Rafa: Aquilani Close to First Team Debut!

[WhiskeyJar]

He'll be the only thing worth watching tomorrow. That really is pressure.

 

You are not the only one to think this:

-----------------------------------------------

Ian Rush today warned Kopites not to expect too much too soon from Alberto Aquilani if he features against Fiorentina on Wednesday night.

 

Rush's Aquilani warning - Liverpool FC

 

Rafa Benitez has indicated the Italy international will play a part in our final Champions League game of the season as he looks to gain match fitness after an ankle injury.

 

 

 

Supporters are desperate to see the summer signing in action, though Rush is urging caution.

 

"All eyes will be fixed on Alberto Aquilani tomorrow night," said our record goalscorer.

 

"It has been a long wait for the Italian but, all being well, we will get a glimpse of the skills that persuaded Rafa to sign him during the summer.

 

"At the same time, though, it would be wrong to expect too much too soon from Aquilani, given he has been sidelined for such a long time and is unfamiliar with Liverpool's style of play.

 

"The manager has been careful not to expose him and this run out will simply be designed to build up his fitness.

 

"He deserves time to build himself up and work on a style of play with Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres that will be to the Reds' benefit.

 

"Only when he has reached that stage will it be fair to assess his worth."

 

Meanwhile, Rush insists a goalless draw at Blackburn was no disaster - and claims victory against Arsenal on Sunday will tee up the Reds for a festive assault on the top three.

 

He said: "True, there is no escaping the fact that Liverpool are not playing with the kind of fluency you would expect, while the biggest disappointment of all is that we are 12 points off current table-toppers Chelsea.

 

"I'm convinced, though, we will finish the season in the top four and there is no better time than Christmas for a team to lay down a statement of intent.

 

"A good result against Arsenal would tee things up nicely to go into a run of fixtures that sees us face Wigan, Portsmouth and then Wolves on Boxing Day before what is sure to be a searching examination at Villa Park.

 

"That we are unbeaten in six games and have kept clean sheets in the last three offers encouragement that the tide is beginning to turn and time might just prove that the point we got at Ewood Park at the weekend turns out to be a good one.

 

"Blackburn, remember, went into the game on a high after knocking Chelsea out of the Carling Cup and their record under Sam Allardyce on home soil is formidable; despite being short of their best, Liverpool still looked the likelier winners."

[Dirk]

So why is Rafa saying that he is fit, needs match minutes, but that he may not settle immediately and thus will get playing time when we are losing or winning comfortably? Why is he saying that himself?

 

Benitez has said that Blackburn was too physical a game to risk him so that indicates a fear he has of him being injured. If it doesn't indicate that, it means that whenever we play Blackburn whilst Allardyce is in charge, that he'd never play and it'd mean that he'll probably never play in the derby too because he wasn't risked there for the same reason. I think there's a difference between fitness and strength. You can be fit without being strong, it's possible to possess aerobic fitness and be free from pain but still have slightly weak musculature.

[Dirk]

This "got him on the cheap" stuff has aroused my curiosity.

 

Are people really expecting to eventually see a 30m player? I'm not even sure what that means; the kind of player than can 'glue' everything together, like an Alonso, or a real 'impact' star player like Torres?

 

Whatever it is, I can't see people's expectations being 'lowered' if that particular line becomes accepted as 'fact, no?'.

 

He'll be the only thing worth watching tomorrow. That really is pressure.

 

I don't know. It's just the views of other people who have seen him playing on a regular basis, who have played with him or have written about him. It doesn't equate to truth but neith does the implication that he's going to be rubbish either, somewhere between the too will be just fine by me.

[RedinSweden]

Players are at risk of further injury following prolonged absences, probably even more so following mutiple absences. Players can pick up different injuries because of weaknesses in muscles unrelated to their injury, which arise from being laid off for substanial periods - that's what happened to Owen at the World Cup. The only game where it's possible to conceivably question Aquilani absence in the CL was the Debrecen away game. He made the sub appearance against Arsenal in the CC and we played Lyon away a week after that and I think it's reasonable that we didn't play him given that he'd had no pre-season. We won away to Debrecen after that and, because it was a tense game, I can understand him not being risked.

 

But that doesn't explain him being on the bench. i can understand him not risking him if we have a lead, even a small one, but not when chasing 3 points. As i said, I am sure he has his reasons, but I think it is perfectly normal to question him being an unused sub.

