Aston Villa vs. Liverpool, Match Review: *Fart Noise*

-Firstly, yes, this was indeed a largely appalling performance by Villa outside of a twenty-minute period before halftime. Dull, uninspiring, soul-destroying and so on.

-According to the match stats, Liverpool had ‘only’ 52% of the possession. That probably does not reflect the general flow of the game – for a majority of the game, Liverpool dominated possession (I would guess that up to the 70th minute, they had probably managed to have the ball at least 60% of the time), generally shuttling the ball around with ease from the back. Over the final twenty minutes, Liverpool were content to sit back and let Villa go about (futilely) attempting to create a goalscoring opportunity.

-Of course, it’s been acknowledged previously that since maintaining possession really isn’t what the team depends upon for success, it isn’t too much of a big deal if they allow their opponents to hold onto the ball for long periods of time providing that they can keep such possession from developing into something more dangerous. That assertion did somewhat apply here, as Liverpool constructed very little of their own from their 60+% possession.

-I say ‘somewhat’ because Villa gave the ball away in dangerous positions often enough that Liverpool’s inability to create chances from their normal build-from-back progression really didn’t matter at all. Time and time again, poor distribution and silly giveaways from the back and in midfield gifted Liverpool possession with space to exploit. On numerous occasions during the game, Villa would concede possession at inopportune times consequently provide Luis Suarez or Craig Bellamy with room to run at James Collins and Richard Dunne , with defensive support from either the fullbacks or central midfielders lagging behind. To their credit, Dunne and Collins generally managed reasonably well against Suarez – though as expected of a player with his kind of skill, the Uruguayan succeeded in escaping a few times and would’ve (should’ve) had a couple had the post not intervened.

-Whoops, set-piece defending.

-Obvious statement, but Gabby’s incisiveness was sorely missed. Both N’Zogbia and Albrighton struggled to find space to do anything in particular, although some credit does go to the Liverpool defence who closed down well. Unfortunately, I am unable to remember Villa creating a single ‘good’ chance throughout the match.

-I want to stop the pessimism here for a moment to try and offer optimism. At the very least, McLeish didn’t set things up to be totally negative, and Villa attempted to play some attacking football. Sure, the execution ended up being absolutely dire. But at the very least, I think we can expect Villa to at least try and go for results against most teams going forward; and as long as one or more of Gabby/Albrighton/N’Zogbia/Bent can provide their flashes of brilliance, Villa should be able to stay up.

-Speaking of N’Zogbia, the Frenchman was decent once again, combining well with Nathan Delfouneso and getting a couple of good shots in. He still doesn’t have the end-product, but this has been an extended period where at the very least he’s been a proper threat going forward. A strong second half is very possible.

-Stiliyan Petrov copped a lot of stick early in the season for being immobile, for constantly being out-of-position, for his limited distribution, for his wayward shooting, and so on. Recently, he’s actually provided both useful distribution and a bit of dynamism going forward. The latter wasn’t there today, but he did hit a few nice passes and probably kept the ball better than any other player on the team (although that’s really not saying much). I might have to reconsider my ‘Darren Gibson is probably better than Petrov because at least he can shoot straight from long distances’ stance, which admittedly was always on shaky ground.

-Fabian Delph is truly terrible right now. I’m sure he still has the ability to become a useful Premier League midfielder, but right now his confidence appears shot. There’s none of the thrust which is supposed to be his big strength; he gave the ball away far too often, whether by a misplaced pass or being caught in possession. The lack of central midfield options probably means he has to stick around; but I’d really rather see him go on loan to a Championship team to regain some confidence.

-Stephen Warnock and Alan Hutton were both terrible, but you guys already knew that.

-Nathan Delfouneso was erratic in his first start of the season, but that’s to be expected from a young, raw striker. What he probably needs is an extended look-in with the first team – but it doesn’t seem like it’ll happen with Bent, Agbonlahor and Heskey (sigh) all ahead in the forward stakes.

-It can only get better from here, no? Oh wait, no it won’t. I hope you guys will enjoy Robin Van Persie murdering our backline mid-week.