Alberto Aquilani

[Dirty Parry]

we should start a competition to guess which games aquilani wont start. i say he wont start the derby.

[goatboy59]

Release the funds so we can buy some more 20m players, you Yank cunts!

[Hermes]

Release the funds so we can buy some more 20m players, you Yank cunts!

 

And leave them on the bench.

[stringvest]

Release the fund so we can buy some more 20m players, you Yank cunts!

 

oooohhh, bitchy.

[Herp McDerp]

Yeah, lets shut every forum down and never ever question the manager's stupid decisions because that's just the way he is. Crank.

There are bigger problems at the club than Rafa's late substitutions. He's been here for 5 years, you'd have thought we'd be used to his subs by now. Exaggerative loon.

[Jose M]

There are bigger problems at the club than Rafa's late substitutions.

 

His preference for 4 defensive midfielders?

 

Get your tongue out of his ample arse.

[Dirty Parry]

Release the funds so we can buy some more 20m players, you Yank cunts!

 

rafa wont fucking play them if they did. i bet the yank twats are thinking we could have paid another 20 mill of the debt if we didnt listen to rafa.

 

theyd be right to.

[Carra_is_legend]

Release the funds so we can buy some more 20m players, you Yank cunts!

 

AND WHERE THE FUCK IS THE NEW BENCH WE WANTED, YOU YANK THIEVING CUNTS?

[Herp McDerp]

Seriously though, does anyone have a clue as to why he's not playing the bog eyed one? Has he been injured again recently?

[Funkasy]

So we've paid 20 million for a player who can't handle the physical nature of the English league?

 

so far it seems that he cant handle the physical nature of the English training

 

i know he will come good tho.

[RedKnight]

I reckon Aquilani isn't anywhere near match fitness as the club is telling us, in fact if we weren't in such shit, I don't think he'd even be on the bench.

[Tom R]

I reckon Aquilani isn't anywhere near match fitness as the club is telling us, in fact if we weren't in such shit, I don't think he'd even be on the bench.

 

Exactly.

I've said it many times - if he isn't fit then what the fuck is he doing on the bench on the first place???

 

Get him fit, play him in the reserves until January if required - as long as it takes! - but don't NOT play him in the reserves, and then sit him on the bench, half fit, just teasing everybody.

 

It's fucking embarassing for a manager who doesn't need any further embarassment, frankly.

[Jose M]

I don't believe that at all. He's been going full pelt in training. It's just Benitez being over cautious or he's playing politics again. He could have brought on any old nomark to run the clock down but he chose his new 20 million quid replacment for Alonso who is desperate for match fitness.

[danhaddad]

Benitez can hardly be surprised if there is this kind of speculation as to why Aquilani isn't featuring. I don't believe it is as simple as match fitness seeing as he has played Gerrard,Torres,Johnson,Benayoun,Agger etc throughout the season when they haven't been 100% fit. I can't help think that he simply doesn't want to break up the Lucas-Mascherano partnership because he has convinced himself that it works fantastically.

 

Interestingly one of them on 5 live (Green or Pleat can't remember) said that they thought that Gerrard would move into midfield next to Mascherano and Aquilani would play behind Torres when he came into the team??

[BatChainPuller]

Seriously though, does anyone have a clue as to why he's not playing the bog eyed one? Has he been injured again recently?

 

He's keeping him fresh to invade Abyssinia.

[RedKnight]

Commenting on Rafa's decisions tonight has to be done in the context of what he needed to do tonight.

 

If he'd walked on Saturday and we'd got Sam Allardyce or Dave Jones stood there trying to 'rescue' our season tonight instead, the task would be the same. Win.

 

If it was the last league game of the season and we needed a 1-0 win to finally take the title, with the exact same 18 on the pitch and bench, I don't think anyone would be complaining at this point about the subs he put on.

 

Mascherano and Lucas might be a tad over-cautious when you need a goal - but we didn't. We needed to avoid conceding a goal. Boring, but it's what we needed to do. Little point in the context of this game in bringing Aquilani on for one of those two.

 

The last two changes themselves were obviously designed to waste some time, to kill the game off in that frustrating way that late substitutions always do.

 

Taking Gerrard off for Aquilani in the dying seconds is only a problem if Aquilani is a problem. And if Aquilani is a problem, why the clamour to bring him on at half-time or whatever?

 

Swapping a left-wing-back - like Aurelio - for a left-wing-back - like Dossena - when you are trying to waste some time is not exactly an off-the-wall idea. Ok, it's Dossena, but he's not that bad, especially when you use him further up the field.

 

Some managers get praised for "grinding out" a 1-0 win after a run of bad results. If we beat the shite 1-0 this weekend I'll be happy with that, at least after the final whistle, and if that means Aquilani stays on the bench again so we can hold on then so be it. It's time to start getting points.

 

Waste time? Against a team that every other team has battered. Utterly negative tactics from a man who is the ultimate pragmatist.

[JohnnyH]

Commenting on Rafa's decisions tonight has to be done in the context of what he needed to do tonight.

