The massive
news prior to the game was Steven Gerrard starting as Lucas picked up a thigh
injury in training on Friday. The fact that we didn't have any midfield back up
on the bench was extremely disappointing and points directly at the Liverpool
transfer strategy and loan policy.
Villa
started as the more dangerous side. Charles N'Zogbia nearly found Christian
Benteke with a fizzing cross to the far post and minutes later had a long shot
tipped over by Simon Mignolet.
We struggled
for long periods to maintain meaningful possession with Villa looking better in
the midfield. Rodgers made a tactical
change to four at the back after 20 minutes to try and establish a bit more
control.
Against the
run of play we scored with our first real chance of the match. Philippe
Coutinho ran onto a ball from Raheem Sterling in the box and used a slight
deflection to slot past Shay Given.
Villa
deservedly bounced back with Benteke finishing off a quick counter attack to
bring his side level with Liverpool defensively unable to countenance the
Villains power and drive through Delph and the accomplished Grealish who
handled Liverpool's frail midfield with relish.
Half-time
thoughts: We looked vulnerable at times, but so too did Villa. The result was a
wide open first half that promised an even better second.
Mario
Balotelli replaced an ineffective Lazar Markovic at the half. But, to be fair to Markovic who arrived as an
accomplished player with a tall reputation who is now reduced to a player who
the manager seems to blame for the team’s ills.
Fabian Delph
scored to give Villa a 2-1 lead after our non-existent midfield allowed another
counter attack to slice right through them.
It was an indictment of Liverpool's flimsy defence that the midfielder
waltzed through the defence to calmly put his team ahead.
Seeing Delph
dominate the Liverpool midfield, one could only reflect on the demise of Steven
Gerrard this season. Arguably, Liverpool's
greatest ever player he was yard off the pace and reminded one of Muhammed Ali
in some of his last fights throwing the odd punch from yesteryear, but the
flesh was too weak to carry him forward.
There were a few of his raking trademark crossfield passes, he had a header cleared off the line and
superb through ball to Balotelli which the striker tucked away was wrongly
chalked off, but it could not disguise the fact that this once great player was
playing from memory.
Brendan
Rodgers brought Glen Johnson on and moved Emre Can into the midfield as we
looked for a late equalizer.
In the dying
embers Rodgers muddled tactics was there for all to see when he brought on
Rickie Lambert. The striker could just
as easily have made his entrance quarter of an hour earlier rather than
languish on the bench. Rodgers bought
Lambert in an effort to give Liverpool a Plan B when the need arose, but
unfortunately he has been unable to work the player into his plans with the
player failing for the first time in six seasons to get into double figures in
the Premier League.
This was a
totally abysmal performance. The manager
appeared shorn of ideas panic stricken into changing the formation three times
and the players apart from Coutinho who busted a gut in his desperation to get
into his first final for the club, failing in dreadful fashion.
Full-time
thoughts: In a season filled with tough losses this one is the most painful.
Slim hopes of fourth live on, but with this performance it's hard to put much
belief behind the hope with three woeful losses in our last four ganes.
The whole
side apart from Coutinho, underperformed with biggest disappointment for me is
that the captain didn't show enough desire throughout the game to try and
influence us to a massive win - one last time.
The manager
talked about the player’s failure to cope with the occasion, surely that is
down to him and it's not the first time this season.
His lack of
prowess in the transfer market is damaging Liverpool Football Club. Without Sakho and Lucas Liverpool lacked the
prowess and nous to stifle the Villains physicality and were reduced to chasing
shadows. It was sad to see Gerrard
playing from memory and Brendan Rodgers coming into a game with three strikers
and three defenders only exacerbated the lack of depth in the midfield.
We have four
strikers in the first team squad and apart from the injured Sturridge, the
other three weren't considered good enough to start the game. Balotelli, Lambert and Borini have no future
at this club.
