Any team that comes away from Villa Park with a point this season is not going to be disappointed – but I can’t help but think that Liverpool missed a big opportunity on Sunday.
If they had won the game, they would now be five points ahead of Manchester United and with the international break that gap could not have been closed until the two sides meet at Anfield on September 13.
It might still be early in the season and United do have a game in hand, but they would not have wanted to come to Anfield knowing that a defeat would leave them trailing by eight points.
Football at its very highest level is all about pressure, and the best sides are the ones who can deal with it the best.
United have certainly not been found wanting in this respect, but it would have been interesting to see how they would have coped with the knowledge that they could lose touch with the league leaders.
As it is, Liverpool did not do enough to beat Villa and that means United will not be under quite as much pressure, and I think that’s a shame.
Seven points from your first three games of the season is always going to be a good return and there are plenty of other teams in the Premier League who would love to have made as good a start as Liverpool.
Even though they are nowhere near their best, they have still managed to pick up points from some difficult games and that is definitely a positive.
But if they had just gone for Villa a bit more at the weekend I am sure they could today be boasting a maximum points haul and be top of the league on their own instead of sharing the leadership with Chelsea.
That is the next test for this Liverpool side and their title credentials – they have to start going to tough away grounds believing that they can win and doing everything they can to do so.
Too many draws stopped them from mounting a proper title challenge last season and they do not want the same thing to happen this time around, but they are going to have to start going for the jugular more if they are to turn draws like Sunday’s against Villa into wins.
Rafa Benitez is never usually happy when the international breaks come around but I’m sure he’s quite relieved on this occasion.
Losing Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to injury at the same time is obviously a massive blow but at least the blow is being softened by the fact that Liverpool do not have a game for a couple of weeks because of the internationals.
The two-week break means Torres and Gerrard can work on their recovery without missing games and hopefully they will both be back sooner rather than later.
But even if either or both of them have to miss the Manchester United game it is up to the other players to step up and prove that Liverpool can win without their star duo.
When I was a player, Bob Paisley was always telling all the lads at Liverpool that we had to make sure we were not found wanting whenever chances came our way.
That meant that if someone got injured you had to come into the side and do everything you possibly could to stay there.
That very same message will be being delivered by Rafa Benitez to those players he feels can come in and do a job if Torres and Gerrard are absent.
One of the big plus points to the way Liverpool have started the season has been the form of Pepe Reina.
There were a lot of people who wondered whether he would be good enough when he first moved to Anfield and I’ve got to admit I was one of those people.
But since then Reina has got better and better and he is undoubtedly one of the best around at the moment.
In the first few games of the season he has proved himself to be a match winner and when you’ve got a keeper who can do that it makes a massive difference.
Against Standard Liege he was Liverpool’s best player in both legs and the saves he made were the difference between going through or being knocked out.
Another thing I’ve noticed about Reina is how popular he clearly is with his team mates.
I first picked up on it during Euro 2008 when he made sure he looked out for all Spain’s players even though he wasn’t in the starting line-up. No doubt he is exactly the same with Liverpool and players like that are worth their weight in gold when it comes to building team spirit.
If they had won the game, they would now be five points ahead of Manchester United and with the international break that gap could not have been closed until the two sides meet at Anfield on September 13.
It might still be early in the season and United do have a game in hand, but they would not have wanted to come to Anfield knowing that a defeat would leave them trailing by eight points.
Football at its very highest level is all about pressure, and the best sides are the ones who can deal with it the best.
United have certainly not been found wanting in this respect, but it would have been interesting to see how they would have coped with the knowledge that they could lose touch with the league leaders.
As it is, Liverpool did not do enough to beat Villa and that means United will not be under quite as much pressure, and I think that’s a shame.
Seven points from your first three games of the season is always going to be a good return and there are plenty of other teams in the Premier League who would love to have made as good a start as Liverpool.
Even though they are nowhere near their best, they have still managed to pick up points from some difficult games and that is definitely a positive.
But if they had just gone for Villa a bit more at the weekend I am sure they could today be boasting a maximum points haul and be top of the league on their own instead of sharing the leadership with Chelsea.
That is the next test for this Liverpool side and their title credentials – they have to start going to tough away grounds believing that they can win and doing everything they can to do so.
Too many draws stopped them from mounting a proper title challenge last season and they do not want the same thing to happen this time around, but they are going to have to start going for the jugular more if they are to turn draws like Sunday’s against Villa into wins.
Rafa Benitez is never usually happy when the international breaks come around but I’m sure he’s quite relieved on this occasion.
Losing Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to injury at the same time is obviously a massive blow but at least the blow is being softened by the fact that Liverpool do not have a game for a couple of weeks because of the internationals.
The two-week break means Torres and Gerrard can work on their recovery without missing games and hopefully they will both be back sooner rather than later.
But even if either or both of them have to miss the Manchester United game it is up to the other players to step up and prove that Liverpool can win without their star duo.
When I was a player, Bob Paisley was always telling all the lads at Liverpool that we had to make sure we were not found wanting whenever chances came our way.
That meant that if someone got injured you had to come into the side and do everything you possibly could to stay there.
That very same message will be being delivered by Rafa Benitez to those players he feels can come in and do a job if Torres and Gerrard are absent.
One of the big plus points to the way Liverpool have started the season has been the form of Pepe Reina.
There were a lot of people who wondered whether he would be good enough when he first moved to Anfield and I’ve got to admit I was one of those people.
But since then Reina has got better and better and he is undoubtedly one of the best around at the moment.
In the first few games of the season he has proved himself to be a match winner and when you’ve got a keeper who can do that it makes a massive difference.
Against Standard Liege he was Liverpool’s best player in both legs and the saves he made were the difference between going through or being knocked out.
Another thing I’ve noticed about Reina is how popular he clearly is with his team mates.
I first picked up on it during Euro 2008 when he made sure he looked out for all Spain’s players even though he wasn’t in the starting line-up. No doubt he is exactly the same with Liverpool and players like that are worth their weight in gold when it comes to building team spirit.
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