Gerrard to the rescue yet again - but why did Benitez ignore Benayoun's creativity?

I thought Babel looked very strong yesterday and hope he gets more chances to shine. Would like to see Babel, Torres, Kuyt and Crouch all play up front at the same time. Set Stevie in behind them and then use the rest of the team for our defense.

Bad article, Benayoun, Mascherano and co. were most likely being rested for wednesdays champions league match.

Benitez would have been thinking about Wednesday night.

What match were you watching? Liverpool should have been at least 2 up before Villa got their penalty. Rafa's selection showed we have great strength in dept.

I believe deep inside Benitez was more concerned with winning than gamble on anything esle. He wanted to contain and hit at the break. To be fair, we had loads of chances and sooner or later, Torres will kick off, but for that we need to give him game. AV did not want to lose to us ont he first day, so they were more defensive minded, maybe even Beny may not have been any better. All in all, it is the first day, be happy we got 3 points away. I am sure you will see more flair as the new boys are included slowly.

This was a selection to get the three points. They should have shut out the door in first half. Others I agree with Laurence are being rested for Toulouse and dont forget Chelsea up next and at Anfield - which puts more pressure on us to win. My only bad comment about the match is that we are still not very quick on the counter attack, we move quickly yes but then ease down everything by passing back the ball. Babel was exceptional though.

I think the team is a strong one. I am glad that your are not the manager. Who are our next 3 opponents? Think... and you will see that you are far away from Benitez intelligence.. YNWA

Well I think that being so negative in the comments cannot help these things but you have to remember that first games are always a little shaky we have purchased a lot of new players and cannot expect it to go smoothly. Dont forget the game we have with Touluse and chelsea next weekend. So utilising the whole team was on his mind. Playing alonso and gerrard was a safer options with Pennant on the wing.As oppose to playing benayoun.

Don't agree. New players need playing time to gel. If Rafa put all the new signings in the first game, there will be problems of mutual understanding. It is much better to gradually introduce new players. In this game, we dominated almost from start to the last 15 minutes and created the most decent chances. Carra was unlucky to concede the spot kick. I can't remember any decent chance they created.

first day off season 3 points in bag away to a good villa side and theres people complaining already where not everton guys leave all that to there fans i thaught it was a decent performance there going to be plenty of games for all the players to show there stuff this season lets just put r faith in rafa 100%. everyone goes on about us finishing 21 points behind united last year but apart from the poor start we had good season the last 4 5 games he played a second string team we would of won all them the gap wouldn't have looked so vast.rafas brought in some quality this summer and there all going to add something extra to an already top team but all of them are going to have to fight to play no matter who they are and how much they cost. as for that last comment when man utd or chelsea go anywhere they will pick a team that each manager thinks will work best against that team they might not rotate as much as rafa but no manager whos worth anything picks his team without thinking about the oposition. rafas

Terrible article... The team selection was absolutely fine and we dominated. Torres showed some great touches and Babel looks lively. Just hope the team can start to bury their chances more often

presumably you were asked to write a "controversial article" to drum up interest in this webshite. Poor choice of topic as you've shown yourself to be lacking in brains and ability. It was the first game of the season, and you're moaning already! Jaysus.

Your mental, I'm a liverpool fan who would like to see liverpool attack but the first game of the season away to a well organised Villa team aint the place to start, I'm glad Benitez didnt use to many new player, we didnt finish last season badly so he didnt need to risk anything yesterday, by the end of the game 3 new players had played and liverpool had done enough to win. the new players will all have a part to play, BENAYOUN who you think should have played is a very good player but ask Westham fans if he is any good away from home and they will all tell you NO, personally i would like to have seen Babel start on the left and Risse at leftback, would have been better for our attack, Babel will be Benitez's best signing, ok its a longterm one not sure if he will make an instant impact but he can play wide left and right or as a striker he has pace skill and a lot of power, if him and torres can settle and gel quickly then liverpool can challenge for the title, realistically this will happen next season,

I agree with almost everyone here, that article is just plaib wrong, and infantile in nature.

Agree the article is very poor, use your head!!! villa have a heck of alot of pace especially on the wings, luke moore (sub), young, agbonlahor are all super quick, faster than most players if not all of the players in the liverpool squad he had to play riise and arbeloa to contain AGBONLAHOR, if you use a natural winger i.e babbel or kewell they would be exposed, by agbonlahor's pace, because he doesn't really defend that much so it would be riise v agbonlahor and i dont think riise would win that race. Pennant is quicker than benayoun so could help more going back than beny. Why are people so negative!!!!!!! ITS ONLY THE FIRST GAME AND WE WON!!!!!!!!

