It's not harsh - it's utter bollocks!!
Couldn't get on the net during the game so came on to see the match thread after watching the win. Amazed to find the panic merchants out in force right through the game.
Were we perfect? Not by a long shot.
What we did was absolutely dominate them for the first 30 to 35 minutes. They came into it a little at the end of the first half.
Gerrard and Lucas were running the midfield, the movement was absolutely awesome - every player was running, moving to space, looking for channels and showing for the ball. Gerrard and Lucas were hitting players at will and we looked irresistable. What we didn't seem to have was the final piece where all the movement that had Villa stretched opened them up completely. Then Sturridge made the overwhelming dominance count.
Second half Villa found their second wind, got the crowd behind them, kicked seven shades out of Coutinho and showed the form that really made the Chavs work at Stamford Bridge. We didn't make it easy on ourselves with some silly passes but all this bollocks about needing a DM who'd put his foot on the ball and control it just made me laugh. When you've got a team closing you down as quick as Villa were in the 2nd half Souness, Mascher and Stevie rolled into one wouldn't be able to just put his foot on the ball. Put your foot on the ball with 4 players like Benteke and Delph closing you down and you look a dick.
We couldn't find the movement up front which was a worry but the midfield and defense worked their absolute socks off. Of course they were bloody knackered in the 2nd half; they'd run, chased, tackled and run some more practically non-stop. We allowed them one half chance with a poor Agger header and one real chance where Ming proved he's an awsome shot stopper.
We all knew that Villa were young, hungry, well managed and had some dangerous players. They proved that against probably the best team in the league a few days ago.
Coutinho 6 Tried hard, got kicked to hell and back but needs to simplify things sometimes
Lucas 7 Worked like a trojan, never shied from a collision, picked his passes beautifully in the first half, missed a couple in the 2nd and gave away 2 silly frees but was otherwise non-stop
Stevie 7 Thought he was going to break free a couple of times, probed in the first half, some excellent runs, good passing and worked very hard in the last part of the 2nd half. Seemed to struggle in the early part of the 2nd when we lost the edge.
Kolo 8 Thought he would be a great buy as soon as it happened. Listened a little too closely when others said he was too old but have been relieved to find that was just utter tosh. He's got a great leap, built from granite and quick enough to cover most strikers.
Agger 6.5 Would have been 7 except for a couple of badly thought out headers. Came forward with purpose, looked mostly composed and had an absolute monster to deal with.
Enrique 7 / Johnson 6.5 Was going to be an 8 for Jose but he really found it hard to keep going at 100% for the whole match. Both Fullbacks had some speed merchants coming at them yet both also got forward continually and worked themselves into the ground to get back.
Sturridge 8 Great goal, held the ball well, passed well. Made the wrong choice a few times in the 2nd half when we were under the cosh. Proving himself to be a centre forward though which is great.
Henderson 6 Worked himself into the ground which is his thing but his execution wasn't up to the level he needs it to be.
Ming 7.5 The litmus test for our defense and midfield. Really didn't have that much to do. Did what he needed and one outstanding stop kept a second clean sheet in our first 2 matches.
I thought the rest were average or quiet but none of them stopped working at any point.
I don't know what the fitness regime is that Rodgers has them on but it's obviously going to be a key factor in our season. It needs to be absolutely spot on cause you can't play the way we're playing for 90 minutes unless you're in close to ideal shape.
