Liverpool vs Aston Villa pre-match thread.

[PaulWinch again]

Hope it’s better than what he had up his sleeve at Spurs.

In fairness we were far from perfect in that game but had we taken our chances and not made a couple of inexplicably bad mistakes we probably would have got something.

[VillaTim]

the return of Cash and Digne should help with the team structure / balance

[AlexAlexCropley]

the return of Cash and Digne should help with the team structure / balance

Cash?

[Demitri_C]

the return of Cash and Digne should help with the team structure / balance

Think cash is out mate

[VillaTim]

the return of Cash and Digne should help with the team structure / balance

Think cash is out mate

Oh , that will mean Konsa at RB again then . Carlos/Torres probably over  Mings/Torres i would guess Emery would go .
Massive reliance on Onana / Kamara today and the wide midfielders tracking back

[Villa Lew]

We don't need to dump our slow play entirely, but there needs to be far more fast attacking play, starting with Emi, as brilliant as he is, he very rarely looks for a player, who could start a fast counter attack.

[Skerra]

Talksport have just done a 15 minute chat about our game tonight. The whole time was spent telling us about the Liverpool manager and players 1 by 1. Right at the end we did get a mention when they said and don’t forget tonight’s match is between Liverpool and Aston Villa. That’s how relevant we are to them.

[Astnor]

Talksport have just done a 15 minute chat about our game tonight. The whole time was spent telling us about the Liverpool manager and players 1 by 1. Right at the end we did get a mention when they said and don’t forget tonight’s match is between Liverpool and Aston Villa. That’s how relevant we are to them.

This is not that unusual for a lot of media outlets.

[Astnor]

We don't need to dump our slow play entirely, but there needs to be far more fast attacking play, starting with Emi, as brilliant as he is, he very rarely looks for a player, who could start a fast counter attack.

In Belgium midweek we did miss Torres for his role in starting our attacks. Mings few rushing forward didnt come to anything and it did seem to be that Costa had got the role to start attacks from defence and until we fell apart second half he didnt do too bad IMO but Torres is different class to anyone at this.

[Accent Guy]

Talksport have just done a 15 minute chat about our game tonight. The whole time was spent telling us about the Liverpool manager and players 1 by 1. Right at the end we did get a mention when they said and don’t forget tonight’s match is between Liverpool and Aston Villa. That’s how relevant we are to them.

It's always been that way and always will be. The "big 6" are all that matters for the media because they are all that matters for the vast majority of modern football "fans".

[Astnor]

Heres hope that we let those miserable showings of late behind and do a comeback to potent form and have a result against the top Europe team since they overtook us this week. As we are away they will be favourites before kick off.
2-2 with Ramsey and Rogers for us. Maatsen to follow Salah very close whole match so he dont even get close to our box. Carlos to body tackle some of their other miserable looking attackers still touching the ball.

[Mister E]

we have very few options

How can that be true with all the players at our disposal?!

[Mister E]

Still think this team looks best for today:
         Martinez
Konsa  Carlos  Torres  Digne
        Onana Kamara
Philogene           Ramsey
            Tielemans
             Watkins

A strong double pivot means we an play Torres to provide better forward momentum.
Play as per vs Bayern; save Rogers until a little later in the game; look to bring McGinn, Duran and Bailey on later, to being some energy and start to stretch the opposition.

[tomd2103]

Still think this team looks best for today:
         Martinez
Konsa  Carlos  Torres  Digne
        Onana Kamara
Philogene           Ramsey
            Tielemans
             Watkins

A strong double pivot means we an play Torres to provide better forward momentum.
Play as per vs Bayern; save Rogers until a little later in the game; look to bring McGinn, Duran and Bailey on later, to being some energy and start to stretch the opposition.

Yep, that's probably what I'd look at going with, but maybe Rogers instead of Ramsey (though I do think Ramsey is better defensively).  Interested to see how a Kamara & Onana partnership in central midfield would look.

[Clampy]

I've got a sneaky feeling he'll start Duran.