Aston Villa 1, Liverpool 0: An Indifferent Sort of Ending

By: Ed | May 22nd, 2011

cole

Liverpool fall to Villa in the final match of a rollercoaster season.

For the time being, I’m going to leave this as an open thread, as I missed almost all of the first half and was interrupted for large spells of the second. From what I hear there wasn’t much to recap anyhow, with few chances for either side and a pace dictated by the fact that neither side looked like they could be bothered to do much. Stuart Downing’s goal changed that a bit, and Liverpool were much better as the match continued, but it was a largely disappointing end to a season that saw a fair share of disappointments.

So it’s a bitter end to the season, but it also sees the club in a much better standing than they were at the beginning. Hellish at times, this season has provided plenty for Liverpool to endure. To finish in sixth is some sort of a achievement in and of itself; there’s no celebrations to be had for moral victories, especially after today’s limp performance, but it’s undeniable that Liverpool have achieved something massive in terms of sentiment.

Feel free to discuss anything and everything below—the match did provide a few talking points, including Joe Cole’s first (and last?) start in months to little effect, a full 90 for Fabio Aurelio, Raul Meireles getting back into the eleven, some difficulties up front for the lonely-looking Luis Suarez, and, unfortunately, another shaky performance to end the season on a low note. And, of course, there’s plenty to talk about heading into next season, which we’ll launch into over the coming days and weeks.

We’ll have a more fitting recap for the season this week coming in the form of the poll results and discussion that Noel organized; in the meantime, keep each other company and let that image of Joe Cole getting dispossessed burn into your brain while you hope that someone is foolish enough to take him off Liverpool’s hands.

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Category: Match Recaps, Miscellaneous, Premier League, Team News

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Mantantric

I think the loss was staged. We don't want to go for Europa, it is a shit league and we always have lots of injuries playing those silly teams, if we won we would have made 5th even though those Tots won. We are aiming for the league next season boyz-that is the only goal. Maybe FA cup.
Mike

I was really bummed to see Blackpool relegated. They play nice football. That being said, keep Charlie Adam the fuck away from my reds.
Deestinct

To be honest I'm quite disappointed by this.... Yeah I know where we were back when Kenny took over and where we are now, it's a damn good improvement, no doubt about that. Getting to Europe seemed totally impossible then, and we managed to put a string of wins to actually put ourselves in contention for a Europa league place, which is unbelievable.

But then I can't believe after all that, when it mattered most (to beat Tottenham to finish the job), we just couldn't do it....it was supposed to be easy, playing at home, final home match of the season...I really feel we could have beaten Tottenham easily, we should have. It's damn disappointing, seriously...They should have done better...and now this loss against Villa....I guess we still need a stronger mentality to not buckle under pressure, especially when it matters the most.
KC

Well considering that the majority of the squad is injured and those that aren't have been playing at such a high pace and level for the past few months with almost no rest at all that it makes sense to be a bit disappointed but there's no need to think its damn disappointing. You can kinda say that the excellent performances early on covered the fact that the squad at the moment is stretched so thin that its pretty awesome we're sixth. I know that Liverpool don't belong anywhere but the top four and obviously what you say is right about having a stronger mentality but I'm glad that season is over so we can start removing those that suck and hopefully draft in more players that will be like Suarez and not Cole :)
cheekyfellow

Yea, I think we got so used to doing quit decent with the current squad. We forget the players that are injured that could make a difference in the key matches. Oh well.
wak

we have half fit carroll playing, we dont have meireles in midfield, and were forced to change tactics... thats why we lost to totenham...at least that is what i think of... and of today's game...there were nothing to play for...everton wont go past us...and we cant go past spurs...i think teh motivation lacks...
Lex

A full ninety for Aurelio.
A full ninety for Aurelio.
...be right back, my world is shattering.
paul

We ended as we started the season. Let's hope the likes of Cole, Aurelio and Ngog, are gone, along with Pouslon, Konchshite, and Jovanovic. Carra and Skrtel to be squad players with Agger and Kelly in the middle. I hope Carroll fits into the new faster pass and move when we start the new season too. I've no idea what will happen to the midfield, we're a lot of players, plus additions fighting over that area. I doubt we'll end up with a great middle like the days of Gerrard (when he was good), Alonso (when he was great) and Masch collecting the ball.

So when does the transfer window open again?
Davey

This match was pretty much a throwaway. I hope the top brass noticed the play of Downing, Young and Albrighton. We need that type of creativity on the wing.

As a side note, I can only hope that Blackpool being relegated does not mean Adam will be coming to Anfield. He does not bring anything to the table that we do not already have. We have plenty of players capable of attempting audacious passes and scoring penalties and free kicks. Plus they don't stand around like he does.
dsm9412

Cole was terrible. He needs to go immediately, but I don't know why anyone would stupid enough to take him on after that performance. Just every time he had possession it was a total nightmare. As several on Twitter noted, they were immediately better when he left the pitch.

On the whole, it wasn't great. Like against Tottenham, it just wasn't happening in the final third, even in the superior second half. But the urgency just wasn't there, which leads me to believe that Dalglish didn't really care too much about Europa. Which is fine, I suppose, even if we might disagree.

But a great turnaround, and an exciting summer and new season to look forward to.
redtrev73

I know andy and maxi were crocked and jonjo's carrying a knock but i think Kenny took a punt on cole today at least partially to put him in the shop window...didn't work out thanks to the wheezy fella's utter ineptitude... nice one joey lad, now even newly promoted clubs won't touch ya, so you're free to pick up that fat cheque for another season of doing fuck all. Result!