Great win again against Villa.
I thought we played well in first half again taking control at their stadium having the majority of the possession for then to give it all to them in the second half.
Now in fairness to Brendan Rodgers he said that was the plan to sit deep and let them have more of the ball.
Villa used it well but in difference to against Stoke I thought we defended a lot better and let them struggle to get close to our penalty box. In the air especially we stook up to Benteke and did not allow space to run in behind or for Agbonlahor, Andreas Weimann and Benteke.
The result was us holding on to a very good 1-0 win. I think Brendan Rodgers learned from the Arsenal game and it is hard to criticize him for winning away at Villa. Maybe at this point we do not have the squad to win any other way because we would exposed at the back but I thought we could have defended by holding on to more of the possession although we are deeper in the field. Maybe that will come over time as we add quality players to our squad.
Against stoke I thought for example Allen should have come on for Henderson or coutinho as he would have kept the ball more. There were others that looked laboured towards the end. Sterling for Apas remained the only sub tha was made. It worked in our favour although Mignolet had to come up with a monster save from Benteke's minutes from full time. It was the only time Benteke really was allowed to turn Toure who was his minder throughout the game. When you think about the difference in pace Toure did increadibly well and he deserves the plaudits he got after the game.
I just that we grow towards being more confident and being able to defend a little higher without too much risk going forward against teams like Villa. I understand why we did not and perhaps the team is not ready to do it yet, considering Rodgers plan to let them have the ball more.
It was a brave plan and it worked.
Well done. 6 points and we move on to the next game.
Notts County win in the league cup.
The first half again we looked unplayable. We were in full control of the tie, Raheem sterling scored a brilliant goal and Sturridge followed up with a goal in the 29th minute after missing a couple of chances.
Things looked great and the last couple of minutes of the half we do not even push for number 3. We just keep possession, pass it around the back line and barely more it across the the half way line.
Going in at half no one thought that Notts County could come back in the tie.
But that is the danger in football. We came out thinking this was a won game and that there was no way back and before we knew what was happening we had let them have a goal back and the game was on.
It gave the Notts County players confidence and all of a sudden they started believing there was a chance to get back in the tie. They grew in stature, played better football and although LFC tried to raise the tempo their passing was quicker and more incisive and they kept creating chances and instead it was us that looked like we were the league 1 team.
They got their second goal late and they should have never been allowed to. To me this never should have happened and it is think it is partly down to the team but also partly down to our captain that I do not see stepping up as a leader the way Keane or Tony Adams would have.
I would have liked to see him give someone a "shelacking" for not doing their job in that game. Instead he comes out after in the article below and criticizes the team. He should at his age and with his experience be able to fire his team up and give them a proper talking to while the game is happening.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/kolo-toure-injury-blow-fault-5800022I think that is lacking from him. Yes he is a great leader by example but that temprament is maybe not quite there.
When Notts county got back to 2-2 I feared the worst and when we lost Kolo Toure in extra time that was a big blow to Liverpool. We have got Man United on the weekend (Sunday) and it is going to be a tough match. Toure could have been needed but perhaps it is not all bad. Luckily we have Skertel coming back from injury and he has trained with the team for a few days and should be able to play on the weekend.
I think this is his chance to get back in the starting eleven. If he and Agger can keep Van Persie, Rooney and perhaps Welbeck, depending on how the rotate, quite on the weekend he could get back in Rodgers' good books.
Agger also needs to step up as a leader in the back with Toure out and I hope they work on this in the following days leading up to the game.
In the end to come back to game Liverpool ended up winning it with a beautiful throughball from Coutinho to Sturridge and he scored his second of the game. Up until that point Notts County still had the initiative in extra time but we came back with 10 men to beat them and that is testament to Sturridge and the team that they finally managed to eek it out.
I did not see the second extra time half but Henderson also scored a nice goal on another break away which could do good for his confidence. I suspect County went for it and tried to get back in the game and we were able to capitalize.
Skertel was one of our best players when Benitez was around still and I hope he can step up and play the way he used to in the first two season for us.
Lets hope for a great result come the weekend. I think we can give Moyes his first loss although they looked decent against Chelsea but we have got to dare to be bold, take control of the tie and keep hold of the ball the way we did against Villa in the first half despite coming under pressure.
A win could give the team the confidence to go on to great things this season.
Fingers crossed for Sunday.
YNWA,
Stian
PS! a couple of more signings would not hurt as well. Latest on the echo website says Sahko and Victor Moses could be coming in which would not be bad.
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