7_Kewell wrote:RUSHIE#9 wrote:Emerald Red wrote:RUSHIE#9 wrote:This guy is gonna be under massive pressure as he'll be constantly compared to Xabi by us fans and the media, already I've seen that newspapers are asking, "Has Rafa sold his teams title chances for £30m?", this is what it'll be like everytime Aquilani misplaces as pass, shoots off target or is unavailable. That brings me to his injury record, it is a big concern but if there is a squad wide problem at Roma then maybe our fears can be allayed. All the best to the lad though if he completes the move.
You can't compare him to Alonso because he's a different kind of player.
Like it or not, and not a lot of people have even mentioned it on here, but selling Alonso could actually work out to be a good thing either way, because perhaps teams were sussing out our style of play when Alonso was in the team pulling the strings, so a new and different player taking up his berth in the team could signal a different and more direct style of play from Rafa this season. We played a lot of games last season - too many - with two defensive mid-fielders and people often bemoaned this fact when playing the likes of Hull at home and getting draws. Aquilani offers a more direct threat than Xabi ever did, plus he's more mobile. If anyone is under pressure, I'd say it's Mascherano now that he has a bigger role to play gaurding that back line.
I've no intention of comparing the two directly matey, but it won't stop the brain dead nimrods that pass for the media in this country doing exactly that unfortunately.
if he doesn't score a goal from the half way line, i'll label him as rubbish
Think his scored a few crackers last season..