[zigackly]

Benitez has said that Blackburn was too physical a game to risk him so that indicates a fear he has of him being injured.

 

If that's true, I would find it absolutely staggering given the risks he's taken with Gerrard, Torres, Benayoun etc, when they are actually injured.

 

I think I prefer his first explanation.

[WhiskeyJar]

I find that absolutely staggering given the risks he's taken with Gerrard, Torres, Benayoun etc, when they are actually injured.

 

I think thats an indication of how valuable Rafa sees Aquilani fitting into his plans.

 

New formation and new system maybe?

 

Tomorrow will tell alot about the direction that Rafa is taking Liverpool in with Aquilani in the mix.

[JohnnyH]

Benitez has said that Blackburn was too physical a game to risk him so that indicates a fear he has of him being injured. If it doesn't indicate that, it means that whenever we play Blackburn whilst Allardyce is in charge, that he'd never play and it'd mean that he'll probably never play in the derby too because he wasn't risked there for the same reason. I think there's a difference between fitness and strength. You can be fit without being strong, it's possible to possess aerobic fitness and be free from pain but still have slightly weak musculature.

 

I don't think that's the case at all.

 

I don't think Rafa wanted to give Aqualani his first taste of English Premiership action in this game. I think Rafa would rather he made his first appearances in games against teams that play football before he has to get used to getting booted all over the pitch. It's why I think he will play a good bit of the game on Wednesday and is much more likely to come on against Arsenal. Once he has played a few, then he can be put in against the cloggers to get used to that style of play and not having a second to dwell on the ball.

[jackofdk]

I think thats an indication of how valuable Rafa sees Aquilani fitting into his plans.

 

New formation and new system maybe?

 

Tomorrow will tell alot about the direction that Rafa is taking Liverpool in with Aquilani in the mix.

 

Rafa has outlined his plans very precisely in the article, I've posted earlier in this thread.

[Dirk]

If that's true, I would find it absolutely staggering given the risks he's taken with Gerrard, Torres, Benayoun etc, when they are actually injured.

 

I think I prefer his first explanation.

 

You are being too dogmatic, man. You aren't accounting for the effects of the length of time spent injured and the effects it has on the strength of your muscles. There's a big difference between spending large portions of a two year period injured and being out for 6 weeks. The effects aren't even comparable.

 

After the Blackburn game:

 

Of his decision to keep Aquilani on the bench at Ewood Park, Benitez said: "He is fit now, the ankle injury has healed. But I feel this was a difficult, physical place to come and not the right time to throw him on.

 

"He will be better getting his chance in a home match with our fans behind him. It is a difficult decision when someone is not fully match fit, he could make a mistake and it would set him back."

 

Blackburn too 'physical' a place to risk Alberto Aquilani, claims Rafa Benitez after Liverpool's 0-0 draw - MirrorFootball.co.uk

 

That implies to me that he's aerobically fit but that he's still not strong enough to play in games in like that. Benitez will be privvy to medical and fitness data that none of use have access to, to help instruct his decisions, it won't be the only data he will rely on but he will use it.

[goatboy59]

I don't know. It's just the views of other people who have seen him playing on a regular basis, who have played with him or have written about him. It doesn't equate to truth but neith does the implication that he's going to be rubbish either, somewhere between the too will be just fine by me.

Not sure if you meant me by implication he'll be "rubbish" but I swear I wasn't. I honestly haven't a clue what to expect.

 

I just think that if he'd been fit straight away and we had spent the full Alonso 30m on him I'd be expecting an instant hit, not a "give him time and in a year or so you'll be saying Xabi Who?"

 

I think there is cause for concern that the owners didn't "push on" from a title challenging season, but if there are hints of yet more Transition or any admission that this was in the manager's thinking way back in May when he knew he couldn't keep Alonso that comes perilously close to negligence in my eyes.

 

And four months waiting to even see Alberto hasn't helped. The borderline terror of Rafa as he contemplates which Prem opposition might be pussy enough for him to risk the player also merits a serious debate on why he was ever bought in the first place.

 

Given that even an Englishman like Johnson has been quite sniffy about Blackburn's 'approach' - which was pretty tame by Allardyce's previously low standard at Bolton - our inability to 'mix it' is more pronounced than ever.

