Time for a Brand New Liverpool Hero: Aquilani’s Time Has Come

John - November 8th, 2009 at 9:36 pm

right. instead of doing all this leavin him on the bench coz masch and lucas are doin so well. how about just change formation. just a 4231 where instead of wingers we play 3 central/attacking midfielders and 2 defensive midfielders. lets face it our wingers are kack unless rieras on a good day, kuyts just too slow, babels better through the middle and is inconsistent, elzhar is average. this way we can give the midfield 3 freedom to roam wherever will cause the most damage and still get us some width if needed. we can also accommodate gerrard, benayoun and aquilani in these 3 midfielders. we can also keep playin lucas and mascherano behind them and have torres up as lone striker. it will let us boss the midfield more whilst not rele losing any width as alls our current wingers do is come inside anyway.

Ryan Babel - November 8th, 2009 at 10:00 pm

yh. Start him untill either we are winning by 2/3 or untill he feels tired instead of putting him on at 70 mins when he cant do much.?
yh to johns BTW.

baggins09 - November 8th, 2009 at 10:07 pm

i’d go with that john like you say non of the wingers are that effective kuyt is a little work horse but i think when all fit this formation would be far better than playing with wingers because we play with wingbacks anyway

————————————-reina———————————
—————–skrtl——————————–agger————–
johnson———————————————————-insua
——————————————masch————————-
—————————lucas——————————————
———-gerrard—————-aqua————-yossi————–
—————————————————————————–
————————————torres———————————

Reds Lewis - November 8th, 2009 at 10:17 pm

Already have the Aquilani shirt haha…
3 weeks too late to be a hero though.

Reds Lewis - November 8th, 2009 at 10:26 pm

rafa will probably be a retard and bring him on in the 67th minute or something like that….

christ I mean even I could play for 45 minutes so he could start the first half at least

baggins09 - November 8th, 2009 at 10:49 pm

reds lewis your right about rafa i think we need to see where we are in jan and if were in the shit with no chance of escape get rid of rafa so the new manager has half a season to get use to the team and try and implement his own style and tactics then he’s got the summer window to sort the good from the shite then start again next season afresh

Reds Lewis - November 8th, 2009 at 10:55 pm

Baggins…
Ive never understood rafas weird substitution policy…and his player selection.
e.g playing voronin over babel last week against Lyon…was a stupid idea to me…

I’m not going to call for his head yet as I think we have to look what he has achieved rather than what he hasnt….but if we lose against Birmingham and man city then I can see rafas head being on a plate.

baggins09 - November 8th, 2009 at 11:24 pm

so in the grand scheme of things what has he acheived? he’s won what 3 trophys at the start of his reign got us to a few champions league finals and semi’s which we should pretty much expect anyway, he’s spent well over 100m on players which he has then demotivated by playing out of position like babel or dropping them as soon as they show any signs of form like crouch, yossi, babel and he’s left us in a position where we’ve only got two real goal threats who we’ve had to resort to playing when not fully fit because the manager is so stubborn he won’t change his formation and he spent the money he should have spent on a striker on an injured player, and don’t get me wrong aquilani will be quality but we could have probably got hamsik and adriano for 20m then we would have had quality cover for gerrard and torres

his subs policy is a joke whats the point in bringing subs on with 5mins to go when you’ve been struggling all game?

people say he’s a tactical genius i can’t see it, he’s maybe good at coaching tactics but he doesn’t know how to change a game by changing and using different tactics, once the games started it’s very rare he actually changes the formation usually its just a dodgy sub usually a like for like, but usually its taking off an effective player and bringing on an ineffective one like voronin

like i said mate if the seasons down the pan by christmas we’ve got nothing to lose by fucking him off and giving the new manager half a season to play about with what he’s got and see what he needs to do in the summer window that way next season he can try to hit the ground running as he’s already got over them awkward first few months

Retryboy - November 8th, 2009 at 11:45 pm

Definitely should start we are crying out for creativity in midfield. Never see any benefits in having 2 defensive midfielders in the same team especially against lesser sides. If gerrard is out would like to see mascherano and aquilani in the middle and benayoun behind torres. Get the creative players in areas where they can boss the game.

