MARVE HAPPY TO BE BACK

MARVELOUS Nakamba says it’s good to be back in action after he started his first match, in months, in the showdown against Liverpool.

Aston Villa crashed to a 1-2 defeat at the hands of the Reds at Villa Park on Tuesday night.

The Zimbabwean had last started a match in December.

A serious injury pushed him out of action and he even missed the Warriors’ AFCON finals in Cameroon earlier this year.

He played for an hour on Tuesday, as the defensive midfielder, before manager Steven Gerrard withdrew him.

“I’m happy to be back after being out for such a long time,” he told H-Metro.

“It’s sad that we lost the game though but we will come back stronger.”

The winning goal for the Reds came just after Nakamba had been pulled out and Douglas Luiz was moved into his position.

The Brazilian fluffed his lines, in the middle of the park and Liverpool turned over possession and broke through to score the killer goal.

Nakamba also received compliments from fans after the game.

A number of fans believed the withdrawal of the Warriors midfield enforcer had a huge bearing on their defeat.

Below are some of the comments;

Simbarashe Shof - Clearly Nakamba was the missing piece in this team. Last saw this kind of performance before his injury. A little bit of fitness issues but I understand as he is coming back from injury, a long term one.

Jack Geradist - Nakamba is our key player. When he came out everything changed. Next year we should get Bissouma, Kamara, Kalvin Phillips. Our midfield needs players in this role.

Jani Vicarious - Digne and Nakamba outstanding today, good performance overall against probably the best team in the world right now, heads high lads.

Matthew Goddard - Taking NAKAMBA off was a mistake.

Zac - Shocking substitutions. We were looking solid till Gerrard took Nakamba off.

Peter J Rickard - The game changed as soon as Nakamba came off. Should have brought Tim on instead and kept Luiz further forward. The amount of stick Luiz has had this season for being played out of position is shocking. Hardly his fault.

Paul - Nakamba had a brilliant game. Went downhill after taking him off. Controlled the midfield for large parts.