Another defeat, this time at Anfield...

It was really a bad start for Liverpool, the home defeat 3-1 to Aston Villa at home was really a nightmare. Last season, they have only lost 2 games whole season, but since the start of this season 2009/10, they have lost 2 games out of 3 they played.
I have to give credits to Aston Villa, they defend in numbers, Torres, Kuyt and Gerrard all have no chances. If Rafa continues to play the way Liverpool played last season, we will end up nothing this season. Believe me, you don't expect Lucas to play like Alonso, Gerrard definitely cannot play as a striker and a midfield at the same time. Mascherano is still overwork, Johnson looks bit subdued, the two central defenders are working hard, Insua and Benayoun are trying their best to overlap, but what went wrong?
The first goal came from Lucas own goal, a foul he comitted and a goal he scored himself! He is not having a good game, the confidence is low, the penetration is not there, passing is short range only, this is simply not enough. We cannot depend on Gerard or Torres to produce the goal only. Benayoun zig-zag movement ends up nowhere, it was too predictable. I see improvements in both the left and right flanks, we have over-lapping defenders. And 2nd goal, well, another set-piece, I called, you need to defend your corners, you need to defend opposition set-piece, Rafa needs to think a way how to get his players to do that. How many times we committed the same error last season, when against teams like MU or Chelsea? Lesson need to be learnt and improved, and most importantly, not repeated! Liverpool's subsitutues are still not good enough to make the first team tonight, I still see a bulky Voronin, his movement was so rigid, same as Babel. I am wondering what happen to Reira, he has been missing from Liverpool games for the third time in a row?? Believe me, we won't be able to push for the title if we do not invest, current bunch is simply not good enough, we need to accept the fact at this moment.
I did not watch the second game against Stoke which we won comfortably, but I was great youngster such as Ayala was given a chance to play, and definitely, they need more games. I hope to see more of Plessis, Nemeth, Kelly and Daniel Pacheco in the near future.
Refereeing standard is still poor for tonight game, same as Spurs game. But we cannot blame purely on referees when we lost a game, and as I have said before, a game is won when we score more goals than our opposition. Until we do that, we have to forget about the Premier League title this season.