Donavan Ried - November 9th, 2009 at 1:17 am

Evening baggins09,Kop King and Retryboy…….
Alberto Aquilani show a fair bit of potential in the little we have seen of him, But then mind you so did Ryan Babel when he first arrived at the club, but i remain hopeful ……

Donavan Ried - November 9th, 2009 at 1:31 am

baggins09 – November 8th, 2009 at 11:24 pm ……… “people say he’s a tactical genius i can’t see it, he’s maybe good at coaching tactics but he doesn’t know how to change a game by changing and using different tactics, once the games started it’s very rare he actually changes the formation usually its just a dodgy sub usually a like for like, but usually its taking off an effective player and bringing on an ineffective one like voronin” ……

This has been one of my biggest complains about Rafa ever since i have started posting here, Kermit can confirm this ……

dave - November 9th, 2009 at 2:50 am

we will come good

Retryboy - November 9th, 2009 at 3:49 am

Sorry jay but hate the wing-back idea and in fact blame rafa trying to introduce it for our poor start. Not just against Sunderland but up to the united game could see the full backs were being pushed forward too much and mascherano, lucas covering them. Didn’t work at all. Every club tried this 10 years ago and one by one they all ditched it. Evra and clichy get forward plenty so johnson’s attacking abilities will still be used. Agree on the point that those formations still only have four attacking players we struggle to break down teams and create well thats because every other team has five attacking outfield players five defensive we have 4 and one of those is always kuyt in there for his work rate rather than creativity. 4-5-1 can be an attacking formation depending on the personnel and tactics am hoping that now aquilani is nearing fitness we won’t see mascherano and lucas in the same team again but i doubt it seeing as though for the first 6/7 games of the season rafa refused to drop gerrard back to midfield and play yossi behind torres. If we are more attacking works well for the defence too not having to soak up pressure because the whole team is facing the wrong way.

kermit - November 9th, 2009 at 4:45 am

play the same formation rafa always plays just switch gerrard as he isnt really fit for aquilani, and donovan yeah i m hopeful too , i think this guy is an inelligent player , a bit weak maybe , fingers crossed

i d start with the 4 2 3 1
johnson carra agger insua
masch and lucas
kuty aquilani benayoun
babel up front

then take aquilani off after ffity five mins if knackered
and bring stevie on if we are desperate
and theres another psssibilty
just use masch as the solitarty holidng midfield and gve lucas more license to attack
in a 41 41 formation
of johnson caara agger insua
mascherano
lkuyt lucas aquilani benayoung
babel

kermit - November 9th, 2009 at 4:47 am

or actually seein as we are playing at home
switch to a four four two
johnson carra agger insua
benayoun aquilani mascherano riera
kuyt and babel up front

kermit - November 9th, 2009 at 4:55 am

donovan its one of my biggest complaints about rafa also
if he sorted out his vision , maybe he needs to go to specsavers , he would be able to see the glaringly obviuos during the course of the game
example lyon , no creativity , but rafa said lucas and masch were doing well in midfield so we didnt want o change things ( this was his reason for not bringing on a fit aquilani)
and niney nien percentage of us would scream yeah lucas and masch did a reasonable job but thats not what neeeded changing, any blind man and his dog could have seen the link from lucas and masch to torres was the problem, creativity in the final thrid , sieoe to dictate the play , someone like aquilani was missing , but no we had mr blond fucking ponytail upo there

rafa is always too slow to make changes
always
i m screaming for substitutions after 35 mins sometimes and he does make he substitutions after 75 mins
bringing on babel and others and expecting them to make an impact in those fifteen mins
now most pros would tell you it takes fifteen mins to get into he game
, so well done babel for he number of times he does come from the bench and score vital goals
ala lyon , ala manchester utd

i wish rafa had mourinhos eyesight or mentality during the game

however this is my primary gripe with benitex ad i thnk on the whole he does a positive job,, but there are things that need fixing

kermit - November 9th, 2009 at 4:59 am

primariy the rya babel situaion. as i have stated before it is my belief that ryan babel was a benitez impulse buy made out of fear of arsenal capturing him and turning him into the new henry
instead benitez has so far destroyed his potential, he ought to admit his eror , and open to he possibilities of using ryan s potential for us , not to keep him from arsenals clutches , i lay full responsibilty for ryan s poor performances at rafa s door
man up rafa , what you did was wrong ,wrong for ryan wrong for liverpool, but it can be put right

