A few worrying aspects last night. 5 goals conceded this season, 4 from set pieces. Playing with 2 defensive midfielders at home is criminal as well. LUcas has hopefully played himself out of the starting XI now until Aquilani is fit. He was good in preseason and decent agaisnt Spurs and Stoke but he was abject last night. We need Gerrard to drop back and play Benayoun off Torres with Riera coming onto the left.



Villa were superb last night though and I was extremely impressed by Cuellar in particular. A great counter attacking display and what we would give for the threat from Young and Milner down the flanks.

we look died going forward



cant we play 4-3-1-2



gerrard



kuyt and torres

Villa were not superb at all, they were very average.



The most glaring facet of the game is Liverpool's inability to adapt. Sure, when their tales are up, Kuyt, Benayoun, Johnson, Insua, Lucas and the lot can be good players.



But in the face of adversity, we lack the ability to claw our way back it seems.



The amount of times Lucas and Mascherano were sat in their own half when we were chasing the game defied belief.



I fear that Liverpool have been found out this season. We have no plan B when the 4 2 3 1 isn't working.



Hopefully the start to the season will force their tight Yanks into giving Rafa more cash to play with.







To be honest, we're pretty stuck when it comes to personnel. But, we definately need Riera back in on the left to provide us with some width.



If Rafa is going to persevere with Lucas, I think he and Gerrard have to swap around. Not many know this, but he actually prefers the position Gerrard plays in. Gerrard will be equally at home in the middle.



But, I'd go with this team for Bolton.





-------------Reina---------



Johnson Skrtel Carra Dossena / Insua



---Mascherano-- Gerrard



Kuyt----Benayoun------ Riera



----------Torres-----

What I don't understand is we dealt with the ones against stoke and they must have had 3 times more corners and free kicks than villa.

One thing they did point out on the radio last night was that nearly all of Liverpool's width this season has come from Johnson at right-back. He was taken up looking after Ashley Young last night, hence the lack of width which caused the problems. Now, I didn't see the game, but does that sound plausible?



It also gives merit to a story I heard a year or so back, that in modern football the full-backs are right up there as the most important people on the pitch.

So you'd put Steven Gerrard, one of Liverpool's best 2 attacking players and scorer of some of the most important goals in club history, sitting in front of a back 4...against Bolton Wanderers?



Riiiiiight....

If we get anything out of the fixture I will be gobsmacked. On current form Liverpool will only need to score once.

Johnson got forward well, but he had nobody there to give him service. Almost every time the ball went out to the right and Kuyt got it, his first touch was 5 yards in-field, his second was to pass it back to Mascha. It just doesn't allow us to build pressure when every winger cuts in and has no invention. Benayoun is so much better on the right, at the back end of last year he was one of our best players, all because Rafa woke up and decided Benny would be better there than Kuyt.



I'm really annoyed Nemeth's out on loan, although he's not played for the first team yet, I already believe he'd be a better partner to Torres than Kuyt or Voronin, if he drops Gerrard deeper, that is.



It's useless playing Gerrard in the hole if neither midfielder is going to give it to him with time and space. That was what Alonso done so well, it really doesn't seem that hard but Lucas' inability to play at a high tempo is worrying.

Wouldn't be suprised if we smack bolton for 6 on saturday.

Dont think theres any chance of that more than likely the other way round. You cqan have Benjani off us if you want??

They were superb at achieveing a result no other team has managed in a Premier League game since 2007.

He does need to play deeper at the moment as there is nothing coming from the middle of the park. I don't think the OP was advocating him playing in the same role as Mascherano, even though his formation looks that way.



---------------Reina--------------------



Johnson Carragher Skrtel Insua (Absolutely no way Dossena should play)



--------------Mascherano-------------



Kuyt ----------Gerrard-------------Riera



---------------Benayoun----------------



-----------------Torres--------------



Would be my prefered line up