EPL Full Time Report: Liverpool versus Aston Villa – 3-0 (Part 2)
In the 55th minute, N’Gog made a speedy run on the right wing after which he split two defenders and passed the ball to Rodriguez. The Spanish player boldly struck the ball past the shot stopper to score the 3rd goal for Liverpool
The Liverpool fans along with the former Fulham manager Hodgson would be extremely happy with Rodriguez’s form as this happened to be his 3rd goal in recent weeks. He really seems to be picking his role with the Reds now.
After the goal, Villa tried to slow down the pace of the game and after some time the only cross that came in wasn’t even in the box as midfielder Downing had to travel half the pitch to kick the ball wide from his left foot.
Near to the hour mark, Liverpool held majority of the possession again therefore a similar story was being revealed. The only difference was that the Villa midfielders seemed more alive now and were readily tackling the ball.
Dunn, Ireland and Warnock played the ball from the midfield to create a set piece however a loose ball resulted in the ball travelling safely to the arms of shot stopper Reina.
In the 63rd minute, Babel brought the ball threateningly inside the box from the left wing but after faking a shot once he delayed it and taking advantage of it Villa defenders cleared the ball.
Near to the 65th minute, there were many more crosses flying into Liverpool’s box but there wasn’t a proper finisher up front who could utilize them to score and hence Reina was always there to collect the ball.
At the 65th minute, Albrighton was replaced by Pires and Agbonlahor was replaced by Carew.
The change in substitution by Houllier had certainly changed the game plan for Villa as they looked to be more on an attacking front now.
However, Liverpool realized that and retained possession. Johnson made a brilliant run in from the right and after leaving to Villa players for the dead he managed to power a shot but Friedel used his quick reflexes to punch away the ball. Eventually, Meirles
took the corner which became useless.
In the 71st minute, Skrtel eased out of a tough spot by showing the experience. The Slovakian player produced a nice tackle and fell while doing it therefore was granted free kick.
During the 72nd minute, Rodriguez played an awesome ball to Johnson on the right but Liverpool’s right back was unable to utilize all space and fired the ball miles over head.
In the 75th minute, Meirles took a brilliant corner but Kyrgiakos came to head the ball and he did his job well. Unfortunately, there was a defender standing on the line who headed the ball away from getting into the net.
To be continued in Part 3...
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