Weekend Football Thread. *spoilers* 22nd-24th

Tom84 said:
Ah so Liverpool played well tonight I see, just unlucky I guess

Oh and Stoke had they taken their chances could have easily gave you a run for your money last Wednesday but without that being said dont get too excited about a win at home against a team that'll no doubt be down the bottom of the table for much of the season ;)
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Well did you watch the games or not? Doesnt sound like it. Even the Villa fan above is saying it was a fluke.

Who's getting excited about it? I merely pointed out that you were wrong.
 
You see I think Liverpool, needed to improve the squad this season, maybe not the first 11, as that showed last season that it's more then capable of competing.

I just expected them to off load all the dead wood, (you have 57 players registered for the league iirc) and expected a half decent back up for Torres, some cover for the midfield and a new full back, and a winger.

Now you've done the last two in Johnson, who could play as a winger or at right back, and has looked very good going forward, he's not brilliant defensively, but he can only get better.

Alonso, meh, you forced him out and it was almost a no brainer that he could leave, you needed a better replacement then an injury prone player, added with the lack of squad improvement, meh.

I predicted a top 4 finish for them, not top two.

Liverpool will bounce back, it's what all great teams do. This isn't the end of the world.
 
BaZ87 said:
So it was both. You didn't watch the game and have no idea what Alonso done.

When a team is sitting back with 8 or 9 men behind the ball like Villa were today, Gerrard etc aren't going to get masses of space. There was absolutely no issue with the amount of times we got Gerrard, Kuyt and Benayoun on the ball in and around Villa's box, the issue was when they got it they lost it.

Of course Alonso is a far better player than Lucas ever will be, but the result would have been no different had Alonso still been here and played today.
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Well I beg to differ, the quality Alonso has over Lucas I find it hard to believe that the pattern of Liverpool's play wouldn't of been a lot better than Lucas' indecisiveness and square passes
 
el_dazza said:
I really would like to rub in the fact that we won but I won't, as we really didn't deserve to win that. Fluke result, granted, but it happens sometimes, thankfully we were on the right end of one tonight.

Friedel - 8/10
Beye - 6/10
Cuellar - 7/10
Davies - 8/10
Shorey - 8/10
Milner - 7/10
Petrov - 7/10
Reo-Coker - 8/10
Sidwell - 7/10
Young - 9/10
Agbonlahor - 7/10
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Villa played really well I thought. Pretty solid at the back and took their chances when they could. You can't help that Liverpool defended the two set pieces awfully (particularly the second..) and the fact that Gerrard made an awful tackle..
 
Shamikebab said:
You cannot possibly say that, just as he can't possibly say the lack of Alonso is what caused it.
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If you're going to nitpick then of course not. However based on the type of player Alonso is then it's fair to say that it was massively unlikely that he'd have made a difference.

Throughout the game we were fairly comfortable in the middle of the park our problem (as well as giving away too many free-kicks and corners) was our play in the final 1/3 of the pitch.
 
Burned_Alive said:
Well did you watch the games or not? Doesnt sound like it. Even the Villa fan above is saying it was a fluke.

Who's getting excited about it? I merely pointed out that you were wrong.
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How exactly was anything about tonight's game a fluke other than Villa's opening goal? They took their chances after that and defended well nothing fluky about that.
 
Tummy said:
You see I think Liverpool, needed to improve the squad this season, maybe not the first 11, as that showed last season that it's more then capable of competing.

I just expected them to off load all the dead wood, (you have 57 players registered for the league iirc) and expected a half decent back up for Torres, some cover for the midfield and a new full back, and a winger.

Now you've done the last two in Johnson, who could play as a winger or at right back, and has looked very good going forward, he's not brilliant defensively, but he can only get better.

Alonso, meh, you forced him out and it was almost a no brainer that he could leave, you needed a better replacement then an injury prone player, added with the lack of squad improvement, meh.

I predicted a top 4 finish for them, not top two.

Liverpool will bounce back, it's what all great teams do. This isn't the end of the world.
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Agree with most of that actually. Although I think Aquilani will be a good signing and it's a shame he's not available now. Players like Voronin and Babel really have no place on our bench.
 
BaZ87 said:
If you're going to nitpick then of course not. However based on the type of player Alonso is then it's fair to say that it was massively unlikely that he'd have made a difference.

Throughout the game we were fairly comfortable in the middle of the park our problem (as well as giving away too many free-kicks and corners) was our play in the final 1/3 of the pitch.
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Which due to Alonso's better ability than Lucas would have improved ;)
 
Burned_Alive said:
Agree with most of that actually. Although I think Aquilani will be a good signing and it's a shame he's not available now. Players like Voronin and Babel really have no place on our bench.
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I think it was unwise to replace a very consistent player with someone who is injury prone, although I can't help but feel Aquilani was a bit of a knee jerk, I feel if he can keep fit (big if) he could be a good player.

RE: Babal and Voronin, as I said, you needed to improve your squad, didn't do that. Rafa is awful in the transfer market, he needs to stop buying cheap foreign players, and invest in much better players.
 
el_dazza said:
We defended well, you had no space in the final 1/3rd but had all the possession in midfield. Bitter much? :D
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Not bitter at all actually, Villa deserved the result and as you say defended well. But anyone who watched it, knows that not the full story and it's clear Tom84 didnt watch it or cant take his Man United tinted glasses off.
 
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Tom84 said:
How exactly was anything about tonight's game a fluke other than Villa's opening goal? They took their chances after that and defended well nothing fluky about that.
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Whether flukey is the right word or not, I don't know but they scored a deflected free-kick and were gifted a 3rd because of a ridiculous challenge by Gerrard. Other than a couple of breaks in the 2nd half when we were chasing the game they created nothing. I wouldn't say they defended too well either; it will get said they did because they held onto a lead but I can think of at least 3 free headers we missed from less than 10 yards out.

It was very much one of those games where everything seemed to go Villa's way.
 
Burned_Alive said:
Did you watch the game?
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Yeah I did, they got a fortunate opening goal and good second (cant blame your defence as you defended it the same way you do every set piece) and after that the onus was on you to break them down which you weren't good enough to do and when you did they went straight down the other end of the pitch and got a third which again had no luck involved whatsoever as it was a good piece of attacking movement and Gerrard lost his head
 
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