Liverpool vs. Aston Villa: Winners and Losers from Premier League Game
Saturday's Premier League schedule was concluded at Anfield with a surprising result, as Aston Villa snatched a 1-0 away victory against a subdued Liverpool side.
Gabby Agbonlahor broke the deadlock after just nine minutes, as Villa started the game strongly and threatened to add further strikes from set-pieces.
Liverpool began to dominate the possession over time but could not find the through-balls required to create clear-cut chances, as Paul Lambert's side survived to claim the three points with a little bit to spare.
It was a disappointing result for Brendan Rodgers, who may be even more concerned by the manner of the performance. Aston Villa, meanwhile, have a lot to be upbeat about—click on for our winners and losers from this contest.
Winner: The Aston Villa Defence
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Some unnecessary roughness aside, this was a brilliant defensive display from Aston Villa. Liverpool controlled the ball for huge swathes of the contest but, even with the wily creative talents they have at their disposal, the home side barely created a clear-cut opportunity of note over the 90 minutes.
The clean sheet was particularly impressive considering Villa were without the man many believe is their best defender, Ron Vlaar, due to injury. But Philippe Senderos stepped up to the plate and kept Mario Balotelli quiet (through methods both legal and not-so-legal), as Nathan Baker ably assisted him with some bullish challenges of his own.
This was undoubtedly a team effort—Gabby Agbonlahor did well to blunt Steven Gerrard's influence, and the midfield unit closed down the spaces between the lines adroitly—but the last line of defence was always there to snuff out any danger that did slip through.
As Crystal Palace showed last season, a solid defence can take an otherwise limited team a long way. Villa are already showing that to be the case this season.
"Break up Aston Villa? A show of hands of who saw this early-season surprise coming. pic.twitter.com/qU4E121rGd
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) September 13, 2014"
Losers: Adam Lallana and Mario Balotelli
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Adam Lallana and Mario Balotelli both endured underwhelming Anfield debuts (for Lallana it was his club debut) before they were substituted before the game finished.
Lallana in particular was a subdued presence—with one first-half turn to slip into the Villa box about the only bright moment, one that was rather cancelled out by a brutal challenge on Tom Cleverley that earned him a yellow card.
Balotelli, meanwhile, was similarly thwarted throughout the game, as Philippe Senderos got the better of their individual battle (never a sentence you really want to have written about you). The Italian deserves credit for not reacting to Villa's clear attempts to rile him up, and that might actually be the biggest thing Rodgers takes away from this game.
Balotelli did not do his primary job, which was to replace the injured Daniel Sturridge and score his side's goals, but at least he showed a certain level of maturity as he did not allow any frustration to get the better of him.
Every player would prefer to have a sparkling home debut—neither Lallana or Balotelli got that, but at least they will have other chances to come.
Winner: The Roy Keane-Paul Lambert Partnership
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For the third season in a row, Aston Villa have come away from Anfield with something to show for their efforts. Paul Lambert clearly knows what he is doing when it comes to visiting Merseyside, but the summer addition of Roy Keane to his coaching staff already appears to be paying off.
While assigning too much credit to Keane might be akin to a few years ago when Steve Bould was instantly credited with turning around Arsenal's defensive unit, it did seem as if Villa had added a few unmistakably Keane-esque qualities to their game—in the aggression shown towards opposition players, the intensity exhibited constantly and the determination to win every ball in midfield.
It should not be forgotten that Keane has a wealth of managerial experience himself (at Sunderland, and Ipswich); in effect Villa almost appear to have two head coaches guiding them from the sidelines.
Even if Keane's primary effect is one of intimidation, he has certainly seemed to help a team that was often a bit timid and callow into one that has started the season with far greater resolve; and results to match.
Villa now have 10 points from their opening four games—already a quarter of the way to the all-important 40-point mark that almost every Premier League club has as its primary target. There will (inevitably) be a drop-off in results before too long, but for now optimism is creeping back in at the Birmingham side.