With Johnson
sure to move on (thank goodness), I would hope to see the back of Brad Jones,
Kolo Toure, Enrique, Joe Allen (short of top class). There has to be question marks over Markovic
if Brendan persist in playing him as a wing-back and Dejan Lovren who has been
total failure.
Rodgers is
now the first Liverpool manager in the post for over three years since the
1950s to not win a single trophy and the eyes will be on him in the next
transfer window and the start of next season.
Man of the
match: N'Zogia - came on and tried to influence the team.
Aston Villa:
Given; Bacuna, Baker, Vlaar, Richardson; Cleverley, Westwood, Delph; N’Zogbia,
Benteke, Grealish. Subs: Guzan, Okore, Sinclair, Weimann, Cole, Gil, Lowton.
Liverpool:
Mignolet; Can, Skrtel, Lovren; Markovic, Henderson, Allen, Moreno; Gerrard;
Coutinho, Sterling. Subs: Jones, Johnson, Toure, Lambert, Manquillo, Borini,
Balotelli.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)
Att: 85,416
Man of the match: Coutinho - only player for us
offering any positive impact especially in the first half.
The result
was, like so many of our disappointments early this season, lacking in energy
and urgency, a point Brendan Rodgers was quick to point out in his solemn
post-match remarks:
Manager's views:
"You
can always lose a game, but you'd hope you can play well and give yourself an
opportunity. I thought we were second best today, to be honest. They were
better than us. We had some chances but Aston Villa were better than us today.
There's an obligation here to fight right until the very end. We have come
close now in two competitions but failed to make the steps. Hopefully in the
future we can learn from that. I think sometimes you can want to win too much
and the focus comes away from what allows you to win.
"I
thought our energy was low today. Aston Villa had a good start and I felt we
were too passive in the game. I had to change the system, it got us some joy,
we started to control the game a little bit and then we got in front - but we
didn't keep the lead long enough. We were too passive on the side of the field,
Fabian Delph skips through way too easily and they got back into the game.
Second half, we hoped to play better but we just didn't create enough today. It
was a trademark of the team last year - in the first 20 minutes of games, the
intensity of our game was very high. Of late, that hasn't quite been the case.
We just were nowhere near our level. Congratulations to Aston Villa because
they played well and are through to the final. The better team won."
It's hard to
argue with any of what Rodgers offers here--without two clear leaders in
Mamadou Sakho and Lucas, Emre Can and Jordan Henderson tasked with less
effective roles from the start, Lazar Markovic hauled off at the half despite
some promising glimpses, and Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho fading in
influence as Liverpool's approach shifted to long balls over the top rather
than any coherent build-up, Liverpool's "energy" players were
nullified from start to finish. Players can be blamed, but the tactics and
setup, which once again failed to address the ongoing lack of attacking
creativity in the side. Rodgers failure to address the problem of our midfield
getting over run early in the second half.
Where
Rodgers' critiques veer wide of the mark is, as it so often does, in discussion
of Steven Gerrard's performance, which the third-year boss described as
"excellent." Little commentary needed here, as it's been discussed
plenty already, but one hopes that Rodgers is simply paying lip service to a
club legend rather than giving what he feels is an accurate assessment of the
captain's contribution. Which putting politely was very poor for our once
influential captain.
Massively
disappointing result for us.
In Amercian sport it's called choking and that excatly what we did yesterday. The scene was tailor made for Sterling and Henderson to do the business on the big stage, but the failed abysmally.
ReplyDeleteAll I will say is I was there and like many others who witnessed this debacle I was embarrassed.
From Gerrard being so off the pace, I wondered what he'd been smoking, to Raheem not turning up, Lovren a joke and Brendan being outclassed, it was poor. Moreover, we truly deserved to lose and all of us travelling back knew it.
Jamie Carragher "Big games need big players to do big things. Not many of them at Lfc which make wages demands of some ridiculous & the recruitment worse."
It leaves our better players open to being cherry picked and Brendan to under close scrutiny at the next transfer window and the start of next season as you say in your blog David.
