Villa Post Match

[little dave hedgehog]

That's more like it, more positivity is needed around here don't you think.

jesus christ, marky

[Vermilion]

[Marky]

I thought him and Aquilani offered very little. They both gave the ball away a fair few times.

I thought Lucas played pretty well.

It's very early days for Aquilani but i just don't get a good feeling about him.

[Nicey]

That's more like it, more positivity is needed around here don't you think.

I am making fingers to my eyes and then yours douchebag

[andrewces38]

Look!! Nice to see Babel taking an interest...

Too Little too late maybe?................I suppose thats for another thread

[Nicey]

Too Little too late maybe?................I suppose thats for another thread

Or perhaps the start of him growing up

[cream]

Lucas and Aquilani make a good midfield pairing, great performance by Lucas today, turning into a proper player that lad.

[Nicey]

Lucas and Aquilani make a good midfield pairing, great performance by Lucas today, turning into a proper player that lad.

Yep fair more balanced

[skowser]

Pretty tight game overall, but we've been long overdue one that goes for us at the death.

Solid if not spectacular performance from us; we've definitely got problems in terms of creativity, width and pace, Torres looks entirely unfit and Aquilani was nowhere near the game pace at points... but we did well for the most part in defence and kept our heads up till the end. Villa had a couple of good spells in the game but they by no means should have been "out of sight".



I'd imagine there'll be a torrent on thebox by tomorrow morning, get it there?

Already up

[little dave hedgehog]

No idea why anyone but rafa would want to watch such a painfully frustrating match again, though.

[red g]

It was hard not to feel a tinge of sympathy for Alberto Aquilani at Villa Park last night.

Not just because he made only the third start of his Liverpool career in a Midlands blizzard.

But because, no matter how well he had played against Villa, nothing will alter the fact that he was a failure before he kicked a ball for his club.

Aquilani cost £20million when he joined Liverpool from Roma in the summer and so far at least, he has to be the worst signing of the season.

It's not his fault he was injured for the first four months of this campaign but the fact is that by the time he was fit, Liverpool had already been knocked out of the Champions League.

By the time he was fit, Liverpool were already too far adrift in the Premier League to harbour any realistic ambitions of winning the title.

And everybody, not least Steven Gerrard and his teammates, had begun to realise exactly how important Xabi Alonso had been to the balance of the side before he was sold to Real Madrid.

So Aquilani is a symbol of everything that has gone wrong in this awful start to Liverpool's season and all that is left for him is a prolonged exercise in damage limitation.

He has to attempt to show that even if his signing was a gamble that backfired in the short term, he might yet be a success for Liverpool in the long term.

The signs last night - the ones that could be glimpsed through the driving snow anyway - were not particularly promising.

Sitting deep in midfield alongside Lucas, Aquilani sprayed a couple of decent passes out wide to right and left.

But mostly, he was anonymous. His influence was strictly limited, his contribution peripheral at best.

There is immense pressure on him, of course. Liverpool fans waited for his debut for so long that by the time he finally ran out for the club, they had built him up into a cross between Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness.

And he also has the most difficult job of any midfielder in any team in the Premier League: trying to fit into a side ruled by Steven Gerrard.

Gerrard dominates the Liverpool midfield more completely than any player dominates any department of his team and Aquilani has to fit around him.

A couple of times last night, he hovered hopefully over free kicks only for the inevitable to happen when Gerrard ushered him away and took the kicks himself.

Upright and lean, Aquilani has a similar gait to that fine former Liverpool midfielder, Jamie Redknapp, but he was unable to show last night that he has anything like Redknapp's passing range.

The only cheers he got were from the Villa fans when he sliced an attempted cross deep into the North Stand.

Aquilani did at least manage a faint smile at that point but he seemed to grow less and less sure of himself as the second half progressed.

In one break in play, Glen Johnson even felt the need to jog up to him and give him a quick lecture on what he should be doing.

A couple of his misplaced passes were met by gestures of disgust by Yossi Benayoun.

Then, for a moment, it seemed as if Aquilani had made a significant breakthrough. Midway through the second half, Gerrard signalled that he would step aside and allow him to take a free kick.

Aquilani took a couple of deep breaths and bent down to pull up his socks. Then he curled the free kick a couple of feet over the bar.