To whom may I ask did Yossi Benayoun 'look like our biggest improvement pre-season'? What load of waffle. If anyone looked our best new player in pre-season it was Voronin. I'm happy we have Benyoun, I think he is better in possesion than Garcia, but of our three high profile signings, I think Torres and Babbel are the one's to get most excited about, especially long term. Aside from that, Villa are a well organised team and hard to beat at home. An away win first day of the season at Villa Park is a great result. Do you think Chelsea fans would have been complainig about the perfomance if they had ground out a similar result. I thought we looked pretty impressive. Babel showed some genuine pace and power whiulst Torres shoed a great touch and some good link up play. Wake up!

I for one was only wishing that we start with a win, an away one for that metter. And I got my wishes. All players deserve a chance and those present did take theirs well. The new players need time to bed in, and with three fixtures in a week, RB needs to ensure freshness all through. Wonder what will be said then wehn we play Toulouse and have some players rested with Chelsea in mind!

You seem to specialise in them fella...Ill thought out. With no thought or mention again from you of the impending Toulouse CL away game on Wednesday. I've come to the conclusion that you can't be more than 14 years old because your analysis of Rafa, tactics and team selection is patiently all 'over the shop'. Liverpool would have been grossly unlucky to draw that game yesterday after creating chance after chance...They by a long stretch were not lucky to win at Villa...Yes It would have been perfect to kill them off before a dubious Mike Riley penalty but I've never seen the Reds dominate such a one-sided encounter away for a very long time. Never mind win on the opening day for the first time since 2002. Kuyt. Torres and Babel looked the business and sharp too..Another day and we'd have been out of sight.I'm sure Yossi and Voronin will contribute too...But please stop this crap and trying to tell Rafa how to do his job

It doesn't do us any good being so negative about our performance especially when there is more positives's to take away. Rafa was thinking of the week ahead with the CL match and Chelski next week. Torres linked well with Kuyt and was unlucky to score, Babel was only on for a while but looked like the premiership is his palyground. Plenty more to say but I running empty on tme, but just wanted to say how much your article sucked & blowed. YNWA

What are you on you numpty? Pennant did alright on the right nothing special but okay and we won, it could and should have been more but yet again some knob goes on about it's Rafa's fault we didn't win by 5, Benayoun will be used when Rafa decides he'll use him, the fact that neither he nor Mascharano or Crouch travelled suggests that they will play against Toulouse. We won be fecking happy or sod off and go share your misery with the bluenoses

liverpool played very good, they had plenty of chances and proved they are strong contenders for this season. you shouldnt be questioning rafas managerial skills because he knows what he's doing. i'm glad your not the manager you are talking absoloute shit!

You Must not of seen the villa vs reds last season. no goals no chances and we cancelled each other out.massive improvement on last years away performances already and torres looked good running at goal, very direct and can also play with his back to goal which bellamy couldnt. Benayoun i think will be used a lot more at anfield to try and unlock defences who camp in there own half ( which is most teams ) and he isnt blessed with pace so he is not going to get round the back of defences. Which is why he never played saturday.

"Benitez seems to have realised this, but at the first hurdle against Villa he seems to have backed away and gone for the same old system of defence first, which has caused so many disappointing seasons for the Anfield faithful." Mate, wtf are you on? Although I agree Riise isnt LM material, its hardly a defensive move. The centre midfield pairing of Alonso and Gerrard says 'attack' in my mind, considering the likes of Sissoko and Mascherano were on the bench. We also have a game midweek if you recall, and I'm sure the likes of Benayoun and Kewell will start there. Rafa WILL rotate, we all know it, and this was just the beginning. "And believe me Liverpool were lucky to win against Villa. But for Steven Gerrard once again saving us, it was two points lost. This is not how teams with title aspirations work, relying on one man to rescue them in every game." As for lucky to win it. C'mon! Did you watch the game? We would've been unlucky to not win - they got a goal from a really poor error by Carra, b

"Benitez seems to have realised this, but at the first hurdle against Villa he seems to have backed away and gone for the same old system of defence first, which has caused so many disappointing seasons for the Anfield faithful." Mate, wtf are you on? Although I agree Riise isnt LM material, its hardly a defensive move. The centre midfield pairing of Alonso and Gerrard says 'attack' in my mind, considering the likes of Sissoko and Mascherano were on the bench. We also have a game midweek if you recall, and I'm sure the likes of Benayoun and Kewell will start there. Rafa WILL rotate, we all know it, and this was just the beginning. "And believe me Liverpool were lucky to win against Villa. But for Steven Gerrard once again saving us, it was two points lost. This is not how teams with title aspirations work, relying on one man to rescue them in every game." As for lucky to win it. C'mon! Did you watch the game? We would've been unlucky to not win - they got a goal from a really poor error by Carra, b