This team needs a backbone and I guarantee it's the first thing a new manager will augment to supplement the speed and flare aready in the team. People say that Brendan has done enough to deserved another next season, but what if Liverpool tail of badly in our remaining few games does he really deserve another shot at the Championship belt?
I had a feeling the game was lost when I heard Lucas was out through injury as this meant Brendan was going to shoehorn Gerrard back into a team that hadn’t missed him. If one thing game at Anfield against Villa should have taught Brendan was that we needed legs in midfield against them, which is where Can should have started. We gave away the midfield and gave away the game!!!
DeleteYelp – Last Running up – Gerald, Carling Cup fell short at Semi-final, FA cup again fell short at Semi to lowly Villa, even Reading gave a good account of themselves against inform Arsenal.
DeleteGood bye to 2014/2015 Season. Brenda, thank goodness did not turn to press conference with any excuses.
they were more hungry, then us!
DeleteThey had more pride than Liverpool, and was up for it even going a goal down first, plus had nothing to lose. Well done to Villa , they deserve the place in the final and could win it.
DeleteHear Hear
DeleteThat's the bottom line, the deserved to win and was the better team on the day. They should go a win the dam thing now!
DeleteAs I said to Victor yesterday, I can't help but feel that this is the beginning of the end of BR. Come end of the season, finishing 7th or 8th probably won't be considered good enough. I don't think he'll be dismissed at close of season unless there's a run of defeats between now and the end of the season.
DeleteI agree that given that Gerrard was returning from injury and several weeks off the pace, he shouldn't have played. But he kopped a lot of stick for yesterday but as Victor mentioned, there were several others. Like Livingstone, I dreaded the news that Lucas wasn't fit and when I looked at the bench we just got that all wrong too. Why do you need to right backs on the bench, none of whom you trust? We couldn't find a midfield body at the club who could have come in for Lucas in the squad? BR was again out of his depth, he had another stinker in an important match. If he could wind the clock back, I wonder whether he would still opt for chasing the backside off Lallana, and then having more No 10s than TFL!
I think BR today, just about has enough in the bank to keep him in credit given the run we were on before the Man U game. But I'm not sure how long that will last.
The highlight of it all for me, apart from the goal was that perfect pass from Stevie to Mario. Just a great shame nothing came of it when it should have.
DeleteSee article below
ReplyDeleteBrendan Rodgers retains backing of Liverpool FC owners despite FA Cup disappointment
FSG will review season once it is over, but have no plans to change manager at this stage
Brendan Rodgers retains the backing of Liverpool’s owners, despite the club’s disappointing FA Cup semi-final defeat to Aston Villa.
As things stand, Fenway Sports Group have no plans to change manager, considering the 42-year-old to be central to their long-term strategy at Anfield.
The Americans plan to conduct a thorough review into this season, once the campaign has finished, but unless there is a significant change of heart in Boston during the next month, Rodgers will be given the chance to continue as Reds boss.
Sunday’s Wembley loss to Villa has re-opened the debate surrounding Rodgers’ future, with the Ulsterman preparing to complete his third season on Merseyside without silverware. Not since Phil Taylor, back in the 1950s, has a Liverpool manager begun his reign with three trophyless campaigns.
Qualification for the Champions League, the club’s main target at the start of the season, looks unlikely at present, and would represent a significant failure if it was not achieved, though Liverpool still have an outside chance of overhauling fourth-placed Manchester City, with six league games remaining.
FSG parted company with Rodgers’ predecessor Kenny Dalglish in the summer of 2012, following a disappointing league campaign in which the Reds finished eighth, 17 points adrift of the top four despite a League Cup success.
There is an appreciation, however, that the circumstances surrounding this season are somewhat different, and that Rodgers has been working within the framework provided by the club, in terms of finances, wage structure and a commitment to both buying and using younger players.
Still, missing out on next season’s Champions League would be viewed as a major blow by FSG, who believed the £116m spending spree sanctioned last summer would deliver qualification, despite the sale of Luis Suarez.