Loser: Liverpool's Squad Depth
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Let's not panic just yet—Liverpool may have had more poor performances than good ones so far this season (the Tottenham result being something of an outlier) but perhaps that is inevitable considering the amount of overhaul the squad experienced in the summer.
On Saturday, however, it was clear that Rodgers is currently relying on a relatively small core of players to deliver—especially in attack—for his side, as his new arrivals struggle to pick up the pace.
Without Daniel Sturridge to call upon, he needed Mario Balotelli to hit his (home) ground running, but the Italian was not the only one who looked like he needs a bit longer to truly find his feet (Lazar Markovic being another).
Perhaps in hindsight the decision to leave Raheem Sterling on the bench was a mistake—if avoiding burnout was the aim, then could he not just as easily have sat out the midweek game with Ludogorets, a contest that should (in theory) be relatively straightforward?
The teenager made an impact when he came on, which is more than can be said for Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini, but may have been far more influential had he been on the pitch from the start.
The performance against Spurs shows that Liverpool have a talented, multi-faceted squad. With so many new faces, perhaps a degree of inconsistency in the early part of the season is inevitable. But for as long as Sturridge is on the sidelines, and as long as Sterling needs careful game management, Rodgers will be especially eager for at least one of his new faces to find a bit of form.
Winner: Tom Cleverley
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Is it ridiculous to suggest that Aston Villa suddenly have a rather good central midfield unit at their disposal? In Fabian Delph, Tom Cleverley and Ashley Westwood they have two England internationals and an Irishman with brilliant delivery from set-pieces—a useful weapon that was on full display at Anfield.
This was the first game together for the trio, so it would be ridiculous to draw too many conclusions from a match that saw them defending without the ball almost the entire time. But all three players are good all-rounders with their own specific strengths and weaknesses—Delph can run from box-to-box, for example, while Westwood has a surprising amount of bite in the tackle—that gives the side a solid balance.
They also appear to be good listeners too, judging by the way they employed Paul Lambert's pressing tactics to good effect.
In recent seasons, Villa's young team has often been undone by its inexperience, relying on the quality of Christian Benteke to keep them out of relegation trouble. It has often been difficult to watch, but perhaps this squad—and this midfield—is at a point where it feels established and well-equipped to handle the Premier League.
If Lambert can keep this core on the pitch—and with the likes of Carlos Sanchez also available to him—this Villa side will surely always be competitive in the midfield battles that so often define games.
Afterwards, Lambert told Sky Sports (via BBC):
"It is one of toughest places to come in Europe, let alone Britain, but I think we deserved the win. With Philippe Senderos' header and Andreas Weimann's chance I think we could have been three up.
I thought that Tom Cleverley was excellent and Ashley Westwood could be ready to take the same step up that Fabian Delph has taken if he keeps playing like that.
There is a lot of momentum on and off the pitch at this club, the players have been excellent as a group and the supporters have stuck with it and now our young guys are turning into young men.
"
Loser: Simon Mignolet
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Liverpool were not exactly inundated with shots on their goal over the course of the match, in fact in the second half Aston Villa barely ever got into their opponents' final third.
In the first half, however, it was noticeable how dangerous they looked from set-pieces—with Agbonlahor's goal coming from one such opportunity.
Part of that was down to the quality of the delivery from Villa, particularly Ashley Westwood, but part of it also spoke to a weakness at the heart of the Liverpool defence.
At times it was noticeable how reluctant Simon Mignolet was to come off his line and attempt to claim the ball—the Belgian instead leaving his defence to struggle to deal with matters themselves.
Mignolet has many positive aspects—he is a very good shot-stopper, and a decent communicator—but clearly he struggles to command his area, and perhaps that is one of the reasons the reports that Rodgers is not completely convinced by him have never truly gone away.
The club have been linked with a free transfer deal for Victor Valdes in recent weeks, per the Daily Mail, and it is not hard to see why they might be wondering if it is a position they can upgrade.
Whether Valdes would improve that particular aspect of Liverpool's defence is debatable (Valdes is a very continental-style goalkeeper, where punching is prevalent and dealing with corners is not a common trait). But this display reminded us why Liverpool are weighing up their possibilities between the sticks.
