Aquilani in line for first Liverpool start

Ryan Babel - November 19th, 2009 at 2:47 pm

Yh, but we can still hope!

Ryan Babel - November 19th, 2009 at 2:52 pm

With Torres out v man city whos gonna score?
Maybe N’gog or Gerrard

kermit - November 19th, 2009 at 3:34 pm

i ve been waiting weeks to see aquiliani play , he s fit now so rafa will probably include him after easter sometime

kermit - November 19th, 2009 at 3:36 pm

ryan babel, lucas babel and gerrard to hit the winner, aquilani to get fifteen mins at the end of the game again fucking pointless, babel prob be on the bench fucking pointless

Retryboy - November 19th, 2009 at 3:49 pm

Doesn’t look like rafa will start him he definitely should though. Gerrard is fit gives us chance to get mascherano, aquilani and gerrard together for the first time, be the strongest midfield on the planet. Give the whole club a massive lift. He was declared fit against fulham but had flu. Recovered from that in time for lyon been about 3 weeks since then so why won’t rafa start him?

Donavan Ried - November 19th, 2009 at 4:57 pm

afternoon Kermit, Retryboy …..
This is just what i was saying when i said that it was a mistake by Rafa to buy a injuried player. We were told just before purchasing Aquiliani that he would be fit for the Chelsea game now here we are six weeks down the line and still no sign of Aquiliani being ready to play a full 90 minutes……

No doubt injuries has effected our season thus far, but for F*ck Sake Rafa use some of the Young Reds, and stop playing the walking wounded …. Trust in the Young Reds

jimmyk - November 19th, 2009 at 5:10 pm

anonymous – November 19th, 2009 at 5:05 pm

i agree donavan, we really arent giving our youngsters enough chance…now i thought kelly or ayala would be a better choice than kyriagos, such a waste of cash and waste of chance for our young ones. spearing is getting some time and so is ngog but i want us to bring nemeth back now and sack off voronin, nemeth is 20 now. thats not exactly infantile in football terms.

aquilani wont start, 63rd min. he needs to be broken into the game.

jimmyk - November 19th, 2009 at 5:10 pm

forgot to sign in

RaNE - November 19th, 2009 at 5:36 pm

We need a creative midfielder

Please step in Mr.Aquilani

Retryboy - November 19th, 2009 at 5:42 pm

Afternoon-ryan babel, donovan, jimmy k, kermit… Aquilani is totally fit rafa said weeks ago that all he needed was games. This is just an excuse for rafa to play a more defensive team! Against chelsea you could see that even gerrard playing off torres was still expected to get back and against birmingham was the first time lucas was actually played in front of mascherano otherwise its 2 sitting midfielders with gerrard expected to track back too, a right winger(well kuyt) in there to defend. equalling a totally isolated striker. 4-5-1 can be attacking with the right personnel and tactics. Get our best 3 together mascherano sitting and let aquilani and gerrard do what they do best and we will destroy teams. Play babel on the right too! Make their full backs defend not have a right winger defending their left back!!

...samlfc.... - November 19th, 2009 at 5:52 pm

Afternoon Retryboy,Donavan Ried, Kermit,Jimmy k and Ryan babel

Torres is back!,Johnson is back, Agger is back, Aquilani to play longer things will start to go up as we re finally edging ever so closer to having a full squad and that is brilliant.
and i agree with anyone who says anything about the reserves/youngster as they deserve a spot on the team not people who don’t d anything but hinder the team like Voronin.

Retryboy - November 19th, 2009 at 6:14 pm

Afternoon to Rane and samlfc too… Sam thought torres was still out?? Hear johnson and aurelio had the horse placenta treatment too as well as yossi and riera. Maybe we should make some four legged signings in january!! Always on about giving the young lads a chance when we have injuries we look like we will nearly be at full strength though. Would definitely have the likes of pacheco, ayala, darby on the bench over voronin, degen(suspended anyway but even if he wasn’t…) and kyrgiakos. Kelly is still out.