Financially, Liverpool would also miss out on a significant windfall of around £40m, with the new TV rights deal to come into operation as of next season. That would have repercussions in terms of the money the club will spend on transfers this summer.
Rodgers himself admitted earlier this season that his job would be on the line unless results, and just as importantly performances, improved quickly.
Liverpool sank as low as 12th in the Premier League after a defeat at Crystal Palace in November, but have lost just six of their 33 games in all competitions since, and can move to within four points of the top four if they win their game in hand at Hull next week.
Before that, they travel to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, with Rodgers insisting his side have “an obligation” to keep fighting, despite the disappointment of Wembley.
http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2015/04/brendan-rodgers-and-jurgen-klopp-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
DeleteThis pretty much sums up my views at present. Think we've all been at either end of the spectrum at times but currently I'm with the writer.... Think Rodgers has done lots of things well, but equally has made some massive errors and there are areas of concern.
If Klopp was interested I'd be tempted to try something new but wouldn't be totally horrified if Rodgers was given another year, although nowt will change if transfer and wage policy is amended...
the writer seems to elude to the fact that regardless of who the gaffer is, LFC comes 1st. We need to do whatever we need to.
DeleteRodgers ain't up to the job. If he was he'd have delivered something by now. He's still learning his trade & the key issue is whether or not we're patient enough to be his guinea pig. I know I'm not. LFC is a global football power that is fading fast under Rodgers. No decent world class players want to come to Liverpool. Why would they when you have a coach that has never won anything? BR is a decent enough dude. But he ain't up to the job (3 years is more than enough to deliver something). Klopp for the Kop.
DeleteKlopp for the Kop…enough said
DeleteI think most would favour that, however he look like he be free in the summer, and he would want to be part of the CL, what do we really have to offer him or attract his interest to play for us?
Deleteotherwise lets give BR one more season, may he should re-write his philosophy book again!
what gets me is were playing so well and had a good run of games, at this point of the season we should be strong enough, and keep going, but we have dropped so much, the Villa game summed it up, like Vic said it was embarrassing to LFC!
Barcelona last night, on another level of football Iniesta - say no more!
Personally I think Rodgers has got more things right than wrong. With Suarez leaving and Sturridge permanently injured we’ve lost 50 odd goals from the team this season and he’s still kept us more or less in contention for a top four spot. Coutinho, Henderson and Sterling have shown genuine improvement under Rodgers which may not have been the case if Kenny had stayed.
DeleteWhere he’s been hampered has been the transfer market, where buying by committee and to a strict set of age/sell-on-value was always going to cause problems in a competitive industry where even average talent equates to huge transfers. Of the new intake only Moreno can be considered a success at this point but I’m not going to rush to judgement on Lallana or Lovren because we all had Migs consigned to the dustbin a few short weeks ago.
Where Brendan needs to do much better is in the games against the other big teams only 5 wins in 20 odd games is just not good enough, those are the games we need to grind out a result regardless of philosophies or playing style.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSorry mate but I seriously beg to differ. No club with serious ambitions to be a big player can ever afford to have a single point of failure in their model. Bayern had 2 goal scoring machines injured and out of their team but Pep still found a way to get through to the next stage in the CL. Need to stop making excuses for Rodgers. Results are required and he ain't producing. Klopp for the Kop.
DeleteAt the end of the day we played well in the middle portion of the season and have beaten too many times by top end teams.
DeleteI don’t think we can now say that Brendan’s been restricted by a transfer system which he obviously helped to put in place in his 180 page document. At every opportunity, Brendan will talk-up Liverpool’s transfer policy and youth system. He’s done a great job bringing on Coutinho, Sterling and Henderson and keeping us in contention.