[aws]

And he wants the team to become slightly more attacking from that position, I'm sure he said when signing Aquilani.

 

I'm sure that's right but the initial plan has been well and truly fucked by the way we've been conceding two goals a game. I know it's frustrating and makes for poor entertainment but Rafa has decided that his first priority is to steady the ship and sort the defensive side of our game out. When that's been done I think he'll loosen the reins a bit and we'll see far less of the Lucas/Mascherano partnership.

[goatboy59]

I'm sure that's right but the initial plan has been well and truly fucked by the way we've been conceding two goals a game. I know it's frustrating and makes for poor entertainment but Rafa has decided that his first priority is to steady the ship and sort the defensive side of our game out. When that's been done I think he'll loosen the reins a bit and we'll see far less of the Lucas/Mascherano partnership.

Well then we're back to the perennial debate about Control, aren't we?

 

And a lot of the goals we concede are from poor marking at set pieces and freakish goals like Bent's and Birmingham's second (?). We had one industrious forward and two deep central midfielders on Saturday and couldn't keep Rovers from having good chances, and Everton should have had some goals despite us going backs to the wall after the 1st goal inside 10 minutes.

 

If Aquilani's presence is dependent upon us being airtight we'll wait a long time because that isn't going to happen.

 

Attack, best form of defence? Sure I've heard that somewhere. In a siege, I wouldn't bet 5p on United's final back four at West Ham keeping a clean sheet.

[Code]

Personally I think that's too easy an excuse mate, Surly he came up against some hard tacklers in Italy, We can't wrap him in cotton wool until a nice easy team come along, were desperate for some results.

 

I doubt for one minute Aqualini feels scared about playing against Everton or Blackburn.

 

Could not agree more, I`m not really sure people understand the difference between the game in the PL compared to La Liga and Serie A when they come out with nonsense like Catch did above.

 

Spanish and Italian defenders are not actually known for their soft game, I would say its the opposite, the main difference between the leagues are the pace of the game and that Italian and Spanish playes actually can control the ball.

[Code]

I dont think it is scared to be injured as much as adapting to alehouse hoofball.

He'll have to do it eventually but why not make the adjustment process gradual?

 

You don't take your 1st driving lesson in pouring rain in the rush-hour on a motorway although ultimately you'll have to drive there as well.

 

He is a £20M midfielder, should have been more according to Rafa, going with your arguments you should think he had never played the game before.

 

Good players dont need time to adapt, its an excuse used for the shite ones.

[Catch22]

Could not agree more, I`m not really sure people understand the difference between the game in the PL compared to La Liga and Serie A when they come out with nonsense like Catch did above.

 

Spanish and Italian defenders are not actually known for their soft game, I would say its the opposite, the main difference between the leagues are the pace of the game and that Italian and Spanish playes actually can control the ball.

 

Its a different sort of physicality though.

 

I am not saying they are not hard & dirty, as they clearly are.

 

The ball however does usually stay on the ground, passed between people who can control it which doesn't happen with a good proportion of PL sides.

 

Kevin Davies would be sent off within 5 minutes of any game in the Med countries.

[Red Nick]

......Toure

................Xavi

Iniesta

 

.....Masch

.............Aquilani

Gerrard

 

That's what I'd be looking to do.

 

However at the present time Rafa is more concerned about the Gaps that woudl be left between Aqua & Mash.

[Whelan]

Good players dont need time to adapt, its an excuse used for the shite ones.

 

All players need time to adapt if they have been out injured for six months!

[JohnnyH]

Could not agree more, I`m not really sure people understand the difference between the game in the PL compared to La Liga and Serie A when they come out with nonsense like Catch did above.

 

Spanish and Italian defenders are not actually known for their soft game, I would say its the opposite, the main difference between the leagues are the pace of the game and that Italian and Spanish playes actually can control the ball.

 

But that is the key. Aqualani is used to getting the ball and having that extra second to see the heavy challenge coming and prepare for it. Not in England. You get the ball here and have a split second to try and release it before getting clattered. Also, the refs blow for a lot more more in Italy and Spain. How often are you watching a European game when you think that a player would have got away with a certain tackle in England.

 

For me, you have contradicted yourself in your two paragraphs.

[aws]

Well then we're back to the perennial debate about Control, aren't we?

