Will Aquilani make a difference?

[flyboy]

of course...anyone replacing that sorry excuse for a professional footballer will make the difference.

[Assassin]

of course...anyone replacing that sorry excuse for a professional footballer will make the difference.

pathetic

[the rev leeroy brown]

will aquilani make a difference?

yes.

as rafa says he will between mash and gerard so hopefully he will give mash a better option to pass to as his range and execution of passing isnt the best. from aquilani i'm hopefull we can get some dangerous passes into ste and torres and benni. i'm more than confident he will improve us no end from the mash lucas partnership.

[RedReet]

Don't think many people noticed but Lucas was playing a different role today - he was playing a lot further up the pitch (watch the game again if you don't believe ne). He was so far forward, he was getting on the end of crosses. And yes he was woeful and went completely missing until he was asked to play in front of the back 4 when Masch was subbed off.

I think you’ll find that if Lucas is asked to play CF and doesn’t touch the ball once, people will still moan that he didn’t cross the half way line and still passed it sideward’s.

As I mentioned in another thread, I don’t think he done much wrong, but we do need a bit more from him.

[red g]

I think you’ll find that if Lucas is asked to play CF and doesn’t touch the ball once, people will still moan that he didn’t cross the half way line and still passed it sideward’s.

As I mentioned in another thread, I don’t think he done much wrong, but we do need a bit more from him.

not good enough at this level

[dww]

not good enough at this level

True but I actually think he has been better this season than some players who have received little criticism. He has a problem in that every mistake he makes is highlighted more than the likes of say Mascherano as people are a/ wanting him to replace Alonso and b/some, particularly in the media want him to fail to make a story and have a stick to beat Rafa with.

For me our team hasn't gelled in a slightly revised set of tactics. This has led to poor performances from many and people are very quick to look at the things that are working well and not question if the consequences are all positive. For example our new more progressive fullbacks have done well attacking wise but clearly at the minute we are easier to break against.

For my money the problem is that we need a calm head with authority to get people to do their jobs in the right area. Which is really what we have lost in Alonso rather than necessarily his playing attributes (although maybe they were part of what allowed him to influence others, I accept that). It is a criticism I think is valid of Lucas to say he is more of a force multiplier who could make us better when we are playing well and players are interacting well and working as a unit but at the minute he tends to fight fires rather than trying to make everyone play to the plan Rafa has set out.

The outfield leaders we do have in Gerrard, Mascherano and Carra are all hot heads. The one calming influence Reina seems to have been a little less unflappable this season than in the past too.

Hopefully if Aquilani was fit he would do that more and within a more confident team we would see better performances from Lucas. I however do wonder whether some of our other players also need a tough time to grow and learn from. Kuyt looked to have reacted well to being left out of Rafa's usual role call of players he feels he needs to protect from criticism.

I think the most disappointing aspect of the season so far has been the fact that Torres and Gerrard don't look to be enjoying the games and sparking off one another as they did last season.

[RedReet]

Spot on DWW, can't add much to that, pretty much sums up exactly how I see things at the minute.

[DannyMan2006]

True but I actually think he has been better this season than some players who have received little criticism. He has a problem in that every mistake he makes is highlighted more than the likes of say Mascherano as people are a/ wanting him to replace Alonso and b/some, particularly in the media want him to fail to make a story and have a stick to beat Rafa with.

For me our team hasn't gelled in a slightly revised set of tactics. This has led to poor performances from many and people are very quick to look at the things that are working well and not question if the consequences are all positive. For example our new more progressive fullbacks have done well attacking wise but clearly at the minute we are easier to break against.

For my money the problem is that we need a calm head with authority to get people to do their jobs in the right area. Which is really what we have lost in Alonso rather than necessarily his playing attributes (although maybe they were part of what allowed him to influence others, I accept that). It is a criticism I think is valid of Lucas to say he is more of a force multiplier who could make us better when we are playing well and players are interacting well and working as a unit but at the minute he tends to fight fires rather than trying to make everyone play to the plan Rafa has set out.