On the flipside, there is a lot of nonsense talked about the transfer policy. It’s similar to when Rafa was at the helm and there was the cry that Rafa wasn’t getting enough money to buy the top-end players. Sorry, but just because you’re given a set budget which pales in to comparison against the Man City and United’s or Chelsea it doesn’t mean you have to go and keep buying the Aspas’s, Alberto’s or Ilori’s. That’s 20 million pounds of footballers not playing for Liverpool, why? Because they are not good enough. The three of them are hardly getting game time for the respective clubs. Remember Rafa was offered Seamus Coleman for less the 50k and he put the phone down on the scout saying he wasn’t interested. What I’m saying is only 4 decent players having bought 25 plus players and three failing strikers and one injury prone!
One hundred and twenty million spent at the club and we don’t have a decent full-back, not wing-back, full-back in operation at the club. The best centre-midfielder at the club is arguably Can – the FA Cup Semi-final and had no centre-midfield cover it doesn’t just hint at the transfer policy, but the loans policy. Williams was on the bench for a few games and then a few months ago he sent him out full well knowing that Lucas, Gerrard and Allen seasons have been blighted by injury.
We fell upon the formation which has had the most success this season, but it killed Manquillo's season because he is an orthodox full-back. Then we have Markovic hooked in last two starts at half-time from wing-back – the guy is not a wing-back. Lallana playing wing-back has not exactly been a success and one of our most potent attacking weapons Sterling has had to do more than his fair share of defending because of the inadequacies in those positions.
I tend to look at the comments Brendan makes when he buys players. Like he said he’d been watching Moreno for two years and he was equally comfortable in any position down the left side. Pure and simple he struggles defending in one and one situations and needs to shape up.
This team needs a spine. He cannot keep buying players with the physicality of a Coutinho, Lallana and Markovic. We got taken apart at Wembley by Fabian Delph… not Vieira, Fabian Deplh and we have to have a team that is able to adapt and not just play the beautiful game.
Well put bro. V well put!!
DeleteA £120M doesn’t get you a squad far from it at current prices, so the transfer policy will have a detrimental effect on what the manager will be able to deliver, especially as a huge part of the policy is buying for the future rather than ready made players.
DeleteIts been no secret that BR requires players to play different positions whether that’s attacking players interchanging across the front 3, central defenders playing in a 3 or full-backs at wingbacks having an adaptable squad of players over a season is an advantage but there’s bound to be a few missteps as players such as Lallana, Markovic and Manquillo adapt.
As for Sunday we lost the game the minute Lucas was pulled from the starting line-up because the obvious choice to replace him in the middle was Chan because we all knew the Villa midfield was gonna run for 90 minutes and we needed to be able to deal with the higher pace they were going to bring. By bringing SG back BR choked the big decision, a 35 year old who hadn’t played for nearly a month was always going to be seriously off the pace and it showed. BR allowed himself to be pressured into making that decision by the media/fan hysteria surrounding SG’s last season and a birthday Wembley appearance.
We're not in a good place - a board that doesn't want to spend the big bucks to get the big players plus no draw of playing under an experienced manager that has won trophies. On top of that no CL football. Seriously doubt we'll get any world class players to join the club over the summer. FSG have tried the experiment of a young manager to build a club around. Bold and risky & it nearly paid off last season. But 80% of that was down to Saurez's sheer footballing brilliance and the space it created for the other LFC players to exploit. A chihuahua could have managed LFC last season and still got the same ball park results with Saurez in the team. I got nothing against Rodgers personally - his heart is in the right place. But elite football is unforgiving. Results are everything and if he ain't producing, if world class players ain't coming, if players are having unsanctioned interviews with the press, if players contracts are being run down and if players are being confused and rendered useless by being played out of position continually then Rodgers needs to find another club. Our patience is finite. We are watching LFC become a mid table side under Rodgers and we need to be better than that.
DeleteRejecting 80,000, Jordan Henderson signs new five-year Liverpool deal worth £100,000 a week, Fair play to his Agent who seem to pulling the strings!
ReplyDeleteFinally a bit of positive news. Think in this day and age he's worth that and expect him to step on with the departure of Gerrard. Think his creative ability is often overlooked, got a great delivery and a decent eye for a pass as reflected by his healthy assist totals over last two seasons...
Delete