Aston Villa (Away) on Saturday

[Neil Young]

1 defeat for us.

The scorer of the winning goal that day...

[BigChief]

Can't wait. I just want to see LFC play. Sho sheckshy.

They will resort to long ball to Benteke with flick ons or second balls to Agbie. Toure is a much better defender than Skrtel so we should manage him better and Lucas needs to keep an eye on the second balls.

Other than that their defence is still just as bad as always, we just need to FINISH!

[el matador]

i think villa are better away from home where they will look to use their pace on the counter than at home.

they had a bloody good result last week but there's still some vulnerabilities in that villa defence.

[frank the tank]

hmmm i think Villa will be top-10 this season. The real advantage we have is that they have to play Chelsea on Wednesday night. If they (unlikely) get anything from that game, then their tails will be up....

I think Brendan will consider replacing Aspas for Allen - thus having Allen, Lucas and Gerrard as the central 3 keeping things nice and tight (possession) and having Henderson and Coutinho as the two supporting Sturridge up top. This should protect the defense a little bit more and also allow us to bring Aspas on should we need him in the 2nd half. Would be tough on him though.....

If I was Paul Lambert, then i would have looked at Mignolet last weekend and just tell his team to pump crosses and long balls into our box. There is no doubt that is where our weakness lies....

I think we should win but i have a dodgy feeling that Benteke will bring us crashing down to earth!

[DKdan]

To be honest I dont think handling Benteke and a lot of crosses will be that different from the Stoke game.

I think our midfield coped very well with Stokes physical play too, so I dont fear that too much.

But they play Chelsea tonight. The second game in a row, where nobody expects anything from them. At home against us is a different matter. They will have to keep the ball better, and they will have to push forward a bit. I think Aspas, Sturridge and Coutinho wil LOVE that. Besides as long as they dont sign Begovic im sure we will find a way past them.

Only thing that worries me is Agger having another brain fart. He has had a lot of those the past year.

I just hope the ref wont allow them to kick us all over the place like last year. Villa is a very dirty side IMO. How is Clattenburg? Strict? Leanient?

[JohnDoe]

I'd put on Sterling in for Aspas and move Coutinho into the middle. Just a better shape for an away game IMO, but I wouldn't be opposed to keeping the same team.

[PTP]

I'd put on Sterling in for Aspas and move Coutinho into the middle. Just a better shape for an away game IMO, but I wouldn't be opposed to keeping the same team.

making it sterling and hendo as the 'wide' men?

could work.

i'd defo keep hendo in the side, we need that extra bit of legs/workrate for a tough away game

We need Toure to do a number on Benteke and we need to get the ball to Coutinho as much as possible

[The_weatherman]

I'd put on Sterling in for Aspas and move Coutinho into the middle. Just a better shape for an away game IMO, but I wouldn't be opposed to keeping the same team.

I'd keep Aspas, I was unimpressed with that change against Stoke tbh, I thought Aspas offered more.

[badpiggy]

making it sterling and hendo as the 'wide' men?

could work.

i'd defo keep hendo in the side, we need that extra bit of legs/workrate for a tough away game

We need Toure to do a number on Benteke and we need to get the ball to Coutinho as much as possible

Big test for Toure.

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

They're set up for counterattack and we're set up for possession. The question is how much being at home will encourage them to change their natural style.

Much will depend on who scores first I think, as at Anfield. Then again going behind against Arsenal didn't impede them much.

Think this is a bit of a myth about how we're playing under Rodgers to be honest, think he knocked this on the head when it wasn't working. We play much more direct now than when he first started, 52% possession against Stoke is nothing like how he started off.

[Neil Young]

The 52% possession statistic against Stoke is disputed - Sky put it much higher. And time of possession isn't a straightforward yardstick anyway as apparently it might include time taken over goal kicks etc. when the ball isn't in play.

So rather than getting into an argument about statistics, which may or may not be reliable, my point was based on my observation that we have players who can keep the ball much better than Aston Villa's. And Villa have a record of playing well on the counterattack, using primarily the strength of Benteke and pace of Agbonlahor and Weimann, as, to give a couple of relevant examples, at Anfield last season and Arsenal on Saturday.

From what I remember all six of their goals in those matches came due to breaking at pace, including Agbonlahor breaking through Arsenal's midfield and central defence to win their first penalty, despite being 1-0 down at the time.

I agree there was a tendency to overstate our possession game under Rodgers and there was an evolution last season. Equally however I think the difference in style between us and Villa - based on last season and, admittedly, a one-off away game last weekend - is clear.

[SB]

I'd keep Aspas, I was unimpressed with that change against Stoke tbh, I thought Aspas offered more.

Yeah Raheem didn't offer much off the bench at all.

[gentingfrmhell]

hmmm i think Villa will be top-10 this season. The real advantage we have is that they have to play Chelsea on Wednesday night. If they (unlikely) get anything from that game, then their tails will be up....

I think Brendan will consider replacing Aspas for Allen - thus having Allen, Lucas and Gerrard as the central 3 keeping things nice and tight (possession) and having Henderson and Coutinho as the two supporting Sturridge up top. This should protect the defense a little bit more and also allow us to bring Aspas on should we need him in the 2nd half. Would be tough on him though.....

If I was Paul Lambert, then i would have looked at Mignolet last weekend and just tell his team to pump crosses and long balls into our box. There is no doubt that is where our weakness lies....

I think we should win but i have a dodgy feeling that Benteke will bring us crashing down to earth!

say no to allen

[gentingfrmhell]

This is the real test for us. Villa has got both pace and power in their attack. I remember we lost to them once 3-1 last year.

would stick with the same formation

[DeeTheDog]

Interesting to see how Villa handle Chelsea tonight with their fluid front line, good barometer for our game.

Last season, we had both Shelvey, a tiring Sterling, plus a returning from long-term injury Lucas in our starting eleven. We sat too deep and Skrtel was poor. If we perform like we did against Stoke, I think we will have too much for them.