho and Toure who are either not good enough or have seen their best days and for us to compete we need better quality.  Bertrand showed enough in 81 minutes to know that Liverpool have missed out in the absence of Enrique.

Glen Johnson looks a shadow of the dynamic player of last season and is not offering much in either direction.  Should Martin Kelly be given his chance?

We lost two points to a side we should’ve have buried and it’s disappointing once again that apart from Lucas the manager didn’t see the need to use either Alberto, Aspas and Moses in the last quarter which says it all about the quality of the Liverpool bench and his lack of trust in the personnel on it.

Team: 

 

Liverpool: 22 Mignolet, 2 Johnson, 20 Cissokho, 8 Gerrard, 37 Skrtel, 4 Kolo Toure, 31 Sterling, 14 Henderson, 7 Suarez, 15 Sturridge, 10 Coutinho (Lucas – 45 mins (Allen – 66 mins)

Substitutes:  1 Jones, 6 Luis Albertio, 9 Iago Aspas, 12 Moses, 21 Lucas Leiva, 24 Allen, 34 Kelly

Aston Villa: 1 Guzan, 7 Bacuna, 23 Bertrand (Luna – 81 mins), 15 Westwood, 4 Vlaar , 6 Clark, 8 El Ahmadi (Sylia – 6 mins), 16 Delp, 20 Benteke, 10 Weimann, 11 Agbonlahor (Holt – 49 mins)

Subtitutes: 9 Helenius, 12 Albrighton, 13 Steer, 14 Luna, 18 Sylla, 22 Gardner, 29 Holt

Referee: Jonathan Moss

Attendance: 44, 737