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| I wish I had this egg! Happy Easter folks! Image: thefootiestore.co.uk |
Liverpool make the trip to Birmingham on Easter Sunday as they prepare to face Aston Villa. The meeting between the two sides at Anfield was less than favourable for the Reds and after Liverpool's last match before the international break ending in a scoreline that matched their loss to Villa it will be interesting to see whether Brendan's boys can pull themselves together for this one.
Injuries for Liverpool mean that Borini and Allen are both unavailable. Pepe Reina should be able to start again between the sticks though which is a positive for Brendan Rodgers. Aston Villa are without Clark and Holmann but Paul Lambert will have full choice from the rest of his team.
The last time the two sides met was in December last year. Those who follow me on Twitter will know I rarely get to see the lads play but I managed to attend this game, unfortunately for me it wasn't exactly a brilliant one to watch. A real dire performance from the lads was only made a touch better with a Steven Gerrard consolation goal. The game ended 3-1 to Villa.
Liverpool's last visit to Villa Park was a bit more positive with the Reds winning the game 2-0, Craig Bellamy and Martin Skrtel both scored early goals.
Stat Sandwich
- Liverpool have failed to win a game this season after conceding first.
- Benteke has scored 6 in his last 7 for Aston Villa.
- Only Man City have kept more clean sheets than Liverpool this season.
I was having a think the other day, mulling over what's happened this season and one thing that was blatantly obvious is that we seem to have solved one problem whilst creating another. Last season I distinctly remember crying out for a natural goalscorer, or at least some more players stepping up and finding the back of the net, now we have Suarez on top form, Daniel Sturridge and also the likes of Coutinho, our attack is far from a problem.
I read a quote from the BBC yesterday that stated "Last season, only Barcelona had a greater proportion of their play in the final third than Liverpool." but importantly Barcelona knew how to find the back of the bloody net! So now Liverpool have solved the attacking problem, they seem to have created a problem with consistency.
The defence has certainly had it's off days but as stated in the stat sandwich we have more clean sheets than all teams bar one this season and so that's not the real problem, the real problem is that we can go and beat Spurs but lose to Southampton, consistency however is something that comes with time I suppose and as a Liverpool fan you begin to learn that patience is a real part of the job.
Nevertheless I think Liverpool will have learnt their lesson after the last time they faced Aston Villa and for Sunday's game I can see the Reds picking up all 3 points in a 2-1 win.
Enjoy the match folks!
P.s. For those that follow me on Twitter you'll know I recently visited Milan, I had a fantastic time and whilst we were there we did the San Siro tour, it's obviously not fully Liverpool related but I'm thinking of putting up a small post in the next week or so with some pics from the day so keep your eyes peeled.