Craig Bellamy, who switched flanks with Stewart Downing, had a storming game and bossed the left side of the park. He linked up well with Luis Suarez and Jose Enrique.
He scored the first goal of the afternoon following a Downing corner, and he set up the second with his own great corner which was whipped in at pace. Martin Skrtel met the inswinger with an excellent header to put the Reds 2-nil up within 15 minutes.
The two quick goals effectively killed the game and the rest of the match proved to be quite a drab affair with Villa offering nothing at all going forwards.
Stewart Downing received vociferous abuse for the entire game from his previous club’s fans, but he could finally afford a smile at the end of the game with the points wrapped up.
Luis Suarez put the home defence under pressure with his trademark mazy runs and twice hit the woodwork in the second half. This brings Liverpool’s record of hitting the posts to 17 for the season; far beyond any other team.
In fact, Villa’s goal led a charmed life, with the woodwork, desperate defending and poor finishing all contributing to Liverpool not extending their lead.
But the day belonged to Bellamy who put in arguably his best performance of the season. For Villa it was another day of no goals, which it had been for four of the last five games.
Two-nil it finished and a good three points for the visitors, but there is still lots of improvement to be done in the final third. Wasted chances this season have cost the Reds many goals and a truckload of points.
0 comments:
Post a Comment