Aston Villa Vs Liverpool

Villa Park

FS: 1-4

Goals: Mane ( ‘4’ ’62’) Wijnaldum ( 60″) Salah ( 64′) Barry (41′)

9th January 2020

Liverpool secured their place in the next stage of the FA Cup last night but it certainly wasn’t a pretty affair as Aston Villa youngsters proved a tough hurdle to overcome in the 4-1 win.

Due to a coronavirus outbreak in the Aston Villa first-team, the Reds were left to face a side with an average age of 18 years and 294 days for a place in the fourth round of the competition.

Many felt it would be a straightforward matchup for the champions, but Jurgen Klopp’s   side continued to make life hard for themselves despite a bright start with Sadio Mane’s goal in the fourth minute.

Highly-rated Louie Barry would level the scores to add insult to injury in a dour opening 45 minutes, with class and superior fitness reigning supreme in the end as a five-minute spell returned three goals for the Reds.

It highlighted once more the need for improvement ahead of the clash against Man United, and now another game and another shot to move closer to silverware awaits later this month.

So, with that being said here are my five talking points from the game!

1.The Line Up and Klopp’s Logic

Well, when the teams news was announced for Liverpool, it was fair to say there were a few raised eyebrows; the biggest one was the inclusion of Fabinho in the starting line-up.

With no senior defenders left, “cotton wool and “bubble wrap” are terms frequently used to describe the Brazilian in recent weeks.

But it went beyond that; with Villa fielding a team compromising of Under 18’s and U23’s due to their Covid outbreak- Salah, Mane, Henderson and Wijnaldum still started for Liverpool.

According to Klopp, the line-up was already made a couple of days beforehand; the training load and tactical work was already done; so the XI was kept as planned.

We didn’t change that, we trained with that, that was the lineup that we made,” he said.

“Then after training [the day before] we knew only exactly as much as Villa could tell us, so we didn’t change any more, that’s the team we would have played anyway.”

Short of any post-game injuries arising, the Reds now have nine days to rest, recuperate and put a tactical plan in place for the next crucial league game – without this runout, players would have been two weeks without action, another reason for putting more seniors on the pitch than usual.

That, along with a confidence-booster of a win and a few goals, would have been the plan – even before Villa’s kids were involved.

2.So did it work?

For an hour, it’s hard to say it was a resounding success.

It’s not just that the scores were level, but that the kids weren’t bullied by the adults, the speed of play was so low they were coping easily enough and the sole chance Villa created to run in behind, they scored from.

Its hard to image skipper Jordan Henderson and Rhys Williams in particular would take much positivity from the game, after being so easily bypassed.

Judging by the lack of celebrations when the second, third and fourth went in over the space of about four minutes, the Reds weren’t particularly enthralled by their own efforts in the final third, either.

In truth is, this was a no-win situation: beat them by eight and Liverpool would be schoolyard bullies; fail to win by a good few and it would be a real embarrassment.

For rhythm, the squad won’t have taken much other than the fact they still started too slowly, and the fact that Thiago lifts everything.

For confidence in front of goal, perhaps Mane and Mo will take the positives, but not much more than that.

Gini should have scored before he did, a few more set-pieces should have troubled a group of inexperienced youngsters and  Xherdan Shaqiri, who showed again a creative streak, probably won’t be in the team anyway.

3.Overlooked questions

What does this selection say about some of Liverpool’s fringe players?

I’m sorry to say but Divok Origi might as well pack his bags and find himself a new club, despite the fact he came on for a bit. Shaqiri clearly has talent to offer, but if he starts half a dozen games between now and the end of the campaign it’d be a surprise, in truth.

Then there’s a few youngsters, notably Jake Cain and Leighton Clarkson, neither of whom made the bench.

Klopp’s comments about the tactical preparations are one thing, but are we to expect that if the skipper picked up a knock in the last training session before the United game nobody would be capable of stepping in to do the same job?

That’s what Clarkson and Co. are training with the seniors for, after all.

This was perhaps an opportunity for them to get a little more experience, and a few seniors will take absolutely nothing from this runout beyond the on-the-ball sharpness.

4. MOTM: Thiago Alcantara

Despite coming on, as a substitute, the midfielder made an immediate impact for Liverpool in the second half.

Thiago really showed what Henderson and Wijnaldum didn’t offer in terms of forward passing.

When he gets on the ball, he ticks and the team clicks; is that’s simple. Everything moves quicker, there’s more forward-thinking intent and the extra level of refinement just is something else.

Passing range and vision made an instant difference and initiated two goals almost immediately.

I know people will say that, this was against teenagers; and of course that’s true but Thiago has done it on the biggest stages and won the Champions League.

I’d love to see Fabinho, Thiago, Naby (if fit ) to be playing together. It would offer something different that Liverpool are sometimes lacking; creativity in the midfield. I think for United game, our best bet is playing Thiago, Henderson and possibly Shaqiri in a 4231.

Thiago represents brighter days ahead for Liverpool.

5.Next challenge: regain top spot?

And so, after the strangest of games in the strangest of seasons, it’s onto the biggest of all: first vs. second, one way or another, and the game against Manchester United.

The Reds are top for now but United could be top by kickoff at Anfield, as they face Burnley on Tuesday night.

There will only be objective: win the damn match against United.

On this occasion, style and form, ruthlessness and resplendency won’t matter a single bit – three points against United is just as vital and satisfactory whether it’s a four-goal demolition or a late winner in off Andy Robbo’s arse cheek; excuse my french!

What must be taken from this game, in truth, is a feeling of reset: the game is won, the ‘rot’ has stopped, we take a needed break to rest players, welcome back players from injury and then go again – full throttle, all-in-for-the-win.

You never know, we might get a good cup draw at home, too.

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