Liverpool FC Forum

by **red37** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 11:46 am

Too early to call really. He looks like any other 'decent' prospect would, given the dearth of opportunity so far - ring-rusty and playing it all very safe. He'll be ok given a good run.

I would have loved to see a couple of shots fired off though yesterday. Two or three times the ball arrived at his feet round the edge of the box and Aquilani appeared to favour the lay off to someone else. Like others have intimated, a bit more assertion would serve him well. Of course, as confidence grows.....etc

Thing is, how do you GAIN confidence? By playing games right.

This is a chance to bag some vital minutes with the team with Mascherano suspended - time to step up Mr Aquilani. Don't waste it.

by **Sabre** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 12:26 pm

Cool Hand Luke wrote:I think some of the comments directed at Aquilani are a bit harsh as I thought he did O.K for his first real start. The team isn’t playing well period so to expect him to come from Serie A and a 6 month lay off too being a dominant playmaker in a new league in a side which is in a big rut is asking a bit much. He showed some decent stuff today but I felt he didn’t fit in well with the team.

He's right.

Very good post of Scottbot too

- He's a clever player, has good vision, sees the game early (as evidenced with the first time passes), can play all the passes

Correct.

- He likes to get in and around the box

Correct.

- He shows for the ball and take up similar positions like an Alonso or a Scholes.

I disagree.

- He will need some time to get the hang of how little time/space he will get on the ball in England and this will be the making or breaking of him.

I disagree. He just needs some more games in the pocket, he needs players like Lucas don't be the ones who start plays, and he needs the team as a whole removes the anxiety they have at the moment.

Drop Lucas, play Mascherano, give me 6 points, and that's what Aquilani and the team needs.

- He doesn't look particular tenacious or combative and he will HAVE to work on that part of his game or risk being a passenger in away games.

We'll he's not the passionate kind of player but that doesn't worry me. He hits the ball well with all the parts of his boot (he touched the ball with the external side of the boot a lot of times), he has a lot of technical resources, and when you have the technical ability, I trust the player.

He will need the player passing him the ball doesn't put him in dead ends like Lucas put him yesterday, and it will help for the general improvement that Lucas doesn't head balls to the middle when he's trying to dispell the danger, basics of football.

- We will see the best of the player if the team (as a whole) can play at a higher tempo when we've got the ball. Better movement, quicker passes and confidence are needed.

Correct.

- I think he will play well with a more traditional target man (a Crouch type) in the side. He looks a player who will knock it into feet and then burst into the box for the return ball or getting ahead of play once the front man drops off.

He's a man of a lot of resources, and if they ask me for an early call I'll say he'll be very good for this team

But this team has to solve some problems for starters. I didn't like Agger yesterday, I didn't like Insua until he crossed for Gerrard in the first goal, that is, and I really disliked Lucas.

The team was very anxious and we need a couple of victories, a goal like Gerrard's yesterday and players like Aquilani in the pitch.

Don't hurry to bring Kuyt back to the team Rafa, neither.

by **Reg** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 1:18 pm

I saw the game last night an for a first full game the lad did fine. As folks are saying he needs time to adapt to LFC, to the english game and get fit. What I saw last night was fine.

by **Fauxy** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 1:23 pm

For a player who has just came back from over 6 months of injury, adapting to a new league, a new country, a new club.. I'd say that was a fantastic start.

This is obviously Aquilani not even close to his best and he still seems like a decent midfielder. He got the team moving, creating things and was a breath of fresh air for our midfield.

Good future ahead of this lad if he can stay clear of injury.

by **Sir Roger** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 2:41 pm

Fauxy wrote:For a player who has just came back from over 6 months of injury, adapting to a new league, a new country, a new club.. I'd say that was a fantastic start.

This is obviously Aquilani not even close to his best and he still seems like a decent midfielder. He got the team moving, creating things and was a breath of fresh air for our midfield.

