Game of 2 halves but Reds grab all 3 Christmas points at Villa Park
Aston Villa 1 Liverpool 3, 26th December 2022.
Aston Villa 1 Liverpool 3, 26th December 2022.
ASTON VILLA 1 (Watkins 59)
LIVERPOOL 3 (Salah 5, van Dijk 37, Bajcetic 81)
The idiom and footballing cliché of a “game of 2 halves” is so often overused but never was it more aptly demonstrated than this evening at Villa Park. The Liverpool Reds, in their alternative colours of all dark green, were well worthy of their 2–0 half-time advantage but the high press from their veteran midfield trio of captain Jordan Henderson (who so often acted as a “gunner” and a first line of defence high in the Aston Villa half) and Thiago Alcantara and Fabinho faded quickly under the immediate second half onslaught from a reinvigorated Aston Villa, and from a position of strength and of managing the game to a rather routine away win, the Reds were reliant upon the profligacy in front of goal from their hosts as well as a first Premier League goal from 18 year old teenage substitute Stefan Bajcetic 9 minutes from time to secure a precious win following the resumption of the Premier League after the World Cup, and a win that takes Liverpool back into the top 6 of England’s premier football league.
A game of two halves or not, it could also be argued that despite the final 3–1 score line it could have been almost anything, 5–5, 4–6 or any other ridiculous final score you wish to suggest. Both Ollie Watkins for the home team “Villains” and Darwin Nunez for the visiting Reds of Liverpool had a hat-trick of first half chances each, with Watkins fluffing a diving header tamely into the arms of Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker on 16 minutes when he should have equalised Mo Salah’s early opening goal. Watkins would finally score a deserved goal on 59 minutes that fully merited both his individual striking efforts as well as that of the team behind him who were fully on top after an hour of play and had completely turned the game on it’s half-time head. Watkins scored just seconds into the second half too but was correctly adjudged offside by a linesman’s flag, however the home team’s pressure was building and on the hour, the game was very finely balanced and very different from the expected stroll to victory for the visitors.
Whilst Liverpool were hardly, in football parlance, “hanging on”, their first half dominance had certainly evaporated by the hour mark and they somewhat resumed their first 45 minutes of being sensational going forward but chaotic defensively and whilst Harvey Elliott and Stefan Bajcetic were introduced as substitutes to inject some much needed energy and legs into the midfield, it was wholly unexpected to see the Spanish teenager breaking into the Aston Villa penalty area with 9 minutes remaining to score the game’s vital and decisive goal. Despite the Reds overall game dominance and a fantastic attacking display in the first half, their 2–1 lead going into the final 10 minutes was still a precarious one, and the teenager’s first senior goal in the Premier League a precious one.
The negative from a 3–1 away win in the Premier League(!) is an overall team one and a foreboding sense of unease whenever the defensive back four is tested under repeated waves of pressure. Again, 2–0 was a comfortable half-time lead but Aston Villa (and Ollie Watkins in particular) spurned numerous chances before his disallowed goal in the opening seconds of the second half was quickly followed up by glaring misses from both John McGinn and Emi Buendia inside the first 180 seconds of the second half. A better team would have taken these chances and punished the Reds.
Positives? Where chaos reigned defensively, the Reds were magnificent going forward from a springboard of their first choice midfield of old stagers Henderson, Thiago and Fabinho. As a unit they were compact yet expressive, a high pressing line yet incisive when lying deep and in front of the defensive back line.
The Reds started with an all star midfield aged 29–32. They ended the game with three teenagers aged 17–19. Ben Doak gained more playing minutes, Harvey Elliott is on the cusp of a permanent place in a favoured starting XI, and Stefan Bajcetic came up trumps with the decisive nerve settling third goal.
Fabinho, so often decried this season was magnificent and “Man of the Match” by a distance.
In the first half especially, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold were pinging cross field balls to each other as though they were playing for fun in the garden as kids! Robertson’s first and only thought was to venture forward, overlap on the left wing and get involved in attacking opportunities whilst his full-back mate on the other side of the pitch was simply drilling and curling inventive and incisive passes forward at every opportunity. Alexander-Arnold was substituted with 13 minutes to go but it was a pitch perfect display for 77 minutes.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain followed up an impressive 45 minutes at Manchester City on Thursday with another good half of football today. More playing minutes in the bank.
More in the bank for Darwin Nunez too who on another day, much like Ollie Watkins at the other end of the pitch, could have scored 2, 3 or maybe more. He’s a nuisance, a raw work in progress and you can’t fault his energy or effort for the team. Already looks a completely different striker to the young man who only made his Reds debut a matter of months ago.
But we’ll finish with the biggest positive of all, and one which perhaps encapsulates this evening’s victory entire: Liverpool’s first goal this evening was a thing of footballing beauty!
With pressure mounting after wave after wave of pressure and Aston Villa only partially clearing a Reds corner, the ball reached Trent Alexander-Arnold dead centre and just inside the Villa half. One touch to control a bouncing ball before an instant curling pass with the outside of his right boot found the marauding Andy Robertson who passed immediately with the outside of his left foot perfectly into the path of Mo Salah for the easiest of tap-in goals. Or put another way: the team’s right defensive wing back plays an audacious and exquisite pass with the outside of his boot to the team’s other defensive wing back who after taking an attacking corner is now in the right wing position and with a delicious instant pass of his own, finds Mo Salah to score his 172nd goal for the Reds to join Kenny Dalglish as the club’s 7th all-time record goal scorer. Andy Robertson notched a record of his own for the assist, Salah looked enlivened after a sluggish display on Thursday, and Liverpool were on their way to a deserved, if chaotic at times, away win in the Premier League.
English football is back and Liverpool have collected 3 Premier League points at the first time of asking.
Perfect.
Thanks for reading. Back to Liverpool duty now following the enforced absence during the World Cup, and here are links to the three previous Reds games before and since the recent shindig in Qatar:
De Bruyne masterclass dumps Reds out of the Carabao Cup
Manchester City 3 Liverpool 2, 22nd December 2022.medium.com
Nunez at the double but Becker the unsung hero as the Reds sign off for the World Cup with a win
Liverpool 3 Southampton 1, 12th November 2022.medium.com
Kid Kelleher the Kop hero in the Carabao Cup once again!
Liverpool 0 Derby County 0, 9th November 2022.medium.com