When he was substituted 15 minutes from the end, he was serenaded again by the Villa supporters.

"What a waste of money," they sang..

What did you make of Alberto Aquilani's debut? Let us know by leaving a comment below...

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/Why-Alberto-Aquilani-s-Liverpool-debut-against-Aston-Villa-merely-confirmed-his-status-as-a-20million-flop-by-Oliver-Holt-article271165.html

**** off oliver holt

[kris90210]

Torres is just immense. One chance, one goal. We are crying out for additional creativity in the team. Give Torres chances and he'll take them. We are blessed to be able to call the best striker in the world a Liverpool player.

[kris90210]

It was hard not to feel a tinge of sympathy for Alberto Aquilani at Villa Park last night.

Not just because he made only the third start of his Liverpool career in a Midlands blizzard.

But because, no matter how well he had played against Villa, nothing will alter the fact that he was a failure before he kicked a ball for his club.

Aquilani cost £20million when he joined Liverpool from Roma in the summer and so far at least, he has to be the worst signing of the season.

It's not his fault he was injured for the first four months of this campaign but the fact is that by the time he was fit, Liverpool had already been knocked out of the Champions League.

By the time he was fit, Liverpool were already too far adrift in the Premier League to harbour any realistic ambitions of winning the title.

And everybody, not least Steven Gerrard and his teammates, had begun to realise exactly how important Xabi Alonso had been to the balance of the side before he was sold to Real Madrid.

So Aquilani is a symbol of everything that has gone wrong in this awful start to Liverpool's season and all that is left for him is a prolonged exercise in damage limitation.

He has to attempt to show that even if his signing was a gamble that backfired in the short term, he might yet be a success for Liverpool in the long term.

The signs last night - the ones that could be glimpsed through the driving snow anyway - were not particularly promising.

Sitting deep in midfield alongside Lucas, Aquilani sprayed a couple of decent passes out wide to right and left.

But mostly, he was anonymous. His influence was strictly limited, his contribution peripheral at best.

There is immense pressure on him, of course. Liverpool fans waited for his debut for so long that by the time he finally ran out for the club, they had built him up into a cross between Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness.

And he also has the most difficult job of any midfielder in any team in the Premier League: trying to fit into a side ruled by Steven Gerrard.

Gerrard dominates the Liverpool midfield more completely than any player dominates any department of his team and Aquilani has to fit around him.

A couple of times last night, he hovered hopefully over free kicks only for the inevitable to happen when Gerrard ushered him away and took the kicks himself.

Upright and lean, Aquilani has a similar gait to that fine former Liverpool midfielder, Jamie Redknapp, but he was unable to show last night that he has anything like Redknapp's passing range.

The only cheers he got were from the Villa fans when he sliced an attempted cross deep into the North Stand.

Aquilani did at least manage a faint smile at that point but he seemed to grow less and less sure of himself as the second half progressed.

In one break in play, Glen Johnson even felt the need to jog up to him and give him a quick lecture on what he should be doing.

A couple of his misplaced passes were met by gestures of disgust by Yossi Benayoun.

Then, for a moment, it seemed as if Aquilani had made a significant breakthrough. Midway through the second half, Gerrard signalled that he would step aside and allow him to take a free kick.

Aquilani took a couple of deep breaths and bent down to pull up his socks. Then he curled the free kick a couple of feet over the bar.

When he was substituted 15 minutes from the end, he was serenaded again by the Villa supporters.

"What a waste of money," they sang..

What did you make of Alberto Aquilani's debut? Let us know by leaving a comment below...

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opin...cle271165.html

What a load of bollocks. To judge a player who has been injured for not far off a year on 3 games is crazy. Add to that the fact that he's having to acclimatise to a new team, and a completely different style / pace of football over here.

How such ****ing idiots get paid to write about football is beyond me.

He needs time and patience. He's shown glimpses of class. It'll come.

[Reece]

Well I was out tonight, in a pub that doesn't show football, but the whole pub knew when I saw on my phone that we'd got a late winner

I ****ing love you Sexy Tits

[little dave hedgehog]

i thought he was pretty great on his debut.


against wolves.

of course he wasn't as good tonight, he was probably, understandably, knackered.

**** stirring bunch of cunts.