Tsimikas and Allison the heroes as Liverpool win FA Cup on penalties. Title challenge set to go to the wire.

 

Another dramatic and nerve-racking week for the Reds as this amazing season draws to a close.

It started with Liverpool on Tuesday making hard work of a bang-average Aston Villa side in the Premier League, falling behind 1-0 to a Douglas Luiz goal after only three minutes following some horrible defending from Naby Ketia and Kostas Tsimikas (in for the rested Andy Robertson) and even worse officiating, not calling an obvious offside in the Aston Villa buildup.

Fortunately for the Reds, they hit back almost immediately with an equally scruffy goal and poor defending, from Tyrone Mings, ended with Joel Matip scrambling in the ball from close.

Liverpool controlled most of the game from then on, but couldn’t find the breakthrough. It took some sublime play from Luis Diaz down the left on 65 minutes, picking out Sadio Mané in the box and the Senegalese ace twisted his neck to connect with the ball slightly behind him to guide it into the corner of the net, beyond the despairing hand of Emi Martinez.

Liverpool held on for the win, only for Manchester City the following night to make short shrift of Wolves, thrashing the midlanders 5-1 to maintain their three point lead at the top and boost to almost insuperable proportions their goal difference.

The title seemed all over for Liverpool, increasing the importance of the FA Cup final against Chelsea. For this remarkable season to have significant meaning for the Reds, defeating Thomas Tuchel’s side seemed necessary.

And, indeed, Liverpool began the final as if they were going to overwhelm Chelsea, Luis Diaz in particular proving unplayable. All the Colombian was missing was the ability to convert his numerous chances. Diogo Jota, too, on for the injured Mo Salah after half an hour, had opportunities to make Liverpool’s superiority count, but failed to capitalise.

Thus, Chelsea grew into the game and for large parts of it dominated and created significant chances, Mason Mount and, in particularly, Christian Pulisic, missing when they should’ve done better. Marcus Alonso hit the bar from a free kick.

The goalless match went into extra time and then penalties, where Mané had the chance on the fifth penalty – James Milner, Thiago Alcantara, Roberto Firmino and Trent Alexander Arnold having put their spot kicks away – to win the Cup, with Cesar Azpilicueta having missed Chelsea’s second penalty; but the Senegalese, having scored winning kicks in the Afcon final and to take his national side to the World Cup – both victories coming against Mo Salah's Egypt – fluffed his shot against his international colleague Bernard Mendy.

It seemed there would be a massive switch in momentum, especially with Hakim Ziyech expertly putting Chelsea 5-4 up. Jota, however, kept his nerve and the Reds in it by scoring the sixth penalty. Mount’s kick was then saved by Allison Becker.

Thus, it was the turn of Tsimikas to become a legend to score the penalty that would win the cup for Liverpool and the Greek international stepped up to send Mendy the wrong way.

The good weekend continued when Manchester City dropped two points against West Ham – who were actually two up at half time – meaning that if Liverpool beat Southampton in midweek, then we will go into the final matches next Sunday with City needing to beat Aston Villa to prevent Liverpool, who play Wolves, overtaking them at the last moment. You’d have to expect that Villa won’t be able to resist Pep Guardiola’s side, but City did show signs of nerves against West Ham – a much better side than Villa – and a repeat, though unlikely, would open the door to Liverpool.

Reds manage nervy win against Steven Gerrard's dogged Aston Villa

For the second week in a row Liverpool managed a scrappy, nervy but ultimately deserved victory against dogged opposition who didn’t create much but thwarted the Reds for much of the game.

An appalling refereeing performance from Stuart Atwell in the first half – part of which involved him tolerating blatant time-wasting and slowing-the-game tactics from Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa – contributed to Liverpool’s frustrations as their methodical play was replaced by anxiety and rushing.

Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, who started ahead of the only-fit-enough-for-the-bench Diogo Jota, while last week’s goalscoring hero Divock Origi was out altogether with a minor knee problem, struggled in the false nine position.

However, it was Oxlade Chamberlain who came closest to scoring for the Reds with one of his trademark outside-the-area strikes that had Emi Martinez in the Villa goal beaten, but was two feet too high.

Apart from one a couple of half-hearted penalty shouts for fouls on Andy Robertson, this was pretty much all Liverpool managed in the first forty-five.

The second half was much of the same. Liverpool having an overwhelming amount of possession and creating enough chances to score, but lacking the decisive final pass or finish.

Just when it seemed we were going to be talking about a heroic defensive performance from the visitors with their captain Tyrone Mings seemingly getting his head on everything and launching himself into unlikely blocks, the Villa centre half on 67 minutes made a fatal mistake.

The ever industrious Mo Salah found himself with the ball just outside the Villa box. He drove towards the goal marshalled by Mings; but rather than let the Liverpool striker run down towards the line and out of room, the Villa defender panicked and decided to try and nick the ball away from Salah. He missed the ball, clipped the Reds forward, who went tumbling.

A penalty, a soft penalty, but a penalty just the same.

In basketball, such an infraction would be called a reach-in foul, and it’s one an experienced defender like Mings, who is deemed good enough to play for England, should not have made.

