Kolo Toure..

They bring on a guy who's 6ft 5" and we bring on Joe Allen.
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diame oh dear

I couldn't help but notice that some of the skippers passes, especially towards the end of the game, were going astray. BR cannot be happy with that last 20-30 mins.

JimmyTheRed

we need someone like yann m'vila. midfield enforcer who can also play the ball

There is a lack of options...if its not your day, your need something different. This is where I think Brendan really needs to learn at the top level,

Good football will not always win, the team also will expend a lot of energy and gradually today we got deeper and deeper with too many crosses coming in. Someone dominant in the middle of the pitch would for me make a big difference

The team definitely sat back in the second half, and almost willed Villa on. How many times have the opposition been able to have 17 shots on goal compared to our 3?

JimmyTheRed

brendan was wary of the counter attack, thats why we played deeper

It was 17 to 5, and only 3 of those were on target for Villa.

Most of them were hopeful smashes from anywhere.

Well it was 17 shooting opportunities.

Still felt uneasy everytime they crossed into Benteke.

We still didn't look like scoring !

No matter, we stuck at it and battled Gerrard's block towards the end summed up the difference from last years mentality and got got stuck in more.

Well done 'pool.

Don't think the shots stat is that important, Westwood and a few others would keep shooting when about 25 yards out, with only one or two on target.

I was much more impressed with our work without the ball than with it and thought Coutinho looked quite sluggish with his passing but everyone has there off days.