Good future ahead of this lad if he can stay clear of injury.

Totally agree
People should lower their expectations for now
As long as hes decent and adds something thats what we need
I like him
:love:

by **stmichael** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:41 am

There's glimpses there so far. He just needs match fitness.

We need to sort out everyone around him and he'll become an important cog in our wheel. He's no Alonso but then he was never meant to be.

by **bunglemark2** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:45 am

Didn't see enuff of the game to rate him to be honest....
Can't imagine he was delighted to come off though. And for jaysus sake, to see Babel come on in his place....ooh-errr.....

by **Ben Patrick** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:46 am

Tough game for him tonight, 100mph and a game of very little quality.
I still think so far he seems to lay it off too quickly and should try and keep hold of it and look for a better option at times.
That will be because he is shocked at the pace of the league, he said as much after the wolves match.
But he looks well of the pace to me both physically and speed of thought.
I think Lucas was immense tonight and carried him at times.
To be fair to Alberto his options when on the ball can be very limited and he is not used to the pace of the league or fit yet.

Hopefully he will get there but he needs to take more initiative for me.

Neat and tidy but thats about it so far.

by **bigmick** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:09 am

Not for me once again I'm afraid. To play the game as a floater which he appears to want to, you have to make telling contributions on the ball. If the team is to carry him (and he contributes nothing defensively whatsoever) then there must be a pay off. So far, not only isn't there any but aside from a pass to Benayoun in the previous game, there hasn't looked like being any. I appreciate people are saying "give him time and he'll settle/get fit" etc and he'll obviously improve I'm not doubting it, i'm just a little concerned that I can't see 20 million quids worth of footballer waiting to get out. So far he doesn't defend as well as Alonso, doesn't pass it as well as Alonso, and doesn't influence the game as much as Alonso.

It may be "too early", but is anyone absolutely confident he's going to turn out to be a good buy?

by **stmichael** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:32 am

bigmick wrote:Not for me once again I'm afraid. To play the game as a floater which he appears to want to, you have to make telling contributions on the ball. If the team is to carry him (and he contributes nothing defensively whatsoever) then there must be a pay off. So far, not only isn't there any but aside from a pass to Benayoun in the previous game, there hasn't looked like being any. I appreciate people are saying "give him time and he'll settle/get fit" etc and he'll obviously improve I'm not doubting it, i'm just a little concerned that I can't see 20 million quids worth of footballer waiting to get out. So far he doesn't defend as well as Alonso, doesn't pass it as well as Alonso, and doesn't influence the game as much as Alonso.

It may be "too early", but is anyone absolutely confident he's going to turn out to be a good buy?

I'm convinced he'll be a really good player for us Mick.

Having been at the game, it was noticeable how he is constantly looking for the ball and finding space so he can take possession of the ball. He's a very intelligent player and I'm excited to see more of him.

Ok we can argue about whether he's a £20m player until the cows come home. Is Stuart Downing a £12m player? He's been brought whilst injured aswell but I don't hear the press banging on about him every five minutes. Oh wait that's because he was brought by the messiah Martin O'Neill, who like Harry Redknapp, can't do anything wrong according to the media over here.

by **centarec** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:32 am

Is it me or is Rafa trying to make Aquilani another Lucas

by **Zidane** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 4:13 am

There was a spurt of about 5-10 minutes late in the game a little before he was subbed off where I saw a really good player in Aquilani. For those 5-10 minutes he was constantly asking for the ball, kept the team moving and somewhat controlled the tempo of the game the bad part is he underestimates the speed of players here and how quickly a passing lane can close up in the premiership. There was at least 4 passes where he must have thought oh this will surely work and they were constantly picked off. After he gave it away a few times he didn't ask for the ball as much and was eventually subbed off. That type of stuff will come with time I think so for now I still have a belief that he will come good.

