More misery in the midlands: Aston Villa 0 – Liverpool 2

Yesterday’s game was another one without a goal for the Villans, as Rodgers’ Reds added to the misery in the midlands.

Moreno believed he had scored for the visitors for the Reds when he raced on to Coutinho’s through-ball and slotted past Guzan but the late, correct, call came to say he was offside.

A fuller than usual Villa Park then watched as Borini, predictably, prodded home Henderson’s cracking cross from the right after twenty-four minutes, scoring his first Premier League goal in twenty-one months.

Seven minutes later, Coutinho was afforded the opportunity to head home but Guzan stood strong and made the save in the centre of the goal, keeping his team in the game.

Borini’s right-footed effort then went high.

Sterling, back in the Liverpool side after being rested against Sunderland and allowed to go on holiday, sprinted free and seemed poised to add to the visitors’ lead but his chip from the centre of the box was toothless and caused Guzan no problems whatsoever.

The hosts upped the ante a little before half-time: Sanchez chanced his arm with a long-range drive before Cleverley poked the ball high and wide when one-on-one with Mignolet, who was having one of his better games in a Liverpool shirt.

After the break, the Villans won two corners in quick succession, thanks to Markovic. Knowing the problems set-pieces have caused the visitors this season, more really should have been made of them.

Guzan, proving to be the Villans’ man of the match, did well to tip a Skrtel header onto his post.

Okore found himself booked for a bad foul.

Weimann and new signing Gil replaced Westwood and Cleverley after fifty-eight minutes, in the hope that they could add some creative spark. While that spark, sadly, did not exactly ignite, the Spaniard was certainly an improved fuel, adding some much-needed excitement – and skill – to the Villa side as he linked well with the mobile Weimann and offered the Villans a new, and improved, option for taking corners.

Following Gil’s introduction, it was no coincidence that the home side was the one fashioning more of a goal threat – but only that, with both Benteke and Baker missing promising chances and allowing the dreadful drought to continue. Just after the hour mark, Benteke could be seen spinning sharply in the area before he released a fierce half-volley that his international team-mate Mignolet parried. Continuing to threaten, the Villans kept the Reds under pressure and, six minutes later, Baker wasted another scoring opportunity when, with Mignolet stranded, he sent his powerful header flying a little too high.

Unfortunately for those in claret and blue, Skrtel was on hand to make a crucial tackle to deny Benteke in the box.

Rodgers proceeded to make a double substitution of his own, sending Lambert and Enrique on in place of Borini and Moreno.

Leiva shot right-footed from outside the box after seventy-seven minutes but Guzan got down to the bottom right corner in time to make a comfortable save.

The game was put to bed in the seventy-ninth minute by substitute Lambert, who drilled the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.

The Villans are now seven Premier League games without a win and have not scored since December 20th. Nevertheless, speaking after the game, Paul Lambert’s words were as familiar to Villa fans as goals are strangers:

“The second half I thought we were excellent. I didn’t think there was too much in it in the first half.

We lost a poor goal but the second half was relentless pressure from us and their goalkeeper has probably kept them in it with the save from Christian Benteke.

I don’t think anyone could fault us for the way we played in the second half. We just have to keep doing what we did today and keep getting the chances and they will go in.”

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5 comments

  1. I’ve noticed from Lambert’s recent comments that our expectations are being lowered yet again – nothing about winning anymore, just, we might score a goal one day. And not only that but the way we’re going to score this goal is if we keep doing the same things. Fumbling and mumbling, our manager no longer has the faintest idea what to do.

  2. I just cling to the hope that no manager can be so utterly useless and it really is the players who are poor, not the tactics. I dont understand the four center midfielders selection yesterday, it is beyond my limited understanding of the game.

    Mr Gil is a small crumb of comfort, but we need another player to replace Gabby. Surely Grealish has more to offer.

    • I totally agree with you, what the hell was he thinking? I could not understand for one minute when I saw the team line up what he was trying to do. I haven’t seen the highlights and to be honest I couldn’t be bothered anymore. I would rather watch paint dry. I know how important it is to stay positive and that goes for any man, woman or child and whether your a manager of a football team in the Premier League or a manager of a small business it’s important to lead by example and also to have the right attitude but I for one cannot listen to P.L. anymore. I have lost all faith in this man and I said to my friends yesterday Villa are in massive trouble – look at our next six P.League fixtures, away to Arsenal, at home to Chelsea, away to Hill and home to Stoke. I hate to say it or be looked on as a negative person because I always try and remain upbeat but we haven’t scored in the Premier League since December the 20th and we have a manager that says exactly the same thing week in week out. Can anyone tell me if your in charge of a group of people do you tell them that they are fantastic every week when lets face it they are not, they are the opposite to that. We are the second worst team in Europe, only Hanburg have scored less goals than us. We are sliding down the table at an alarming rate of knots so that even a parachute now if deployed wouldn’t break our fall. We’re in trouble lads, we’re in deep deep trouble and the only thing that P.L is missing now from his CV which I will remind you that if he was to tell you about it would consist of at least 2000 words and 1950 of them would be the word fantastic that he is in fact the only manager for this job and that breaking all the records of being the worst Aston villa manager ever would in his eyes be a complete lie because of the constraints that he is working under as Aston Villa Manager. I hate to say this but i think the man is suffering from delusion of grandeur. Can anyone help this man please before its too late because we could very well end up in the championship next season and what if we can’t beat Bournemouth next week in the cup, which I will add is not by any means going to be easy as they know how to score and we don’t. We need a win and we need it fast otherwise we will all be suffering from symptoms such as dementia and Alzheimers because I don’t know about you but I certainly can’t remember the last time we scored.

      Regards, Donnacha.

  3. Sadly your assessment of Paul Lamberts’ managerial prowess is one that is held by many. There is no doubt that his after match television/media interviews paint a picture of a monosyllabic uneducated man who would find it difficult communicating with anyone. His inability to articulate his thoughts is worrying in the extreme and people have jokingly said to me that they have to put on the subtitle feature whenever he appears. We in this area are the last to criticise local dialects, don’t we suffer enough from mimics? But, that being said, the one thing that comes across is an impression that he is willing to put up with bad performances for a quiet life, and that he would do anything to avoid any conflict with the owner. The meek and mild Mr Lambert needs to grow a pair and tell it like it is. Some people need managing and that might mean reading the riot act occasionally. This namby pamby putting your arms round the shoulder of a player earning 20+ K per week and telling him it doesn’t matter that he missed a sitter is foreign to me. I am sure that Bill Shankly and Alex Ferguson are not of that school. So let’s see some steel Mr. Lambert, if you can?

  4. I’m finding it more and more difficult to make an effort to comment on the latest Lambert Weekly episode.
    No need to repeat the shocking stats, we all suffer enough without any reminding, and the manager blurbs on and on, not seeing the whole picture, just his deluded view.

    We are worryingly on the slide, but the man himself is in the comfort zone, he says he had a chat with Lerner on Wednesday, during which they mostly talked football, WTF? So where is this football they speak of?

    He has also created a split between the Villa fans, with his latest propaganda statement about us harming, or affecting, the team. FFS, it’s just a deflection to hide the truth, but a lot of fans fell for it, and abused anyone who said they would take part in the 8 minute thing.

    He’s a disgrace to the club, but thanks to a not bothered owner, we’re stuck with him. That’s all I can be bothered to say except UTV and f**k you Lambert and Lerner.

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