...samlfc.... - November 19th, 2009 at 6:42 pm

Retryboy Torres is pretty much match fitness so i’ve heard and oh i didn’t know about Johnson and haha yeah i understand where your coming from on four legs lol i also agree bout putting them on and Voronin off!

kermit - November 19th, 2009 at 7:55 pm

aquilani should be b,rought on no later than the fifty fifth minute, and hi to everyone, football sucks today , fifa sucks, henry sucks moneky balls,
i think we ll beat city, i dont think torres is fully fit, i d bring him in the second half depending on how the game is going
ngog to start up front , with gerarrd behind
the usual formation with masch and lucas in behind
then depending how the game is going aquilani on as soon as we go a goal down, i mean literally as soon as, if we are coadting then bring him on in the fiftueth minute , he s not match fit so he needs game time. and lucas prob deserves a rest, though against birmingham the mistake of the whole game was taking lucas off and expecting aquaman to change the game in eight mins , ridiculous, it takes longer than eight5 mins to get into a game. my biggest rafa hate , his lack of any testicles in making substitutuions, he makes them usually just he makes them twenty mins too late

kermit - November 19th, 2009 at 7:59 pm

i totally agree that aqulani will be pure class for us, i m just growing impatient in my wait to see him actually play

Donavan Ried - November 19th, 2009 at 8:11 pm

anonymous – November 19th, 2009 at 7:54 pm ……
No one can say how good or bad Aquiliani will be for us, Not you and not me. The point i was making is why would a manager take such a risk buying a player that may or may not ever be really injury free enough to play any lenght of time for the club epecailly when there are some great midfeilders out there …
And Yes the youngster need game time, that why Rafa should play them more, you only improve against tougher opposition not by playing at the same level all the time ……

As for the “I think you talk a load of crap.” maybe i do, but i put my name to it so poeple can see who is saying it ….. Why do you try it taht way poeple can see if you talk crap, Yes? ……

Last thing I think i will be going back to not replying to, or reading anything that is posted anonymously, for if you can not be bothered to log in and post with a name, why should i be bothered to read it …..

Warren Bloggs - November 19th, 2009 at 8:20 pm

Points well made there Donovan, agree completely. Although, i hope along with most fans (i imagine) Aquilani will be a huge success!!!!

Retryboy - November 19th, 2009 at 8:33 pm

He will be a massive success we need the lift of him from the start though, we have had a break if this is too be the turning point for our season we need more than a win we need the performance, the whole club needs a lift and a brave team selection would do it. He is fit, let him and gerrard play off the leash! Mascherano will do all the defensive work.

Warren Bloggs - November 19th, 2009 at 9:29 pm

anonymous – November 19th, 2009 at 9:25 pm

Come out and tell everyone on here who you are! Or are you the ‘little mothers boy’?

Warren Bloggs - November 19th, 2009 at 10:19 pm

Yeah i did not think so……………..

Retryboy - November 19th, 2009 at 10:28 pm

Anon have stopped responding to anon posts or even reading them thanks to idiots like yourself but warren’s post(thankyou by the way warren) made me read it and this will be the only response you will get from me… “lil mummys boy” 6′2″ 30 year old builder moved out at 15 and have owned my own place for 6 years “whos afraid to talk to girls” i go out with women not girls who are for gutless little boys like yourself. “stop w*nking” grow up i’m 30 not 13! “get your homework done” your should be you’re as in you are just a lil mothers boy and you are such a mistake(irony in that one!) Whos should be who’s as in who is afraid to talk to girls. So while you do your(correct usage) homework leave the football talk to those with some intelligence and the courage of their convictions to put their names to their posts. Apologies to the anons with good points but i will carry on ignoring all anon posts.

Aquilani4goals - November 19th, 2009 at 10:41 pm

well guy well are approaching december,and still we have not seen aquilani for 45min.Why is rafa afraid to play aquilani.If rafa was worried about his fitness why did he buy an injuried player?Weeks in weeks out all we hear from rafa is ..u know we have to be careful with aquilani,he has flu,we have to be patient.what a load of crap…..for how long are we goin to wait?we need to start winnin matches and aquilani need to blend with the team .maybe he is going to play him 2010.so what is the need for buying aquilani if we cannot play for this season and mind you half this season is gone……pls guy I await your response, i am not trying to slag rafa off ,but it is just my observation

Warren Bloggs - November 19th, 2009 at 10:45 pm

Agreed, I think Alberto could be fantastic for us, but we do need to start seeing him soooooon!!!!!! Man City should be where he makes his debut!

