Liverpool FC Forum

by **Dundalk** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 8:38 pm

After a 2-0 win against a resliant Wolves side next up we face Martin O Neills Aston Villa. Im my opinion this is our main threat for the 4th spot place this year. City and Spurs will be there or there abouts but in my eyes Villa look the real deal this season and there squad looks a lot deeper than last season. They have a lot of good English players, Milner being the stand
out one this season. He is scoring goals and setting them up and is almost a cert to be on the pane to South Africa with the English team in the summer.

But arguably there best player so far this season has been Richard Dunne who has been rock solid at the back this season and has also chipped in with a few goals. Some would say getting rid of him and buying in Lescott was one of the main factors in getting Mark Hughes the sack. Collins has also been superb and if we rae to get past them we will have to do so on the ground as these two are very good in the air.

Also good in the air are Heskey and Carew one of which we will probably have to face. But stop them and we still have the pace of Young and Agbonlahor to deal with. Make no mistake this will be a very very tough game.

It was good to see Aqualini get his first start in the Wolves match and he looked good in patches. Gerrard for me looked much more up for it, so much so that he could have been sent of foe a few reckless challanges bur it was good to see him back like that as in previous games his body langugue has been all wrong. We will need the same Gerrard against Villa. Torres still dosent look fully fit, but again we need him playing so no rest im afraid. Even a 70% Torres can nick you that all important goal.

Liverpool have not lost at the stadium since February 1998 and have won seven of the last 12 meetings in all competitions there. We all remeber Gerrards lasdt min free kick on the first game of the season a few seasons ago. Ill take that right now!!

I think it will be 1-1 in this one, lets hope im wrong and we can get the win and a bit of revenge for the 3-1 home defeat as the start of the season.

by **Ben Patrick** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 10:33 pm

good thread starter mate.

I agree about Villa, they seem far more resilient this season and have already beaten ourselves chelsea and united.
Dunne is a good player and one that i dont understand why city let go.
I am concerned about this game, i am not convinced at all by our midfield these days.
Hopefully the players can kick on after todays win though, stranger things have happened.
Was great to see stevie back fired up today, lets hope this is the start of things to come.

by **Owzat** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 9:08 am

We really need to win this, villa play their game in hand today and are five points ahead of us. We need to gain ground, to lose twice to them would be unthinkable and a draw wouldn't help much either.

We've only lost game 20 three times in the Premiership, P17 W8 D6 L3.

06/07 BLA 1-0 LIV
00/01 MID 1-0 LIV
92/93 COV 5-1 LIV

So last time we played a midlands side in game 20 of the Premiership we got our backsides well and truly kicked - and Coventry only finished FIFTEENTH so it wasn't like they had a good season. We lost 11 away that season, we are halfway to repeating that poor record. It's the most we've lost away in the Premiership and to prove it was no fluke Souness repeated it in 93/94. As if we need parallels with Rafa's first season, the only other time we lost 11 away games was..................................2004/05

We've only lost five times at villa park in the Premiership, and only won there seven times - P17 W7 D5 L5 - so expect a close game.

97/98 AVL 2-1 LIV
96/97 AVL 1-0 LIV
94/95 AVL 2-0 LIV
93/94 AVL 2-1 LIV
92/93 AVL 4-2 LIV

Unfortunately our record at vp by goals scored leaves a nagging doubt given our lack of consistent goalscoring this season

0 goals : P6 W0 D4 L2 (Won 0.00%)
1 goal : P4 W1 D1 L2 (Won 25.00%)
2 goals : P5 W4 D0 L1 (Won 80.00%)
3+ goals : P2 W2 D0 L0 (Won 100.00%)

Up against a villa side whose home record this season is : P9 W6 D2 L1 F17 A6 PTS 20. Chelsea lost there, oddly enough the only side to win there was Wigan first game of the season and they are the only visiting side to score more than one goal - Wigan won 2-0, the Premiership sides scoring one goal were Chelsea (L1-2), Bolton (L1-5), Man City (D1-1) and Tottenham (D1-1). villa play Arsenal today, they beat the mancs at old twatford and us at Anfield. That makes their record against the big six (includes spudz and citeh) P5 W3 D2 L0 compared to our's against a big six, with them replacing us, P6 W1 D1 L4

by **JC_81** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 9:28 am

We'll struggle to win this, quite simply because we have struggled to beat any team of quality this season.

I think we'll probably get beaten in this one, and if we do it's goodbye CL next season. If we can manage to build on the wolves win and get another three points then we're right back in the mix for fourth, and I genuiniely think it's our last chance to get back into contention for it. We can't afford any more slip ups.

by **shawnk** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 10:01 am

@dundalk

Hopefully another win for Liverpool after you started the topic!

by **J*o*n*D*o*e** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 5:15 pm

tough game for Villa today and losing 3.0 aswell plus a day more for us to prepare, lets hope we can push on from yesterday and get back in the mix.

come on Redmen

by **account deleted by request** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 5:22 pm

I was pleasantly surprised to see Villa get heavily beaten by Arsenal, hopefully we can now go into this game with a little more confidence. I think we will have a bit too much for Villa and can see us snatching a win. My one real worry is our defence may struggle at set pieces as they have some players who are very adept at attacking crosses. Get that sorted and I think we have the players to get a goal or two as long as we play with confidence and heart.

2-1 to Liverpool

by **red37** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 8:52 am

No Ashley Young either for them.

by **red_guy** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:41 am

s@int wrote:My one real worry is our defence may struggle at set pieces as they have some players who are very adept at attacking crosses.

Well, my real worry is that are we going to play an attacking style football or we stick to the same old formula of no ambition style of football until we make mistakes and starting conceding goals?

by **Reg** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:44 am

With them losing to the gooners this is as good an opportunity to get one over them as we're going to get. If the lads can put it together we should pip them.

2-0 Reds.

by **bigmick** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:47 am

It's another huge game. Win it and we look like we're right in the hunt for the top four, lose it and we're not far off dead and buried if other results go against us. I think we simply cannot afford to get beat, and we won't. I take us to eek out a 1-1 draw.

by **Ciggy** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 12:25 pm

Watching them yesterday against Arsenal we have nothing to fear, imagine them in the CL :Oo:

, just hope we gained some confidence against Wolves and get 3 points against these pretenders.

by **JC_81** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:56 pm

I think the beating Villa got from Arsenal changes our chances here. They had been on a good run before that so hopefully that's their form dipping just in time for playing us.

Also I've heard Young's out and Cuellar (who has been an unsung hero for them this season along with Dunne) is suspended.

We might even be able to nick a win here but it won't be an easy game.

by **LFC2007** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 4:39 pm

It was never a 3-0 against Arsenal. Anyone who watched the first half surely cannot say that they were poor. They were very well organised and Arsenal really struggled to break them down. They were essentially undone by three brilliant goals and an inability to hold the ball up field for long enough spells.

The signficance of this game goes without saying. We really have to raise our game and rise to the challenge because right now they look like a team worthy of a top four spot (as do Spurs), and frankly we don't. Put simply, I think we'll need at least one goal to get something from the game.

by **stmichael** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 4:57 pm

I'm going to this but am not exactly filled with confidence. This season I've been to Sunderland and Blackburn and witnessed probably our worst two "performances" of the season.

Villa will play on the counter attack and will look to profit from set pieces. We'll have to take our chances as I just can't see us keeping a clean sheet.

Kuyt will probably be back but I hope he drops Aurelio and not Benayoun. Won't hold my breath though, especially with us being away from home.

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