Villa Post Match

[little dave hedgehog]

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

aw, i love you too, reece.

[vlahka]

I couldnt be stuffed staying up till 5am to watch the game, but when I woke up and saw an extensive amount of drool on my pillow, I knew Torres had scored us a winner.

[MrsB]

By the way Villa are wank, long ball over the top to Gabby or long ball to the chest of Carew and they are defensively organised, that's it. Reminds me of us under Houllier.............

The difference being that they have width which gives them multiple ways of breaking teams down and they have no clinical striker like Owen. I agree that they need to replace Barry's influence in midfield if they are to get 4th.

That, and they were also missing Ashley Young last night.

[Finnish_Red]

[Joey Jones]

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.

Spot on

[MrsB]

[The Birdman]

Couple of points -
1. I thought it was a great performance away to Villa who are flying, with a little more care on the final ball from Gerrard, Banayoun and on one occasion Johnson Torres would have got in a lot more.
2. Gerrard, Torres and Johnson still don't seem fully fit or if they are they don't appear confident in their injuries.
3. Insua was very good again.

Onwards and upwards

[Shaggy]

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

That's demented man, Aquilani obviously needs the games but Lucas was outstanding.

[Shaggy]

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

Normally Oliver Holt is a decent journo but this is such bollocks it defies belief. Reminds me of my Bitter Blue mate who wrote Alonso off after his debut at Bolton ("lots of Hollywoods passes that went astray, he's ****e") and then ended up looking a total cunt.

[anfieldanfield]

Lucas was outstanding.

How exactly ?! He offers absolutely nothing. Didn't even break up Villa's play or win many tackles.

[Shaggy]

Man that just proves you're either not paying attention or just have a blind spot. He was great. His passing was bold, fizzing it into people's feet, he took responsibility, he hardly gave it away, he broke up play. He did everything expected of him. Take a look around the forums, he's pissing the MOM and a lot of people are coming round to him.

[wavydavy]

Good 3 points but I think a few posters are a bitt OTT. Our passing was dire. No width, shocking corners and next to no creativity at all. Benayoun was constantly over-doing it in and around the area. Nobody seemed to have the confidence to shoot at goal. And Kuyt, why does this guy escape criticism? People can throw up all the stats, important goals etc they like but this lad shouldn't get anywhere near our first XI. He's absolutely ****ing woeful. IMO last night was same as ever this season but with a world class strike attatched to the end off it. I'm not getting too excited just yet.

[Shaggy]

Our passing was good until the final ball, we kept the ball really well and shifted the ball through midfield much better than the recent hoofing and bypassing of midfield.

Agreed about Yossi, and Kuyt just needs taking out of the team...full stop.

[badpiggy]

only saw the 2nd half but thought lucas was excellent - passed it really well himself and took up great classic midfield positions to keep our passing going. though insua had a great game too - he really has something about him going forward and thought he defended very well last night despite being caught out once or twice. aquilani showed for the ball well and what midfielder doesn't give the ball away ffs? in fact i thought we passed the ball reall;y well and there were a few incisive one-touch moves that would have the pundits raving if it was any other team. was very concerned by johnson - thought he looked like he didn't know what he was doing most of the time. kuyt having a ****e season. torres is a ****in legend.

[Rafa_el_Gafa]

We look a much better side with gerrard back in the middle of the park.