 

And a lot of the goals we concede are from poor marking at set pieces and freakish goals like Bent's and Birmingham's second (?). We had one industrious forward and two deep central midfielders on Saturday and couldn't keep Rovers from having good chances, and Everton should have had some goals despite us going backs to the wall after the 1st goal inside 10 minutes.

 

If Aquilani's presence is dependent upon us being airtight we'll wait a long time because that isn't going to happen.

 

Attack, best form of defence? Sure I've heard that somewhere. In a siege, I wouldn't bet 5p on United's final back four at West Ham keeping a clean sheet.

 

Don't disagree with that but it's all about balance between attack and defence and at times this season we've looked shakier in defence than I can remember. We've looked like conceding at the slightest threat (Leeds for fuck's sake) and I've been even more worried at every corner than I was during the James Nintendo Days. This needed turning round and it looks like it's starting to happen. I can see why rafa would have been reluctant to chuck Aquilani on in an away game in the current circumstances.

[Red Nick]

I'm sure that's right but the initial plan has been well and truly fucked by the way we've been conceding two goals a game. I know it's frustrating and makes for poor entertainment but Rafa has decided that his first priority is to steady the ship and sort the defensive side of our game out. When that's been done I think he'll loosen the reins a bit and we'll see far less of the Lucas/Mascherano partnership.

 

That argument strongly gives huge amunition to lose who believe Rafa will never win the PL and is more interested in Control than taking risks to win games which is what Utd do.

[RedinSweden]

You are being too dogmatic, man. You aren't accounting for the effects of the length of time spent injured and the effects it has on the strength of your muscles. There's a big difference between spending large portions of a two year period injured and being out for 6 weeks. The effects aren't even comparable.

 

After the Blackburn game:

 

Of his decision to keep Aquilani on the bench at Ewood Park, Benitez said: "He is fit now, the ankle injury has healed. But I feel this was a difficult, physical place to come and not the right time to throw him on.

 

"He will be better getting his chance in a home match with our fans behind him. It is a difficult decision when someone is not fully match fit, he could make a mistake and it would set him back."

 

Blackburn too 'physical' a place to risk Alberto Aquilani, claims Rafa Benitez after Liverpool's 0-0 draw - MirrorFootball.co.uk

 

That implies to me that he's aerobically fit but that he's still not strong enough to play in games in like that. Benitez will be privvy to medical and fitness data that none of use have access to, to help instruct his decisions, it won't be the only data he will rely on but he will use it.

 

Why was he on the bench then? that suggests he would have used him to avoid a defeat maybe, but not to chase a win. I think that it is OK to assume that.

Edited December 8, 2009 by RedinSweden
shpelling mishtake

[Red Nick]

Could not agree more, I`m not really sure people understand the difference between the game in the PL compared to La Liga and Serie A when they come out with nonsense like Catch did above.

 

Spanish and Italian defenders are not actually known for their soft game, I would say its the opposite, the main difference between the leagues are the pace of the game and that Italian and Spanish playes actually can control the ball.

 

We all know the real reason why Aquaman isnt playing and it has absolutely nothing to do with his fitness levels.

[Catch22]

That argument strongly gives huge amunition to lose who believe Rafa will never win the PL and is more interested in Control than taking risks to win games which is what Utd do.

 

We outscored but had a worse defense than the Mancs last year......

 

Clearly we didn't lose the PL thru too much control.....

[Thants]

Don't disagree with that but it's all about balance between attack and defence and at times this season we've looked shakier in defence than I can remember. We've looked like conceding at the slightest threat (Leeds for fuck's sake) and I've been even more worried at every corner than I was during the James Nintendo Days. This needed turning round and it looks like it's starting to happen. I can see why rafa would have been reluctant to chuck Aquilani on in an away game in the current circumstances.

 

That argument strongly gives huge amunition to lose who believe Rafa will never win the PL and is more interested in Control than taking risks to win games which is what Utd do.

 

It really doesn't Nick. He's talking sense Withnail.

Get some clean sheets on the board, build confidence, start playing.

[Red Nick]

We outscored but had a worse defense than the Mancs last year......

 

Clearly we didn't lose the PL thru too much control.....

 

Thats the problem with stats like that

 

We scored the majority of our goals on the break when we were winning by two goals or so.

 

The draws stats and the fact we won the most games by a team never to win the league should give you a much better indication of why we lost the title