by **akumaface** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 5:54 am

bigmick wrote:Not for me once again I'm afraid. To play the game as a floater which he appears to want to, you have to make telling contributions on the ball. If the team is to carry him (and he contributes nothing defensively whatsoever) then there must be a pay off. So far, not only isn't there any but aside from a pass to Benayoun in the previous game, there hasn't looked like being any. I appreciate people are saying "give him time and he'll settle/get fit" etc and he'll obviously improve I'm not doubting it, i'm just a little concerned that I can't see 20 million quids worth of footballer waiting to get out. So far he doesn't defend as well as Alonso, doesn't pass it as well as Alonso, and doesn't influence the game as much as Alonso.

It may be "too early", but is anyone absolutely confident he's going to turn out to be a good buy?

I totally agreed with your view. We had been watching football long enough to know if someone is special or not. Aqua is not one of them I'm afraid. Sorry that he costed 20million but it wasn't his fault since Rafa was willing to buy at that price. Maybe Aqua shouldn't be playing this deep as he just didn't seems comfortable. I also noticed that he wasn't really up to speed since the game was happening too fast for him. Hopefully he will adapt but I still have no idea what kind of player he is. ANyway, I hope Rafa will not buy another Italian player as their league and ours just too different. They were given the time and play kind of lazy. It just take ages for them to adapt but this is no guarantee.

As for Lucas, I really wondering how everyone is praising him on how immense he was last night. Honestly, he was average. Either him and Aqua, they are not even close to Alonso. We do have options in Gerrard and Rafa just too stubborn to play him in the CM role......Just hope Rafa can at least try one game with Gerrard back in CM and have Aqua play behind Torres and that might spark something.

by **Penguins** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 6:00 am

Like Gerrard will ever happen in cm now when it didn't happen when Aquaman was injured?
That would mean Rafa would have to bench 2 out of Masch, Aquaman and Lucas and it won't happen. Problem is Kuyt gave Lucas those embarrasing pictures of Rafa so he is also a guaranteed starter.

by **Sabre** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 8:37 am

akumaface wrote:
bigmick wrote:Not for me once again I'm afraid. To play the game as a floater which he appears to want to, you have to make telling contributions on the ball. If the team is to carry him (and he contributes nothing defensively whatsoever) then there must be a pay off. So far, not only isn't there any but aside from a pass to Benayoun in the previous game, there hasn't looked like being any. I appreciate people are saying "give him time and he'll settle/get fit" etc and he'll obviously improve I'm not doubting it, i'm just a little concerned that I can't see 20 million quids worth of footballer waiting to get out. So far he doesn't defend as well as Alonso, doesn't pass it as well as Alonso, and doesn't influence the game as much as Alonso.

It may be "too early", but is anyone absolutely confident he's going to turn out to be a good buy?

I totally agreed with your view. We had been watching football long enough to know if someone is special or not. Aqua is not one of them I'm afraid.

I disagree, I really like Aquilani, but I agree so far he hasn't provided enough football, let alone the injuries to say it was a well spent money.

But when I look at his football, at certain details, I trust his quality. He's real quality, not "good player" as in Robbie Keane, but real quality.

A different matter though is to answer bigmick's question about being "absolutely confident". You can't never be absolutely confident.

I don't know if the player will be happy here or he'll miss the fetuccini of the sua mamma, or I don't know if he'll too feel like Keane, who was the best player of his town and felt the right to be baffled and question the manager's methods. You never know on first glance whether the player will fight or not, or he'll be a loser like Keane.

But if you ask me about the football quality, I think he is especial yes. But it's nice to disagree.

P.S. I also disagree in the direct comparison with Alonso, totally different players. But Aquilani does more this that Alonso didn't and he was asked so desperately to do: moving through out the pitch and receive the ball in different positions, not being in the safety pocket. You asked for it, and you got it. And I think that with Mascherano, and without injuries, and with the right attitude (a lot of ifs I know), he'll be very good for Liverpool.

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