KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Liverpool v Villa - MATCH DISCUSSION

Gerrard is playing in the wrong position. Gerrard should be droped back to Centremid whilst Aquilani is out. Move Benayoun or Babel into the second striker role. Play Riera on the left.

Gerrard can play that Alonso type role. He has the pass range to play that role.

I agree Oz.... we don't need Mascherano and Lucas with Gerrard further forward. Neither Lucas or Mascherano can play the quick incisive ball around the corner that alonso can, which turns defence into attack in a split second.

Hopefully aquilani can.... but until then it looks like we are pedestrian. We can't get inbetween the opposition's lines of midfield and defnece quickly like we used to. They have that split second to reform their shape and regroup. that needs sorting.

Glen Johnson looked lively again though... that's the only positive.

I agree with Dunk too - Lucas was unlucky. I hate to say it - but we really miss alonso.

its not alonso that we miss, we showed against united last season that we can win, and win well, without him! the problem is the team rafa picks relies completely on full backs to provide width ..... villa have wingers with pace that stop the full backs getting forward so much so we had absolutely no width ..... without width their defence could stay compact and narrow and close down the space available ...... if gerrard was half the player HE believes himself to be, then he would have taken it on himself to push players wider or to get out wide more often ..... that was where the space was and truly great players find the space

Agree with Oz red. Until Aqua is fit we need SG in centre mid with Yossi alongside Torres. I don't see any way we are going to score goals against good teams with the present formation. Lucas maybe good at what he does but brings nothing to the team as an attacking force and having an eleventh player that doesn't really do anything is pointless. We'd be better off playing an extra winger or something. Lucas needs a rest becasue his confidence is clearly dented and it's not fair to continue to play him in these circumstances.

stevie g is not and never will be liverpool fc - he is a bigheaded gobshite who believes idiots like you that he is some kind of superman ....... he is the captain and as such should be trying to get the WHOLE TEAM playing well ...... but what he does is try and do everything himself ..... when it goes well he is fantastic but when he is having an off game (like last night) he is nothing short of a liability and idiots like you need to stop defending him because it suits your idiotic attacks on rafa

i agree rafa got it completely wrong last night and regularly does when it comes to seeing what the game needs and making changes to provide it ..... but last night he was right the senior players do need to look at themselves ...... if they had shown fight and effort for the team and still lost then it would have been rafa's fault yes ...... but the players let everyone down last time with their performances and lack of fight

you need to take off your blinkers emp - you sometimes make some good points but you spoil them by turning everything into an attack on rafa and put everything at his feet ..... not everything is his fault!

though last night he messed up badly with his team selection, then his failure to see we had no width as the full backs were too scared to get forward because of villa's pace ...... his changes provided no width at all, so yes he is badly at fault for last night's result ..... but the fact is the players let US down with their lack of heart and desire (voronin being the obvious example when he bottled out of a challenge)

gerrard a spectacular player. he made a bad decision last night that cost us a goal. however, such is the quality of gerrard that when we face difficulty (like being 2-0 down at half time at home) everyone looks to him to save us. it's not just up to him and it's not just up to rafa. it's collective. there were alot of poor performances last night. the back four didn't look great last night either.

bollox emp - stop hero worshipping players and open your eyes!! a lack of desire is a player's fault - they should pull on that red shirt and WANT to perform for US ...... and xabi is not a saviour - he was a selfish little brat throwing his toys out of the pram coz rafa tried to sell him when he wasn't performing well enough to deserve his place! how many times did the likes of shankly and paisley have players ready to be sold only for them to raise their game then win back their place and go on to become great players for the club? it happened regularly but those players understood that it was their job to hold down a place by performing to their best and that if they were up for sale they needed to buck their ideas up!

what alonso did was get all childish and petty and demand a move, to a club his family hate no less, just to get back at a manager who tried to sell him ....... we are better off without that kind of person at the club!

we don't need brats we need players

We havent seen Aquilani yet, i suppose once we get Aquilani fit, Lucas will be demoted to the bench, Lucas will play bit part role. And he will be sold eventually. We are match for anyone on our day, but we are aware we dont have the squad to match chelsea.

hey emp, last week you were toting kenny or zola around. mentions of zola seem to be on the decrease. last week you were talking about the beautiful game that west ham play but their players laid on two beautiful backpasses at the weekend so you seem to have decided to stop flying his flag. that's a little fickle right?

you talk complete and utter nonsense emp - alonso was a little brat who wanted to leave - good riddance! his ambition was to join the team his family hated, whose ambition is based purely on being the most marketable team in the world - money ruled him! his 'brains' are in his wallet, if they had been in his feet he would have performed every season for us instead of just two ..... let's face it, this guy you masturbate verbally over on here, was crap for the majority of his time at the club ..... most of his passes did nothing for the team but made him look great coz they went for miles ......... he scored very few goals and not enough assists for a player with his ability

he went because he didn't deserve the shirt with his attitude ...... he always wanted to go back to spain - his first statement on joining us talked about returning to spain in the future ...... stop defending someone who deserves no defending!

yes rafa needs a kick up the arse after last night but stop blaming him for everything!