What happened there?

Started off slowly but eventually slipped into gear and started playing some good football – the first goal was well worked and Yossi scored yet again; 1-0.

3 minutes of madness in the second half later (after wasting the customary golden chances – mentioning no Kuyts, I mean names), we’re 2-1 down. Villa didn’t deserve it, but on the counter-attack they should have made it 3-1, so when Crouch equalised with 2 minutes to go, you couldn’t complain at the draw.

Yet again Crouch comes off the bench and grabs a goal with a great finish, whilst Kuyt and the (when not injured) Voronin get to play game after game, usually on the wing, running around tracking back for the team, and not looking like scoring if we played for 900 minutes.

If this doesn’t dispel the “controlling the game” myth nothing will – you can never control a football match! What is the point of “controlling” a game, whatever that means, if you don’t win? There’s only one or two teams that can rightfully claim to control a game with the way they play, and that’s United and Arsenal. Too much in football is unpredictable, and everything can change in minutes – control is an illusion. If you don’t take your chances it comes back to bite you in the arse, and Liverpool’s problem over the past decade has been killing teams off.

Yossi Benayoun x 1

Marlon Harewood x 1

Fabio Aurelio (OG) x 1

Peter Crouch x 1