Once VAR had confirmed that Atwell had not made a clear and obvious error in awarding the spot kick – I doubt VAR would have overturned Atwell’s decision if he had initially gone the other way and not given a foul – Salah composed himself and, despite Martinez’ antics on the goal line, struck the ball perfectly, low into the corner of the goal beyond the keeper’s reach.

The last 20 minutes of the game involved Villa searching for the equaliser and they did so with much threat, particularly down their right with wing-back Matty Cash finding himself in one dangerous position after another.

Villa’s pressure should’ve paid off on 85 minutes, when a mix up at the back between Alisson Becker and Joel Matip ended with the ball breaking to substitute Danny Ings.

In attempting to swipe the ball away from the ex-Liverpool man, Becker looked as if he missed it altogether and caught the forward’s shin causing him to fall in the box.

If Atwell had awarded a penalty, no Liverpool fan could’ve argued against it, but the referee decided there was no infringement and VAR decided any error wasn’t so significant as to warrant the overturning of the decision. Villa will count themselves unlucky.

Still, Liverpool had chances to score on the break as Villa poured forward. Jota – having come on for Oxlade Chamberlain after an hour – wasting golden opportunities to put the game to bed and ease Liverpool nerves, which only calmed on the final whistle.

Reds scrape past Aston Villa in push for fourth

A big win for Liverpool – their first in nine at Anfield – that didn’t look at all likely the more the game went on but a 91st minute curling strike from Trent Alexander Arnold secured the three points and took the Reds into fourth spot, which would qualify them for the Champions League.

The Reds dominated possession in the first 45, which was largely played in the Villa half, but couldn’t take advantage of any of the several openings they created, Diogo Joga’s header from six yards out being the best chance spurned. Inevitably, all these wasted opportunities would be punished at the other end and so it was on 43 minutes that a rare Villa attack resulted in the ball breaking to Ollie Watkins on the edge of the area. Falling over as he shot, Watkins only managed a weak connection but it was enough to beat Allison Becker who went at the ball with his hand rather than his foot and it squirmed into the net.

Liverpool looked to have immediately responded with some pinball in the Villa area eventually ending with Roberto Firmino scuffing a shot into the back of the net, only for VAR to make one of those perplexing and soul-destroying decisions to rule the goal out for an indiscernible offside against Jota in the build up.

These two lucky breaks looked to have perked Villa up, making them believe that there was something in the game for them if they dug in; but Liverpool equalised on 57 minutes when Mo Salah nodded in after a fierce shot from Andy Robertson could only be parried by Martinez.

A Liverpool onslaught was expected, instead of which the Reds took their foot off the gas and it was Aston Villa who looked most dangerous going forward. Dean Smith’s men were unlucky not to retake the lead on 62 minutes when the ball broke to Trezeguet in the Liverpool area and his clever attempt with the outside of his foot hit the inside of Allison’s left post and spun to the other side of the goal where a desperate, diving Trezeguet couldn’t direct his header back on goal.

Despite bringing on Sadio Mané for Roberto Firmino and Thiago Alcantara for Gini Wijnaldum, Liverpool’s play was sloppy and the game was meandering to a disappointing stalemate that would’ve summed up and drawn a line under this awful season for the Reds. Then, in injury time, a few good passes involving Thiago, Mané and Xherdan Shaqiri, who’d just come on for Ozan Kabak, ended with a shot from Thiago being expertly saved from Martinez, only for the ball to find its way to Alexander Arnold in the left-back position and the under-pressure Reds’ defender – who, again, it has to be said, had had a rotten game – brilliantly curled the ball into the corner of the Villa net.

Nothing in the Reds’ performance suggested they’ll have what it takes to overcome the 3-1 deficit against Real Madrid on Wednesday in the Champions League quarter-final; though today’s performance should take into account how draining the game last Tuesday against the Spanish giants would’ve been. Liverpool’s man-of-the-match today was Nat Phillips, who got his head on everything and won every challenge in the air.

Reds ease past Aston Villa kids into FA Cup fourth round

 

This was supposed to be a walkover, even after the tie got the go-ahead. But for 45 minutes Liverpool were driven to the brink of humiliation by little known but highly impressive upstarts, with Aston Villa forced to field a team of players who had never contested a senior match.

The youngsters shrugged off the concession of an early goal to Sadio Mané to go in level at half-time thanks to a lovely equaliser by 17-year-old Louie Barry. “I’ve never been so proud of a team,” said Barry later. “My family were probably screaming at the TV. When I scored I actually thought: ‘We might even have a chance here.’” Class and fitness eventually told, as Georginio Wijnaldum, Mané and Mohamed Salah each found the net in a quickfire second-half salvo.

Read more here.

Curtis Jones stars as Reds overcome Aston Villa

 

Klopp: 'We were not like warriors.'

Jürgen Klopp said he felt “the best possible emotion in football” when Sadio Mané struck Liverpool’s late winning goal at Aston Villa, but the Liverpool manager criticised his team for inviting defeat by being “too playful” in the first half.

Liverpool fell behind to a goal by Trézéguet in the 21st minute but staged a late rally to win 2-1, preserving their six-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

“We made it more difficult at the start, we started playing football but not exactly like we should have – too playful, like kids,” said Klopp, doing a little mime of children frolicking. “Our football looked good but I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the body language in the first half. We were not like warriors. We were like players.'

Read more here.