Jack Woodward is full of something I am not going to mention here. We were even more inept in front of goal than Liverpool. They didn't create many good chances; their 2 goals came from some ridiculous defending and a piece of pure magic from a top class player.

To be honest, we were lucky to get one goal.

I'm a Liverpool fan, have to say it wasn't too bad of game. Liverpool should have won by more. Suprised with Villa expected O'Neill to buy better players. Reo-Coker will take time to settle in but his performance last saturday alongside Petrov in the middle is a worry for you guys. Ashley Young and Gardner, Barry along with Taylor were your best performers on the day. As for the penalty and free kick decisions were harsh, thought the referee was doing alrite not the greatest up till then. Best of Luck for the season!! Top 10 finish for you guys possibly Europe if more quality is added to your squad. As liverpool not getting carried away but performances from Torres/Kuyt partnership and Babel's little cameo shows progress si starting.

It's refreshing when you read a fan's view which isn't they were cheats, the refs an idiot we were robbed. This was an interesting and thoughtful read which as a Liverpool fan I totally agree with. We nearly let 2 points slip cause our finishing was bad but I was surprised at the control we had in the game and to be honest was shocked at the lack of activity at Villa this season. I guess you guys will be seeing a few new players before the end of the window but it's not ideal this late, it is a strange one espically since you let Davis and Ridgewell go, I never really rated Hughes, but anyway good luck for the season.

Pretty fair analysis from Breeners. I think we were dominated so easily in midfield, but i don't think that was down to NRC, but rather the lack of muscle provided by petrov and ashley young. I know young isn't expected to be a dogged midfielder, but against Liverpool, we were too easily overrun. However, playing against liverpool may be a little deceptive. They are so strong and resolute in defence that we were lucky to get a sniff. We will no doubt have more chances against the rest of the league. If MON picked a fit team with luke moore and gary cahill in from the start, who knows what we could have done. I'm not going to worry about this game, it was no lose in my opinion. At least O'neill can see the gap that we need to reduce with some "quality" players.

martin oneal was dreaming l,pool should have won the game before half time, anyone watching the game could see a gulf of class between l,pool and villa. it was only l,pool,s poor finishing that saved villa from a hiding.

Worrying....that is all we can say about the current state at VP, with just over two weeks to go to the end of the transfer window !! Saturday's game was all the evidence we needed.....

1. A paper thin squad with lack of quality on the bench....exacerbated by the policy of releasing adequate players before better replacements have been signed
2. A midfield unable to take control or show real creativity at any stage of the game
3. Four bookings.....increasing concerns about what will happen when suspensions and injuries start to bite
4. Evident lack of belief on the part of the players on the pitch ( probably because they recognise all of the above too)
5. Overall lack of premiership quality in most departments
6. Some evidence of unrest as evidenced by Wilf's reaction to his substitution
7. Unwell players being selected ahead of fully fit alternatives

And the positives....ummm! Craig Gardner and Stuart Taylor, neither of whom may be playing in the near future!!


Have we made progress since last season....not (yet) in my view ! We have two weeks to do something about it....no time for new players to bed in (or have all of the quality players already been snapped up?).... I hate to be critical of the club but I think that the close season has been mismanaged. Other clubs now know that we are over a barrel.....so the prospect of getting value for money now diminishes day by day. Some panic buying may now be the order of the day???

An interesting read that I agree with to a large extent. As a Liverpool fan, I don’t think either teams can be judges by the game though its clear we need to finish our chances better and you need new recruits. Too early for any other assessment to be made IMO.

Good Luck to MON, I hope his team will be ready to take points off the other big clubs when they visit Villa, though somehow I doubt it.

can i just say once again, villa looked poor going forward because of the tactics liverpool employed.

benitez got it perfect. liverpool came and defended and played awesome counter attacking football. both nrc and petrov were caught to far up field and exposed our weak makeshift defence.

liverpool defened deep so we couldnt utilise our pace in behind them and there midfield sat just infront of their back 4. perfect tactics by liverpool not so great by villa. not particularly a gulf in class on the pitch.

credit goes to benitez here i feel.

Ayersey, I agree with you totally! People aren't giving Liverpool enough credit for what happened on Saturday! Yes the free kick was soft, yes we had a point within our grasp but we didn't get it and on reflection no one can say we deserved anything out of the game. They defended well and played on the counter attack and frustrated the hell out of us. Well executed tactics from the start. As i have said previously our Midfield were run ragged by Gerrard and co. and they always looked more likely to score. I am all for feeling positive whenever possible but i am also a realist. Give the scousers the credit they deserve. Lets just hope we can rattle the geordies a bit more next game. COME ON VILLA!

P.S. Good luck scousers, i hope you really start challenging more for that top spot. Makes the league far more interesting if theres 3/4 genuine contenders as illustrated in La Liga last season. Somehow cant see us breaking that top 4 just yet!!! :)

Wasnt this the site that ran the story called "9 points from the first 3 games" when the fixtures came out?... Well i will be looking forward to see u guys at St. James

I can see Newcastle being more effective in scoring than Liverpool were, 3-1 to Newcastle.
Expect Taylor (if he plays) to show us some last-ditch attempts to save his place in the team, and i hope we have a right-back in by then, if not, then at least play Cahill there and let Gardner fill Petrov's position, a display of that quality must result in resting Stan. He has not fulfilled his ability yet, we know he's a very good player, but he's taken a very long time to find some rythm.

Newcastle are in for a stuffing they only did so well the weekend cause big sam knows bolton inside flippin out

Prediction Villa to win 3-0 bouma to brake milners leg

yeah i thought our defence struggled alittle bit we need 2 spend money on a good defender. in the end it was our first game we r greatly undermaned and we played a team who r world class and 1 of the favourites to win the league. 2 be beaten 2 1 when there was an own goal and dnt forget gerrards free kick. come on villa fans just chill. with abit of luck a few good sighnings in te next week or 2 and we will be a force. GO VILLA

me again. did we play with ill players.WE NEED MORE PLAYERZ. COME ON

personally i think a right back is definatley needed, but to be honest i would like to see shaun maloney getting a run out in the team and i would replace petrov with maloney, because we no gardner will be right-back at newcastle realistically. so i would bring maloney in and switch barry into the centre midfield role, were i think he would work well with reo-coker as they both give a 110 percent, and put maloney on the left with young on the right, so we have 2 pacey skliful wingers with an eye for goal, and both good at set peices, and if we need more creativity, we can bring berger on, [ i would rather berger than petrov]
and i would give luke moore a start ahead of gabby along side john carew. wot does more have to do to get a game down the middle, he proved in pre- season he can score goals!!

so for me the team against newcaslte should be -

CARSON - GARDNER - MELLBERG - LAURSEN - BOUMA

YOUNG - REO-COKER - BARRY[C] - MALONEY

L.MOORE - CAREW

SUBS - TAYLOR - CAHILL - PETROV - BERGER - AGBONLAHOR. 4-4-2.

up the villa!!!