Stillontheperch - November 19th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

“Benitez shrugs off all the injury problems and says he’s signed Aquilani for five years, not five matches”

Give him time.

cayceejoel - November 20th, 2009 at 8:13 am

we all which aqui could start but rafa has reasons for his action about aqui,i would have loved to see him too.imagine gerrad ,aquilani and mascherano in the middle,bable playing upfront with torres it will be wonderful.and honestly rafa need to give more playing time to the youngster like ayala and insua,insua is regular now but i want to see more of ayala and carragher is good and getting old maybe rafa should sometimes let him rest and bring him on second hall,i want to see more of ayala and skrtel and kuyt is lacking something yes he’s not a natural 7,maybe rafa should try babel sometimes in the 7 position and lets see something like this option
reina
johnson skrtel/carragher ayala/agger insua/aurelio
mascherano/lucas
gerrad/aquilani
gerrad/ aquilani/benayoun
babel/kuyt reira/babel
torres/ngog/nemeth/babel
but would love
reina
johnson skrtel ayala insua
mascherano
gerrad aquilani
babel reira
torres

Liverpool FC Danny - November 20th, 2009 at 10:34 am

We should swap:
Voronin with Pacheco/Nemeth
The Greek with Ayala
Degan with Kelly/Darby

Retryboy - November 20th, 2009 at 10:35 am

Comments responding to the anon at 9.25 still not moderated for some reason but thankyou warren and would much rather be discussing the football than responding to idiots anyway. Carragher is suspended Cayceejoel so it will likely be skrtel/agger hopefully skrtel has found some form again would be tempted to play ayala instead too. He has to start aquilani though!!

cayceejoel - November 20th, 2009 at 11:06 am

for tomorrows game a win is good but good performance and team work is the best result,cause thats whats we lack since alonso departed,and rafa should bring back nemeth if we sign torres partner or not,nemeth would have been good for this match,but we have to settle for what we have and our defence need to be carefull of bellamy cause he’ll what to prove something.i hope for a good perfomance tomorrow and its our middlefielders that can do the magic all hope on them now.

baggins09 - November 20th, 2009 at 11:53 am

rafa needs to start playing attacking football and stop been so negative and its not more important to have good performance, we need a good win to give us some confidence not just scraping a 1-0 win or a draw he needs to start aquilani and go out to destroy city not play to not lose, he’s obviously gonna play a 4-5-1 so i want to see the following

————————————————reina—————————————–
————————–skrtl————————————agger——————–
johnson————————————————————————-dossena
———————————————–masch—————————————–
————————————————————————————————–
————————gerrard———————————aquilani——————–
babel———————————————————————————–yossi
———————————————–n’gog——————————————–

Retryboy - November 20th, 2009 at 12:42 pm

Agree with baggins team apart from insua for dossena. Rafa won’t leave out kuyt and lucas though.

jimmyk - November 20th, 2009 at 1:06 pm

baggins09, we dont really play that negative football, fine there have been times where rafa should of thrown a load of forwards on to win matches but remember how many goals we have scored over the past few seasons. remember that next time you say we aint negative…we just aren’t risky. thats not rafa’s style. if we had 3 top top strikers warming the bench like the scum then yeah, chuck on berba, owen and nani to seal the deal.
i dont think that will quite work with voronin and ngog (although ngog is starting to look like a decent prospect now)

cayceejoel - November 20th, 2009 at 1:09 pm

for tomorrow rafa wont bench carrragher because of adebayor’s height

so it’ll probable be

————————————————reina—————————————–
————————–carragher——————————skrtl——————–
johnson————————————————————————-insua———————————————–masch—————————————–
————————————————————————————————–
————————gerrard———————————lucas——————–
kuyt———————————————————————————–yossi
———————————————–n’gog——————————————–
or
————————————————reina—————————————–
————————–carragher——————————skrtl——————–
johnson————————————————————————-insua———————————————–masch—————————————–
————————————————————————————————–
————————lucas———————————aquilani——————–
kuyt———————————————————————————–yossi
———————————————–n’gog——————————————–

for first half

————————————————reina—————————————–
————————–carragher——————————skrtl——————–
johnson————————————————————————-insua———————————————–masch—————————————–
————————————————————————————————–
————————gerrard———————————aquilani——————–
kuyt———————————————————————————–yossi
———————————————–n’gog——————————————–

second half

gerrad may not play full time,he may come in for lucas or aquilani it depends on the game,rafa will not leave lucas and kuyt out like retryboy said

