Re: Liverpool V Aston Villa... Sat Sep 26th 3:00 Kick Off

by **villabromsgrove** Sat Sep 26, 2015 6:11 pm

Hutton got his first assist today for goodness knows how long, but did anyone see how many times he was either out of position or screwed up his defensive job?

by **Sandie** Sat Sep 26, 2015 6:29 pm

The problem with Hutton is that it's between him and Bacuna for that position. Personally, Bacuna is no right back and lets us down even more badly than Hutton there.

I think Crespo is back/nearly back in training so might be worth a shot? I'd play Richards there but as everyone knows he doesn't want to go back to playing there.

by **villabromsgrove** Sat Sep 26, 2015 6:37 pm

Well now we know. Sherwood wasn't disappointed with the way we played because he'd had them practicing to play that way all week. He was disappointed that we didn't fully block the space in front of our box. That's why he's playing three defensive midfielders.

No wonder we never got at Liverpool. That was obviously part two of Sherwood's magical plan .... to attack them in the second half of the second half. Someone tell him that the game was lost in the first 60 minutes!

by **Sandie** Sat Sep 26, 2015 6:49 pm

On the timing of Liverpool goals…

We worked all week to try and quieten the fans.

The last thing I said when we left the dressing room was make sure we stay in the game for as long as we can - make it anxious out there.

After a minute we gave them a lift.

We didn't get tight enough around that area of the field and James Milner scored a good goal.

On the defensive errors…

You can't score two goals away from home and lose.

Their goals were avoidable. I have told them that - and I have told them they have to tighten up.

We were always in the game and just needed another chance to stay in it.

Liverpool played well under pressure. They have quality strikers who caused us problems but they didn't have to work too hard for their goals.

On the comeback…

The boys showed a lot of character when they went behind.

It was too early to change the plan then. You have to stick to it, try and stay in the game and we created a few opportunities to score in the first period.

I just felt at half-time that we would score. It was only a matter of time.

We needed to make sure we were very tight and not let anything away at the back.

Unfortunately we weren't able to do that.

On the improved second half…

At half-time we had to change. We had to step forward a little bit into them and try and take it to them.

I felt that when Jordan Veretout came on we passed the ball a lot better.

We moved it into the final third, got the ball wide and delivered good crosses for Rudy to score.

On the positives…

Idrissa Gana has come through 90 minutes and he looked fine. He looked a little bit tired at the end there.

Rudy Gestede has obviously scored another two goals.

People have questioned whether Rudy will score goals in the Premier League but I think he's answered that already.

He can score at any level of the game because he's such a threat.

You have to get the ball into those areas to be able to cross.

On the ups and downs of a young group…

This is a work in progress. I said that from the start. It's not in hindsight.

I knew it was going to be a tough season.

We acquired a lot of new players who need to settle into this division - a lot of young guys too.

The points tally is not what we are looking for. But we will brush ourselves down and work as hard as we always do to put things right.

It will come good!

On keeping belief..

I think we deserve to have more points on the board than we actually have but you have to take that on the chin and look to the next game.

You can't get too despondent with it.

We are very disappointed to come to Liverpool and score two goals and come away with nothing.

We have to look forward now and move forward to Stoke.

He's blaming the players for individual errors again. That was something pointed out in the article about 'naivety' that I posted a few days ago. Perhaps he needs to realise we haven't got the players for a defensive gameplan and should attack? And that's assuming the problem isn't the gameplan itself.

by GadgetMan Sat Sep 26, 2015 7:16 pm

Agree Sandie, he contradticts himself, he says that was the gameplan and you can't just give up on the plan, but then conceded the way that rudy scores goals is to get forward and get crosses in. SO WHY WASN'T THAT THE PLAN SHERWOOD!!! When has Mr "We need to attack and take the game to the oppostion" become. "We need to set out to contain them, get the fans quiet" Funny that, doing what we did last 30 got more reward, just like it did back in the SF of the cup. The guy is a walking list of excuses!!

On the positives, yes we did score two away to Liverpool and only lost by one goal, Rudy scoring another couple is good and will help his confidence. Maybe this will force TS to play the way he seemingly doesn't want to anymore to at least score more than we let in, as I tell you what, it will be a while before we keep a clean sheet in the EPL. Sorry, positives. Ermmmm.

Gana has another 90 mins, Traore has another week to get properly fit. Veretout another half to adapt. Jack will have hopefully learned he's not going to get it all his own way and has to work to earn the right to play....

That's it, I'm out, anymore?

by **villabromsgrove** Sat Sep 26, 2015 7:16 pm

If the last thing Sherwood said to the lads before they went out was "stay in the game as long as we can" it's no wonder we're in trouble.

Why not just say "I don't think you guys are anywhere near good enough, and I'm hoping we wont get hammered", because that's the message he's giving the fans every week.

by GadgetMan Sat Sep 26, 2015 7:28 pm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34370950 Tim "We're in a relegation battle and the objective this season is staying in the division" Again what happened to "We'll get safe and we won't have another relegation scrap" talk from last season? This club is rotten to it's very core. Here's looking at you Mr Lerner!! I knew this was the case, but to here TS say it is gutting.

by **Sandie** Sat Sep 26, 2015 10:20 pm

More stats (and the chance to do chalkboards) here: http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/959795/Live/England-Premier-League-2015-2016-Liverpool-Aston-Villa

by **villabromsgrove** Sun Sep 27, 2015 1:38 pm

The contrast between the first 60 minutes when we were just trying to "stay in the game", and the final third of the match after we went 2-0 down was so marked that a replay should clearly show Sherwood and his back room crew what they're doing wrong.