The outfield leaders we do have in Gerrard, Mascherano and Carra are all hot heads. the one calming influence Reina seems to have been a little less unflappable this season than in the past too.

Hopefully if Aquilani was fit he would do that more and within a more confident team we would see better performances from Lucas. I however do wonder whether some of our other players also need a tough time to grow and learn from. Kuyt looked to have reacted well to being left out of Rafa's usual role call of players he feels he needs to protect from criticism.

I think the most disappointing aspect of the season so far has been the fact that Torres and Gerrard don't look to be enjoying the games and sparking off one another as they did last season.

I think that is because they are not getting the ball quick enough in the right areas. If the team was full of confidence and flying I doubt anyone would notice the parts lacking in Lucas's play, so in that respect I agree with you.

But as the team has not been dominating games as much as last year and more importantly, not getting the results, people will always notice and highlight the problems.

For instance, if we still had Alonso, and he had done exactly the same as Lucas in games (move for move, pass for pass) I doubt people would be highlighting Alonso as the problem so much as they are Lucas. Instead most would be sharing the blame amongst all the senior players who have not performed, just as Rafa has done.

For me, Lucas has not been great, but he's by no means the only one at fault. We won games last year with him in the side so should be able to do so again.

[JohnDoe]

I don't there has been a new signing under as much pressure as this guy to perform immediately. Aquilani's basically expected to slot right in and be amazing. While that could happen (i.e Johnson), coming in from Serie A means he'll take time to settle in and show his best, but I do think he'll make a massive difference to us as a team... eventually.

[Nick77]

There's no guarantee of success with this lad - yes he's highly rated in Italy but that doesn't mean he'll be amazing in the Prem. A good example of a highly rated midfielder coming from Italy who flopped in the Prem is Veron.
I'm not saying that Aquillani will be a flop as well, I'm just saying we can't just expect him to be an instant hit...

[BrianF80]

There's no guarantee of success with this lad - yes he's highly rated in Italy but that doesn't mean he'll be amazing in the Prem. A good example of a highly rated midfielder coming from Italy who flopped in the Prem is Veron.
I'm not saying that Aquillani will be a flop as well, I'm just saying we can't just expect him to be an instant hit...

Benitez does have a history of tweaking the team's and a player's game to get the most out of them. Torres and Gerrard being notable successes. Babel and Dossena being notable failures. I think the way we are playing now is designed to get the most out of Aquilani, plus he'll have had a couple of months to settle in, learn the language etc without the pressure of playing, everything is there for him to succeed let's hope he's up to it.

[Shanks]

It does worry me slightly that opposition players may target his ankle injury.
I expect to see Lampard etc giving him a tough time.

[carheex]

Can he make that difference based on our games so far?
It looks like he could be due back for the away game to Chelsea.







Hopefully he can offer Stevie and Torres a bit more service with some vision but I'm looking forward to seeing the extra attacking option that we've never really had in the middle of the park, since Gerrard was pushed forward.

Let's hope we can keep some consistency, as this could be a great return signing for us.

It depends on what that table means. If he returns to training on 4th october then obviously he won't play. If he returns to training this month then maybe. I'm not sure how "injured" he is - he could walk unassisted when he signed for us. Wonder what he's doing now?

[The_weatherman]

It depends on what that table means. If he returns to training on 4th october then obviously he won't play. If he returns to training this month then maybe. I'm not sure how "injured" he is - he could walk unassisted when he signed for us. Wonder what he's doing now?

He had started light training at Roma but our doctors told him to take it easy, guess he won't be match fit until mid-november after such a long time out.

[johnly]

Just seen new Roma boss Claudio Ranieri on SSN. He was talking about how much he admires Aquilani and tried to get him for Chelsea. He said he spoke with Benitez last night and Rafa told Ranieri quite jokingly that "he stole Aquilani" from him. Claudio then said he wasn't sure if his team was complete without him. Seems to be highly rated by a few folk then. Can't wait to see him play