Retryboy - November 20th, 2009 at 1:35 pm

Carragher is suspended

kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 1:49 pm

donovan yes, we can t be certain aquilani will be a success but we are sincerely hopeful he can fulfill his potential with us , we all know he possesses skills and this was a big gamble on his fitness by benitez but i dnt believe there are so many aquilani s out there not of his abilty, i think when fully fit for a period he wont be far off gerrards abilty, and if the two of them can apreciate each others skills an attacking trio of him gerrard and torres could be fucking lethal
though currently i would like to see us use chelsea s diamond formation at home
with torres and ngog playing upfront together, gerrard in behind the two aquilani slightly right riera slightly left, or benayoun ( i feel riera isbetter as a left midfielder than winger, and he has this amazing abilty to receive the ball while surrounded by players and turn into space, this ought to be utilised more) and masch at the base of the diamond. then you could have torres and ngog also running the channelsleaving greater space for gerrard bursting into

and does any one else agree that glen johnson has far surpassed their expectations of him so far , against birmingham he waslike a man playing with boys at times

cayceejoel - November 20th, 2009 at 1:49 pm

aah

Retryboy - November 20th, 2009 at 1:50 pm

Jimmyk- we do play negative football just we have the brilliance of gerrard and torres to make something out of nothing. The goals conceded is also down to sitting back letting teams into games like at birmingham if we had battered them and gone for it from the start instead of waiting till we were behind they would have never been in the game or had anything to defend. Its not to do with the strikers. Its just the balance in midfield mascherano sitting provides plenty of cover. Rafa should let gerrard and aquilani off the leash, play babel on the right benayoun on the left. Pace on one wing, trickery on the other. We won’t have to worry about their full backs getting forward if they are defending all the time. Just my opinion

kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 1:50 pm

gk reina
johnson carra agger insua
mascherano
aquilani riera
gerrard
torres ngog

kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 1:52 pm

the only problem is see is a potential defensive weakness with babel and johnsoon on one side, while babelis undoubtedly betterright side , johnson is more than adequate in an attacking sense then , and it needs kuyts doggedness to cover his runs

jimmyk - November 20th, 2009 at 1:59 pm

maybe a little bit negative, but i dont think sitting back is whats letting our goals in this season, the balance of the team has changed, where we had arbeloa and alonso we now have lucas and johnson.
i do think that we should let aquilani off the leash and gerrard buuuut our midfield isnt as strong as it was last season and we need gerrard to sit back (until aquilani makes his mark) then go wild! babel isnt good enough to unleash unfortunately, i dribble over my food better than he does with a ball at his feet. i do think a bit more game time with ngog and torres would be beneficial and should be explored more often.

jimmyk - November 20th, 2009 at 2:13 pm

anonymous – November 20th, 2009 at 2:01 pm

u r a bumder. have an opinion and a name…for now you will be called bumder01.

Retryboy - November 20th, 2009 at 2:24 pm

Look at johnson for england. Has lennon or wright-phillips ahead of him not a workhorse no weakness there. Mascherano and the rest of the defence can cover runs. Just cos you have a full back who gets forward doesn’t mean you have to have a defensive winger. Evra, Clichy, cole all have attacking players on the same flank and only chelsea out of those teams have a defensive midfielder even in the same league as mascherano. Kuyt is in bad form and babel deserves a chance on the right where the last time he had a sub appearance he set up the winning goal and received massive praise from torres after the game for his cameo never been played there since.