If they don't learn this clear and obvious lesson, then someone higher up the pecking order at AVFC has to start banging heads together.

by avfcff1982 Sun Sep 27, 2015 5:17 pm

I'm as angry as everybody about not just the result, but the manner of the defeat. It's well documented as to Tim Sherwood's failure to grab Liverpool by the throat from the very start of the game. The opposite happened, and even after clawing back 2 goals, we never looked like getting anything from the game.

It's galling, mainly because I can see what an attacking line up can do, as per the second 45 Vs blues, we have the players to cause problems and get results, problem, is right now the manager is like a rabbit in headlights, and gives the opposition too much respect even before a ball is kicked.

Having said that, I'm positive he'll change tactics, and become more adventurous with his starting line up. I'm probably in the minority with that view, but it's what I believe.

The season is still in it's infancy, there will be no relegation battle, we'll be safe well before May. I have to think this way because I'm fed up of constantly having to look on the dark side, and really can't face another season of gripe gripe sodding gripe. UTV Liverpool V Aston Villa... Sat Sep 26th 3:00 Kick Off - Page 7 205019816

Liverpool V Aston Villa... Sat Sep 26th 3:00 Kick Off - Page 7 205019816

by GadgetMan Sun Sep 27, 2015 6:01 pm

avfcff1982 wrote:I'm as angry as everybody about not just the result, but the manner of the defeat. It's well documented as to Tim Sherwood's failure to grab Liverpool by the throat from the very start of the game. The opposite happened, and even after clawing back 2 goals, we never looked like getting anything from the game.

It's galling, mainly because I can see what an attacking line up can do, as per the second 45 Vs blues, we have the players to cause problems and get results, problem, is right now the manager is like a rabbit in headlights, and gives the opposition too much respect even before a ball is kicked.

Having said that, I'm positive he'll change tactics, and become more adventurous with his starting line up. I'm probably in the minority with that view, but it's what I believe.

The season is still in it's infancy, there will be no relegation battle, we'll be safe well before May. I have to think this way because I'm fed up of constantly having to look on the dark side, and really can't face another season of gripe gripe sodding gripe. UTV

Good post that and I see where you're coming from with needing to be optimistic as the alternative is unpalatable. My concern is TS no longer appears to share the same view. He said yesterday, it's all about survival this year (where have we heard that before?) Which is a world away from the brash "We won't be in a relegation scrap next year" that he roared out several times last year. So what's changed? Could it be he was thinking (like us all) we'd be sold and he wouldn't have to buy largely untried players? or is it he's now trying to downplay expectation and talk himself out of trouble? He's the third manager now to say our sole aim is to stay up, so yes the problems still remain higher up at the club (Lerner) It just concerns me that Mr Positive is now singing that familiar song and is setting us up with the same fear as he has verbalised.

It's remincisent of both McLeish and Lambert, in style, in uncertainty and in the look of men who are worried to lose and therefore adopt a safety first approach. Thing is TS doesn't appear cut out for that kind of approach. He needs to find his Gilet and his balls and start going for it like the likes of Palace and Leicester. We shouldn't be trying to set out to spoil and contain this early in the season. We know the formula that works, we all see it, so why doesn't Tim and the team?

Worrying signs for me. Prove me wrong Tim, get your Gilet and swagger back and get us TRULY going for teams. We have the players for them to worry about us, let's start doing that and not get bogged down with what they're going to try and do. Tim seems like Lambert post Chelsea and 8-0 (his being 6-0 v Saints)

Time to stand up and be counted Tim. UTV Liverpool V Aston Villa... Sat Sep 26th 3:00 Kick Off - Page 7 205019816

by **Sandie** Sun Sep 27, 2015 6:08 pm

Good posts, both, I think the Stoke game is now so crucial giving us a home game that should just about be winnable. Win that and we'll be feeling more confident with a run of more difficult games after it. Lose it and we start having to look at getting points from the more difficult ones.

by **villabromsgrove** Mon Sep 28, 2015 11:04 am

Sandie wrote:Good posts, both, I think the Stoke game is now so crucial giving us a home game that should just about be winnable. Win that and we'll be feeling more confident with a run of more difficult games after it. Lose it and we start having to look at getting points from the more difficult ones.

I don't see a "winnable" game for us with our present set up until 8 games from now, when we play Watford at home. In fact I can only see 2 winnable games in the rest of this years fixtures, and that's Watford home and possibly Norwich away. That's 2 out of 13 games!

If we change our team selection, our shape and our tactics, we may have a few more opportunities. Absolutely everything we're currently doing needs changing to give us a chance of a result, which means that (from my point of view) Tim Sherwood is getting things 100% wrong at the moment. He can change it because with only about 50 matches as a football manager behind him, he hasn't yet developed a system that he's identified by. If he doesn't get his act together swiftly I fear the worst.

by **Sandie** Mon Sep 28, 2015 1:24 pm

For me, the players are good enough to beat Stoke, we just need to hope Tim gets it right on the day.

by **villabromsgrove** Mon Sep 28, 2015 1:57 pm

Sandie wrote:For me, the players are good enough to beat Stoke, we just need to hope Tim gets it right on the day.

Are you sure Sandie, Stoke have a number of talented and experienced players that would probably get into our team ahead of our players (at the moment).

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