 

If he'd walked on Saturday and we'd got Sam Allardyce or Dave Jones stood there trying to 'rescue' our season tonight instead, the task would be the same. Win.

 

If it was the last league game of the season and we needed a 1-0 win to finally take the title, with the exact same 18 on the pitch and bench, I don't think anyone would be complaining at this point about the subs he put on.

 

Mascherano and Lucas might be a tad over-cautious when you need a goal - but we didn't. We needed to avoid conceding a goal. Boring, but it's what we needed to do. Little point in the context of this game in bringing Aquilani on for one of those two.

 

The last two changes themselves were obviously designed to waste some time, to kill the game off in that frustrating way that late substitutions always do.

 

Taking Gerrard off for Aquilani in the dying seconds is only a problem if Aquilani is a problem. And if Aquilani is a problem, why the clamour to bring him on at half-time or whatever?

 

Swapping a left-wing-back - like Aurelio - for a left-wing-back - like Dossena - when you are trying to waste some time is not exactly an off-the-wall idea. Ok, it's Dossena, but he's not that bad, especially when you use him further up the field.

 

Some managers get praised for "grinding out" a 1-0 win after a run of bad results. If we beat the shite 1-0 this weekend I'll be happy with that, at least after the final whistle, and if that means Aquilani stays on the bench again so we can hold on then so be it. It's time to start getting points.

 

Good post RR

 

Waste time? Against a team that every other team has battered. Utterly negative tactics from a man who is the ultimate pragmatist.

 

We are badly struggling for form. You see it from all teams on a bad run. They need a win any way they can. We saw it last season ahead of that amazing run of form we had.

 

We get some form over the coming weeks and we could come back here and hump them 7-0. It happens all the time with teams very low on confidence and out of form. We got the win, lets hope it's the start of getting some confidence back.

 

The funny thing is, had Lyon scored that very late chance, then people would be well up here about a turn in fate and form.

[Tom R]

Second clean sheet of the season.

 

WOO!

 

The other ONLY other clean sheet this season was against Leeds United, and to be fair to them their "goal" should have been allowed anyway.

 

 

Fuck me, we are SERIOUSLY shit.

[RedKnight]

Yeah, like battering a team and going completely at them would have really ruined our confidence. That win doesn't do anything for our confidence, we beat a poor team limply and we went out. Spanking them 4-0 or something and going out would have least sent the message that we tried ou very best. But no, we sent out a left back who we tried to bomb off and gave a silly squad number to, to help us grind out a 1-0.

[Hermes]

 

Get him fit, play him in the reserves until January if required

 

Rafa doesn't play first team players in the reserves. That is one of the reasons why - as shit as they are - the likes of Babel, Degen, Dossena, Voronin don't perform when called upon.

 

They haven't played a game for weeks.

[Carra_is_legend]

Rafa doesn't play first team players in the reserves. That is one of the reasons why - as shit as they are - the likes of Babel, Degen, Dossena, Voronin don't perform when called upon.

 

They haven't played a game for weeks.

 

That is something I never understood to be honest. Especially in Babel's case. Why does he not play for the reserves? Sometimes he goes for 3 weeks without a game for the 1st team so why can't he be asked to play for the reserves and get some confidence in?

 

I remember even in the 2nd year, Babel didn't have the stamina to finish 90 mins.

[Anny Road]

Good post RR but I don't want that sort of manager in charge. I'm not saying we should get Keagan in but surely we should see the odd bit of swagger.

United or Chelsea would have put 4 past them in 20 mins and then fucked about. As it was we were getting twatted for the last 15 mins.

By a team at that level it is not acceptable.

Yes we won, just but we may as well sign Kevin Davies and play like Bolton as play as we did tonight.

[Tom R]

Rafa doesn't play first team players in the reserves. That is one of the reasons why - as shit as they are - the likes of Babel, Degen, Dossena, Voronin don't perform when called upon.

 

They haven't played a game for weeks.

 

Exactly my point.

See also our second choice goalkeepers. Even THEY don't play reserve games, yet they're expected to come in and perform in the cups??

 

*PULLS MONG FACE*

 

The reserves were good enough for Ian Rush's first season at Liverpool. So they're fucking good enough for the likes of Babel, Dossena, Aquilani etc.

 

It's a fucking joke.

[Hermes]

That is something I never understood to be honest. Especially in Babel's case. Why does he not play for the reserves? Sometimes he goes for 3 weeks without a game for the 1st team so why can't he be asked to play for the reserves and get some confidence in?

 

I remember even in the 2nd year, Babel didn't have the stamina to finish 90 mins.

 

Rafa is on record as saying the reserve team is for the young players only, he refuses to let the first team play unless recovering from injury. Hence, no match practice for those on the fringes of the first eleven - madness.

[Tom R]

That is something I never understood to be honest. Especially in Babel's case. Why does he not play for the reserves? Sometimes he goes for 3 weeks without a game for the 1st team so why can't he be asked to play for the reserves and get some confidence in?

 

I remember even in the 2nd year, Babel didn't have the stamina to finish 90 mins.

 

Because Rafa knows best, thats why.