By Michael Owen Two goals from Christian Benteke and a strike by Andreas Weimann brought Liverpool back down to earth after a solid run of results as a poor defeat at home to Aston Villa crushed the Reds momentum going into the Christmas period. Much was made of Liverpool’s position in the Premier League after the victory away to West Ham last weekend, with the win elevating the Reds into the top half of the table and leaving Brendan Rodgers side just four points of fourth place with a string of four ‘winnable’ fixtures ahead of them through the Christmas window before reinforcements could be added in January. One of those games, along with fixtures against, Queens Park Rangers, Fulham and Stoke City, was today’s game with Aston Villa, but instead of building on the good run of results in recent weeks Liverpool instead allowed Anfield to be turned from fortress into gift shop as the Midlands outfit comfortably walked out three goal winners. It was a familiar scene in front of goal for Liverpool as in other games they’ve struggled in, with the Reds breaking well up the pitch but struggling in front of goal as the pressure to net falls on the shoulders of Liverpool’s only recognised striker Luis Suarez. A goal from Steven Gerrard late on at least got the home side on the score sheet but the goal was nothing other than a consolation. At the back Liverpool were a shambles, putting in easily their worst performance at the back under Brendan Rodgers. Benteke was allowed far too much space for his first before Weimann fired home from the middle of the box with no red shirts close, with the final goal seeing Benteke easily shrugging off challenges from Joe Allen and Martin Skrtel before netting. Luis Suarez returned to the Liverpool starting line-up after missing the Reds trip to West Ham United through suspension whilst Stewart Downing was handed another start in the Premier League, starting at left-back in the absence of Jose Enrique who was ruled out with a niggling hamstring injury after a fine run of form in recent games. Either team had a chance to threaten in the opening minutes, with Martin Skrtel giving away a needless free-kick on the right-flank to give Villa a chance of swinging in a ball from a dangerous position and Bannon found Benteke whose header was well held by Reina before Gerrard, in a near identical position down the opposite end of the pitch, sent his free-kick out of play. Liverpool had a number of good chances throughout the opening twenty minutes of the game, with Downing firing just wide from a long range effort, Gerrard latching onto a brilliant pass from Suarez but miscontrolling with his second touch before Jonjo Shevley saw his effort just inside the box deflected away from danger as the Aston Villa back line stood firm. Despite being largely pushed back into their own half it was Paul Lambert’s side who made the breakthrough, with Benteke, who had been the most threatening player throughout for the visitors having come close from headed efforts on two occasions, picking up the ball just outside the box and, under minimal pressure fired his shot into Reina’s left-hand corner to give Villa the lead. Five minutes before half-time, and after a number of good moves by Villa, the visitors doubled their lead, with Weimann and Benteke linking up well, with Weinmann playing it to Benteke out wide before the striker returned the favour, laying off Weimann who had strolled into the box unmarked and had plenty of time to pick his spot and double Aston Villa’s lead. With Liverpool looking to get back into the game in the second period, Brendan Rodgers made a change at half-time, bringing on Joe Cole, who scored as a substitute against West Ham United at Upton Park last weekend to bring the Reds level, with the former Chelsea man replacing Jonjo Shelvey, who had a largely quiet first-half. Liverpool started the second-half how they started the first, pushing forward and creating chances, with Luis Suarez forcing a save out of Guzan. But it was Villa who scored the first of the half, with Cole giving away the ball to Benteke who broke forward, brushing off weak challenges from Allen and Skrtel, before firing past Reina for his second and Villa’s third. In reaction to Aston Villa’s third Brendan Rodgers opted to make his second substitution of the game with an hour on the clock, taking off Lucas Leiva and replacing him with the more attack-minded Jordan Henderson, who scored the goal which sealed the Reds Europa League advancement against Udinese. Villa made their first substitution of the game ten mintues later, with Paul Lambert bringing on Fabian Delph to replace Bret Holman. Mintues later they made their second El Ahmadi coming on for Bannon, Liverpool managed to pull back a consolation goal in the dying moments, with Glen Johnson cutting in from the right and firing off a shot from distance, which looked to be going in as Steven Gerrard got a head to it to make sure, nodding home to reduce the deficit to two goals. The visitors final substitution saw Andres Weimann, scorer of Villa’s second, coming off, being replaced by former Wigan Athletic winger Charles N’Zogbia.

A news article on 2012-12-15 16:54:00 from: The Anfield Opinion

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