Villa Are Awful
Going into this game, everyone seemed to be under the impression that we'd struggle against Villa (I personally thought they'd at least give us a game) but once the team sheet was announced I was confident. And then what follows is surely deserving of the phrase: Valentine's Day Massacre. And of course, there are two sides to every story, so let's get this out of the way now. Villa were about as bad as I've ever seen a Premier League side. They were utterly shambolic. But as bad as they were, there were some definite moments for Liverpool fans to take a lot of heart from.
Look at the first goal in particular. Yes, the marking from Villa was absolutely non-existent. But it was still a wonderful ball into a very good area from Coutinho, right on Sturridge's head and the clinical nature of Sturridge's finish is always a good sign, albeit an expected one. In fact, all of the goals have good aspects to them. The second was awful from a defensive perspective, but once again, it was a case of Milner this time putting a wicked ball into the right area and when defenders don't deal with it, the end result is a goal. The fact that it absolutely should have been dealt with doesn't change the fact that when it wasn't the ball was so on the money it ended up in the net. The third is probably the best finish of the lot, a lovely driven effort from Emre Can who showed good tenacity to win the ball back in Villa's third. But from a Villa perspective, it's a ball that should never have been given away and a goal that should never have been scored. The fourth is another sublime pass from Coutinho and the performance of the little Brazilian is easily the biggest positive from this game from a Liverpool perspective, with only the fact that Sturridge, Couts and Origi got significant game time matching up. And although Origi's finish for that fourth wasn't the best, it was good enough and it was an excellent run from him.
This is where it gets awkward. At 2-0, Villa hit the self-destruct button. At 4-0, they quite literally imploded. The fifth goal was laughably bad defending, with Villa seemingly determined that Nathaniel Clyne would, in fact had to, put the ball past them and into their net. It was as if no other conclusion was acceptable. And if the fifth was humiliating, the sixth was just staggering. Kolo Toure, on the penalty spot with no defenders within yards and yards of him, with the easiest header I've ever seen straight down the middle of the goal. In terms of positives, all you can say about these fifth and sixth goals is that they were put into the net, and that it's nice to see two of our defenders end up on the scoresheet.
Honestly, I think almost any team in the league could have put six past Villa on a day like yesterday, but ultimately, we're the ones who did and in doing so, we saw plenty of key players hopefully return to form and this will give the lads a real confidence booster going into the cup final. And, to be honest, if nothing else, it was just nice to be able to enjoy watching Liverpool play football for once.
North London Squeeze
Meanwhile, at the top of the table, Arsenal and Tottenham really applied the pressure to Leicester, as Manchester City lost ground on the two North London clubs. Spurs in particular will be very happy with the way that they played and probably deserved to win against City, although they were aided by a rather fortuitous penalty that was never a handball by Raheem Sterling in a million years. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful goal, finished by Eriksen but created by Lamela, that ultimately handed Spurs victory as the game reached its dying embers, and it genuinely was a fantastic result for them. Tottenham controlled the tempo of the game for almost all of it, Dembele in particular imperious as he pulled the strings in midfield, but until Lamela's introduction, they lacked a cutting edge in the final third. City on the other hand were consistently lethargic, and even the likes of Aguero never really looked sharp, until a wonderfully worked move, thundered home by Iheanacho seemed to spur them into life. But eventually, it was Spurs who gained the initiative, to move within two points of the top of the table.
And that was only possible because in the game of the day, hell the game of the weekend, Arsenal were able to see off Leicester to go within two points of the Foxes themselves. The first half was a scintillating, high tempo game of football. There weren't loads of chances, but there was no shortage of quality, with both teams going at it hammer and tongs. It was a real shame that such a good first half ended in a moment of pure controversy, as Jamie Vardy threw himself into the outstretched leg of Nacho Monreal and the referee pointed to the spot. For me, Vardy was looking for it, it was a dive and it certainly wasn't a penalty. Should Monreal's leg have been there? Probably not but that alone isn't enough as there was no contact by Monreal on Vardy; Vardy himself bundled himself into Monreal and over. In any case, the penalty was given and Vardy dispatched it.
Then, madness. The second half saw Danny Simpson do something apocalyptically stupid. I didn't see his first booking, but I hear that it probably wasn't a booking, but nevertheless, his second definitely was, dragging back Giroud in a dangerous area of the pitch for me is a blatant yellow. And it was an incredibly stupid thing to do when on a yellow card and for that alone I don't think he can argue that he needed to walk. After that, it was one way traffic and Arsenal gave themselves plenty of time to score the winner as Giroud played a beautifully cushioned header into Walcott's path to level the game with twenty minutes to play.
And win it they did. And how. High drama as another cheap free kick in a dangerous area was conceded by Leicester, Mesut Ozil played in an absolute peach of a ball and Danny Welbeck, off the bench for his first appearance since April, buried the header. Pandemonium at the Emirates and a result that changes just about everything. Looking back, this may well be the moment where Leicester lost the title, if not the one where Arsenal won it. As much as I've been backing Leicester and Man City in recent weeks, this certainly feels like the kind of result that could really turn a corner for Arsenal's mental fragility, and certainly it has blown the race wide open. Leicester still have the easiest run in, and a two-point lead, but suddenly, the momentum is in North London. Trying to predict who wins it from here is nigh on impossible.
England Storm Into Life
I said beforehand that I wanted to see England make a statement in this game, use Italy as the whipping boys to firmly establish a points difference lead at the top of the Six Nations and make a real statement about their intentions to win this tournament. And they certainly did that. Granted, the majority of their points came in the last half an hour, but that's how rugby works sometimes. When your opponents tire, you take advantage and England certainly rubbed salt into the wounds with five tries, Jonathan Joseph at the heart of the carnage with a second half hat-trick. With the scores at 11-9 and Italy with a penalty, it looked as if the game might have ended up being very sticky for England, but a combination of poor play from the Italians and marvelous play from England, Danny Care in particular, allowed Joseph to run riot, crossing the line twice in five minutes before the hour mark, and then England to go over twice more in five minutes just after the 70 minute mark, Joseph grabbing his hat-trick before Farrell got in on the act. Italy were steamrollered in the second half, and England ran away 40-9 winners.
This was exactly what England needed, giving them a hearty points difference which could prove very crucial in what is looking to be an increasingly tight Six Nations. With the French off to a strong start and Wales right in the mixer after two fixtures, points difference could play a huge part. England will be looking at next week's game against Ireland at Twickenham as a must win now, and a real opportunity to stamp their authority on this tournament, as France go to Cardiff. Disappointingly, those fixtures are nearly two weeks away, but it should still make for a humdinger of a weekend. England know that beating Ireland is crucial, leaving them Wales and France in their final two games. Neither of those teams have been convincing yet, but Wales should definitely beat France in Cardiff, which would mean that England could only need a draw to stay top of the league going into their match with Wales at Twickenham.
Ultimately, after two rounds of games, it's far too early to call a winner, and both France and Wales are still very much there, with Wales still probably just about the favourites. But England know that the men in red have to come to Twickenham, Ireland are out of sorts, France don't look amazing yet and the ball is very much in their court. And this at least, for the first time in any of the matches in this tournament so far, was a convincing, emphatic win. And in a tournament of what looks to be very fine margins indeed, that's a very strong statement to make.
The Hard and Fast Section
- That Barcelona penalty. Wow. Just...wow.
- Barcelona in general last night. Unstoppable.
- Leeds United are putting on a really poor show.
- I like Reece Topley. A lot.
- England's batting? Shocking. They have a lot to learn.
- Matip confirmed. Get in Jurgen.
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