RaNE - November 20th, 2009 at 5:54 pm

Well what do you expect from a striker ,comment above, plus how has he a negative effect on liverpools attacking play when all he does is cross the ball

kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 5:55 pm

anyways i will adit to being wholeheartedly wrong about glen johnson he has amazed me so far this season. well impressed.

lets give babel a shot on the right side then

andlets hammer city

kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 5:56 pm

kuyt is a goal poacher , thats his talent, not playing wide, but getting into the right spot at the right time, he could score twenty a season alongside torres in a 442 , i m sure of it

kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 5:58 pm

much as i like lucas, i like the midfield trio of maschin behind gerrard and aquilani, it may take a bit of time to gel but when it does it has potential esp at home, and i think aquilani can deputise for gerrard when he is injured, lets just hope his fitness is spot on

...samlfc.... - November 20th, 2009 at 7:51 pm

kermit – November 20th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Spot on!
i’ve been saying this ages, why not let Kuyt be second striker alongside Torres or when Torres gets injured make Kuyt and N’gog strikers a Kuyt was a striker before so why not!

Donavan Ried - November 20th, 2009 at 10:36 pm

Robbie (anonymous) – November 19th, 2009 at 11:27 pm…….
Just explain to me just why have we spent Millions on the Young Reds if we are not going to play them? …….. When Kelly and Ayala play they both had great game so why then did Rafa drop Ayala to play Kyrgiakos instead?…..

“You bring youngsters on when a side is playing with confidence some of the young ones are not quite ready to play in some games the pressure on players at a young age can damage a career.” …..

You gauge how good a player is by play him even when the team is not confidence, some players need that challenge to step up to the next level, just like some players a lazy in practice yet player well on match day …….

As for “damage a career.” a manager can also do this by holding a player back, showing a lack of confidence in a player as well as a lack of belief. Just take a look at Ryan Babel ……

There is a world of difference between “Nurturing” a player and ” Mollycoddling” a player …… The likes of Fowler,Gerrard,and Owen all got their breaks in their teens. Look at the Teens in the Arsenal side, and the Man Utd Teens they are able to step into an EPL game and perform well. And do you know the difference between Arsenals Young Guns, Man Utd Young Devils and our Young Reds?…..

It’s the confidence that their Managers show in them …………

“Yep Rafa has made mistakes but I bet you he is learning from them
Here is one for you did taggart buy owen hargreaves when he was injured ? and did he pay about the same money as we have paid Aquilani not seen the press talking about that as much have you and is he back playing yet ?”

(1) Did Owen Hargreaves have a potentially career ending injury when Man Utd brought him???? ….

(2) Rafa got Degen (injury Prone) and then brought Aquilani(Another injured player) this is Rafa learning Yes?…..

(3) 15 mins in one game is hardly what I would call back playing. Degen did more than that on his debut before have to be carried off injured and remind me, just how long before we saw him again?……

(4) (i) If you have nothing to hide why not log in and post with a name,(ii) Why should I waste my time answering someone that can’t be bothered to post with a name? …..

“Come and meet me for a pint before the game on saturday i will be in the king Harry and we can talk more about iverpool and how Rafa is the man to lead us through this crisis.”……..

Thug mentality Uh! ….. “If you don’t agree with me my mates and I will kick the Shit out of you” …..

You Child

Donavan Ried - November 20th, 2009 at 10:40 pm

Kop King- November 20th, 2009 at 11:02 am ….. Thank you mate

Donavan Ried - November 20th, 2009 at 10:54 pm

kermit – November 20th, 2009 at 1:49 pm ……… Yes Kermit, it is a big gamble, and one i feel he did not have to make…… But having said that the little that i have seen of him playing both in the reserves and the first team he has impressed me with his movement off the ball, his passing and the fact that he constanly wants the ball. All good signs ……

Hoogleboogybugleboy - November 21st, 2009 at 1:20 pm

Aquilani is on the bench.

Donavan Ried - November 21st, 2009 at 4:35 pm

anonymous ( Robbie) – November 21st, 2009 at 11:18 am …….

I am and will always be a Liverpool Supporter…….

I get to game when circumstances and money allow me to, whether that be Anfield or a away game …The last game I was at was Carven Cottage…. the next is the Everton at Goodison and then Arsenal game at The Emirates and Finally the Manchester City game ……. So as I said before I go when circumstances allow me to….. But even if I watched the team from the T.V. how would it take away from my knowledge of the game? …

Donavan Ried - November 22nd, 2009 at 1:56 am

HEY LONG TIME NO HEAR FROM …… Welcome back allahs boot