In a fairly tame affair at Villa Park, a quietly efficient Liverpool eased through to a comfortable 2-0 victory. Although concentration seemed to be lost for a period at the start of the second half, the second lowest scoring team in all of Europe’s top five leagues were unable to convert any of the chances presented to them.
Gritty hard work was the order of the day in yesterday’s match – a solid performance from the defence for the majority of the match ensured that there weren’t many serious scares at the back. Sakho and Can in particular were excellent – Can demonstrated the advantages of having a ball-playing centre back on multiple occasions, frequently cleverly working his way out of tight spots. Sakho’s highlight was a perfectly timed sliding tackle on the edge of the box to deny Villa a clear-cut opportunity which even they might have managed to convert. Going forward, Liverpool showed good signs in the first half.
Sterling didn’t quite look at the races, but Coutinho continued his good form of late and Moreno and Markovic posed a threat going forward. Henderson, too, was playing very well; it was his exquisite pass that led to the opening goal on 24 minutes. He clipped it into the middle of the box, just far enough away from Guzan, and Borini was on hand to guide it skilfully into the corner. Sadly, this moment of quality from the Italian was the anomaly of the game – his performance was largely underwhelming.
After this first goal went in, a multitude of half-chances followed for the visitors. The best opportunity fell to Sterling – he capitalised on a defensive error and ran clean through on goal, but he tried a clever chip over Guzan that ended up an easy catch for the keeper. Had he simply blasted it, Liverpool would surely have doubled their lead. As it was, they went into the break with just a one goal advantage. Once the second half got underway, it looked like we may be made to rue all of the missed chances. Villa upped their game; Benteke was only kept out by an excellent double save from Mignolet, and Baker missed a glorious opportunity. On the subject of Mignolet, I feel obliged to once again jump to his defence. Contrary to what many fans would have you believe, he is by no means our biggest problem. In fact, I would rate his overall contribution to the team as neutral; the semi-regular stupid errors he makes are cancelled out by the number of times he’s bailed us out with excellent saves.
Source: liverpoolfc.com
He certainly helped us out in this game – had Villa managed to score, it is hard to imagine that the recovering but still frail Liverpool side would have managed to take the lead again. As it was, LFC weathered the storm. By the last 15 minutes Villa had tired themselves out through their efforts to equalise, and Liverpool were able to get on top again. This second period of pressure was marked by a goal from Rickie Lambert. After a poor pass from Delph was cut out by Sterling, Lambert turned smartly and unerringly found the corner with a shot from just outside the box – although he’s much too slow and reliant on crosses to fit into our team, his technique is undoubtedly good.
This goal all but killed the game, and the final few minutes were a formality. It was a performance that Liverpool can be very satisfied with. The defence were, on the whole, respectable – they guided the team to their third consecutive away clean sheet, a feat we haven’t achieved since the 08/09 season. The midfield can also be satisfied with the number of chances they created; once Sturridge and Balotelli are back up top rather than Borini or Lambert, these chances will surely be finished off on a more regular basis. The combination of a passable defence and high chance creation is a very promising one, and, if sustained, may well be enough to see us finish in the top 4.
James Martin
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