In the first half it was clear we were witnessing a 2nd tier contest. The ball was given away by both teams regularly with sloppy unforced poor passing much of the time. We were guilty of that more than Villa and resorted to our old style hoofing with long passes - I thought Monk had changed us into a passing team? It is though, in my view, the mild panic tactics of a team that are being pressured and outplayed and in some ways are more comfortable without the ball than with it. We could barely get out of our own half for spells without any great threat from Villa. They harried us in our own half which seemed part of the reason, we did not do that to them - perhaps that was part of the master plan to conserve energy?. After 20 minutes, I couldn't see anything else than a Villa win, it was a matter of time. In the 2nd half we were a different team and the close, tight and short passing regime seemed to be restored allowing us to put some pressure on Villa and ultimately, the goals and win. We appear not to get down hearted when we are playing badly and keep the faith. This is a huge attribute that I hope we don't need to rely on too often. Villa have been on a good run recently and I'm relieved we survived the first half when we were out-passed much of the time and relied on a pretty solid defence. So up to 4th which is pretty good, but I have grave concerns that some teams like Villa can upset our style and force us into an unrehearsed plan B. After all, it's the team that adapts best to the opposition that usually rules the roost.
I'm not Rob Green fan and would always select Silvestri instead, but hats off to him today, he was solid and made some good saves. I thought Luke Ayling deserves a special mention too, he was everywhere! Isn't it strange to think that our Anfield performance gained us so much credit and we lost and against Villa we turned it round and won. Maybe we just couldn't adapt to Liverpool's speed and style but, in the end, got the measure of Villa. Dave _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] MARCHING ON TOGETHER