kermit - November 9th, 2009 at 5:00 am

and now to aqulani
we all know he is gifted and extremely talented , lets no do to him what we have done to lucas and babel and dossena, these are good fooballers needing heir fans to get behind them
ynwa

kermit - November 9th, 2009 at 5:09 am

you know what most of us seem to be pretty sane sensible liverpool fans, and most of us seem to be making the same points about benitez,
we all think hi inabilty to adapt during a match is a problem
and we are al a bit sceptical of his choices of personel
and generally apart from that w feel he is doing a reasonable job, am i right
so what does rafa need
he needs us advising him
gizza job benitez
i ll tell you where you are going wrong

kermit - November 9th, 2009 at 5:11 am

and look , i come cheap
twenty grand a month
, and we ll be winning the league in no time

by the way i wrote on rafa s facebook nce again , this time questioning his reliance on halluciantory drugs

Retryboy - November 9th, 2009 at 6:38 am

End of the day we all know he will start with mascherano, lucas and kuyt on the right. Aquilani will probably get 20 minutes. Probably thinks he has been justified in playing babel out of position for 2 years because of his goal from the left. No epl defender lets him come inside and shoot because they saw enough of those strikes in his first season get him on the right!

baggins09 - November 9th, 2009 at 11:30 am

the formation i suggested was based on the fact our winger are ineffective and rafa won’t move away from the two holding players it was making the best of his formation my prefered formation would be

————————————————–reina———————————————-
———————-skrtl————————————————-agger——————
johnson———————————————————————–insua/dossena
———————————————masch————————————————-
——————————————————————————————————-
———gerrard/kuyt——————–aquilani———————–riera/yossi———
——————————————————————————————————-
——————————————————————————————————-
——————————————–yossi/gerrard—————————————–
—————————————————-torres/babel———————————-

Reds Lewis - November 9th, 2009 at 12:58 pm

Aquilani should start…

guarantee he wont though…

rafas too stupid

Reds Lewis - November 9th, 2009 at 1:00 pm

the comment about having no creativity from the back is so true lol…without Johnson and agger…..our defenders never do a quick overhead pass straight to the striker or float one through the channels for the midfielders…watch them tonight….they always pass it around with themselves first…..

Retryboy - November 9th, 2009 at 1:32 pm

Thats another thing where sami was really underrated his distribution was top quality. Agger has got that passing ability and ability to walk into the midfield and pick a pass. Johnson and insua especially out of our full backs need to work on their final ball

jimmyk - November 9th, 2009 at 2:16 pm

why would he start him?? he’s not fully fit yet, he will come on 63rd minute.

masch to give way.

Reds Lewis - November 9th, 2009 at 2:31 pm

because If im fit enough to play a first half of a 90 minute game then a professional footballer should be able to.

Theres no use bringing him on with 20 mins to go expecting him to change the game if we are losing.

Start him and use his quality to our advantage to get a decent lead…then if he isnt fully fit take him off after 55 mins or so for lucas…to defend for the rest of the game

Retryboy - November 9th, 2009 at 3:31 pm

Rafa said it himself he is fit. Its just match fitness and that only comes from playing games. Its because of the balance of the team he is so needed without him or gerrard there is no creativity in the middle but if he is just going to play him off torres and leave mascherano and lucas together then games are always going to be tight and decided on a couple of moments even with the quality of player available getting better each week they won’t always go our way. Can understand against title contenders but the lesser teams we shouldn’t just be prodding and probing we should be battering their defences and trusting we can outplay them

Warren Bloggs - November 9th, 2009 at 3:37 pm

Aquilani needs match fitness so he will play tonight guaranteed but not in the strting line-up, instead i think he will be brought on around 60-70th minute mark. I think he will be fantastic for us, but the jury is out about whether he will be quite as good as the brilliant Xabi Alonso?!

Retryboy - November 9th, 2009 at 4:51 pm

Don’t buy into that at all alonso was always quality from the moment we bought him. Agree that we shouldn’t expect a match winner straight away and agree he will be a sub and get 20 mins. Don’t agree with it though just because of the balance of the team. With kuyt, mascherano and lucas in the team we have 3 work horses in a 5 man midfield and 1 striker. Its no wonder everyone always thinks we are a 2 man team when we only leave room for 3 creative players.