Build up for Aston Villa game

[DannyMan2006]

Villa lost in Europe today so will not be flush with confidence. Hopefully our lads are on a high and another quick start from us could see Villa crumble early doors.

Stick with the same team and the same fast tempo.

[DannyMan2006]

They only rested a couple too.

Aston Villa (4-5-1): Guzan; Beye, Cuellar, Davies (Lowry, 81), Shorey; Milner, Gardner (Agbonlahor, 55), Reo-Coker, Sidwell, Young; Heskey.
Subs: Friedel, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Delph, Petrov

[Marky]

It really depends how we start and if we score early.
If we get an early goal we could give them a good pasting, however i'd take a scrappy one nil win. Just aslong as we win.

[DannyMan2006]

It's also interesting to note that just three days after playing us Villa have the second leg of this tie which is now a must win situation.

[DannyMan2006]

It really depends how we start and if we score early.
If we get an early goal we could give them a good pasting, however i'd take a scrappy one nil win. Just aslong as we win.

I'd be happy at this stage to go down as the worst performing team ever to win the league. I think the fact we have not won for so long and not won the sky induced premier league. puts a lot of pressure on the club as a whole.

Win one and we can get all that out the way and look to build.

[JohnDoe]

They look shattered. Like Marky says, if we score early, I can see us obliterating them. Getting the first goal could be tricky though, their defence isn't as good as Stoke's, but they're much more dangerous on the counter.

[DannyMan2006]

A fit and fresh Villa with their tails up are a very dangerous team. I think we've got them at the right time, especially with the game being at Anfield.

They do look tired so they may struggle to break quickly. Early goal please.

[-V-]

Villa are always capable of scoring but their defence is **** so I have no doubt we will score goals into them

[Norbs]

I'll reserve an opinion on them until after the game, don't want to mocker it!

[magicalbarnes]

A fit and fresh Villa with their tails up are a very dangerous team. I think we've got them at the right time, especially with the game being at Anfield.

They do look tired so they may struggle to break quickly. Early goal please.

They are lucky that the match falls on Monday so they will be adequatly rested after their European game.

Hopefully 3 points and either ManU or Chelsea drop some points.

[Marky]

Only 3 games gone and we'll have played twice after United and Chelsea after tomorrow's match.
What a load of ****e.

[Craig_H]

Might sound silly, but the Villa game is crucial. Say what you want about it only being early, and it is of course. But Chelsea dont currently look like dropping much, so it's important to stay in touch. Must win this game.

[MrMichael]

Nope, not that silly, I tend to agree Craig... if we've genuine designs on the title pretty much every game is crucial, but right now we really do need 3 more points to properly move on from the dropped points at Spurs. More than that we also need a good performance against a team that will be decent this year even if they've started slowly.

I've got a good feeling about this game actually, quite fancy us to spank them.

[Craig_H]

As long as it's 3 points, i'll take it. Battering them would be nice and great for confidence, but just a win with no more injuries will do.

[DannyMan2006]

As long as it's 3 points, i'll take it. Battering them would be nice and great for confidence, but just a win with no more injuries will do.

I also agree about needing to win. Whilst it is not essential at this stage and no conclusions would be drawn at this early stage, the more you mess up now, the less margin for error you have in the run in, be you chasing 4th, 3rd, 2nd or 1st.

Liverpool have looked rather poor all pre season and started the season the same way. Thankfully a big win over Stoke has helped clear some cobwebs and another game at Anfield is ideal. Beat Villa and then we have a nice run of games which we would be heading into with confidence.

We should starting with Villa be looking to win the next 5 games. This could then take us into the Chelsea game on a real high and possible season defining run of 9 games in which we play Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd, Man City and Everton, mixed in with trips to Fulham, Blackburn and Sunderland, plus a home game against Birmingham.

Hopefully around this time we will have the return of long term injury lay offs Aquilani and Agger, plus a Fernando Torres firing on all cylinders - who I think has started way below match fitness.

I think that it would be highly likely that we will drop points on occasions during that nine game run, so winning the next five games would greatly assist us and mean dropping points in those games would be less damaging and less pressure on our team to win. Whilst every game is vital you don't really want the pressure of heading into early season clashes against the best teams needing to win to close up a big chasm in the league table.