Will Aquilani make a difference?

[dww]

I don't see a problem with Alonso building play from there to be honest. The season before last it was shown that he pushed further forward when Agger was in the back four to move the ball out from there. The problem for me was more that if he does play make from deep the fullbacks, Masherano or a CB have to make progressive runs to mean we aren't out numbered in attack. At the end of last season that sort of thing was happening more. This season Johnson and Insua are, if anything, doing it too much.

The problem is that I don't think the analysis of a player like Alonso is easy - his qualities were not final balls but ball prior to that switched play, moved the focus of play and set the flow of the game. Measuring his success in assists and goals is to miss the point almost entirely. That said the team as a whole has to be measured by those criteria.

I argued quite strongly last summer that a more dynamic presence would have benefited us. I still think it is/was true (and as such I welcome the signing of Aquilani). That said in the Spurs and Villa games this year it is clear we hugely miss someone with the temperament and passing range of Alonso to calm our play and allow us to take control of games.

Maybe there were games last season where Alonso or the combination of Alonso and our other players was not ideal but he was very, very good and helped us do better than we have in a long time in the league.

[PTP]

I don't see a problem with Alonso building play from there to be honest. The season before last it was shown that he pushed further forward when Agger was in the back four to move the ball out from there. The problem for me was more that if he does play make from deep the fullbacks, Masherano or a CB have to make progressive runs to mean we aren't out numbered in attack. At the end of last season that sort of thing was happening more. This season Johnson and Insua are, if anything, doing it too much.

The problem is that I don't think the analysis of a player like Alonso is easy - his qualities were not final balls but ball prior to that switched play, moved the focus of play and set the flow of the game. Measuring his success in assists and goals is to miss the point almost entirely. That said the team as a whole has to be measured by those criteria.

I argued quite strongly last Summer that a more dynamic presence would have benefited us. I still think it is/was true (and as such I welcome the signing of Aquilani). That said in the Spurs and Villa games this year it is clear we hugely miss someone with the temperament and passing range of Alonso to calm our play and allow us to take control of games.

Maybe there were games last season where Alonso or the combination of Alonso and our other players was not ideal but he was very, very good and helped us do better than we have in a long time in the league.

Aye mate I totally agreed - i wasn't so much concerned with alonso himself dropping back, just felt that in the circumstances, when it happened we should have been flexible enough to say ok, xabi is sitting deep, and we are subbing off so and so from defence for an extra striker. As you say, when agger was there it happened less as he offered something.

To try and but it into some sort of perspective - for years i had manc mates telling me it was well known that their game plan (when carra was right back btw) was to leave carra unmarked, thus leaving him in space and the ball being forced out to him as they were happy for him to have it. Hopefully now we have Johnson, and when agger comes back, all of sudden we have two extra players in the XI that the opposition can just not afford to let run into space, so what happens, someone has to go and challenge, which then in turn opens up more space for a red shirt.

Before each Kick off I always look at the starting XI and think were will the goals come from, who have we actually got on the pitch who can score! - currently - Torres, Gerrard yes the likes of kuyt and yossi i would argue are a constant a threat (ie the opposition can't just let them have the ball) - the rest, carra, skrtel, insua, mascher, lucas have about 8 goals between them - but when we add Agger and now Johnson! and hopefully aquilani, it starts to look a bit more healthier

[red g]

I don't see a problem with Alonso building play from there to be honest. The season before last it was shown that he pushed further forward when Agger was in the back four to move the ball out from there. The problem for me was more that if he does play make from deep the fullbacks, Masherano or a CB have to make progressive runs to mean we aren't out numbered in attack. At the end of last season that sort of thing was happening more. This season Johnson and Insua are, if anything, doing it too much.

The problem is that I don't think the analysis of a player like Alonso is easy - his qualities were not final balls but ball prior to that switched play, moved the focus of play and set the flow of the game. Measuring his success in assists and goals is to miss the point almost entirely. That said the team as a whole has to be measured by those criteria.

I argued quite strongly last Summer that a more dynamic presence would have benefited us. I still think it is/was true (and as such I welcome the signing of Aquilani). That said in the Spurs and Villa games this year it is clear we hugely miss someone with the temperament and passing range of Alonso to calm our play and allow us to take control of games.

Maybe there were games last season where Alonso or the combination of Alonso and our other players was not ideal but he was very, very good and helped us do better than we have in a long time in the league.

interestingly enough aquiliani said him and alonso would make a great partnership, hard to argue

[Fan65]

The lad has scored 13 goals in a club career spanning 143 games.

A goal threat of Gerrard and Torres' ilk, he is not.

And oh so similar to Alonso's tally of 15 in 141 premier games and he's one of the best midfielders on the planet.

Don't you think that Rafa would want more goals from his defensive midfielders?

[sniffer]

Cant see him making things worse, if all is true about him then we will be saying Rafa has made a brilliant signing and xabi who?

[RoadEnd]

Don't know if this has been posted before, but I like his passing and movement.

By Xmas, it'll be Xabi who?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BE_qH5hb7A"]YouTube - Alberto Aquilani- Welcome to Liverpool FC Compilation[/ame]

[red g]

you get the feeling that masherano is going to have to do twice as much work though!!

he loves his give and go's and is not frightened to get into the penalty box.

he gets some power on his shots with very little backlift.

I am very very excited about seeing him, think he looks an awesome player......I love youtube

[Tee]

He looks a class act from that Youtube clip

Getting excited about seeing him play - If he can get off to a good start with an impressive display it will give him loads of confidence and he could go on to have a memorable season.

I was not at all sure about him but the more I see and read about him the more I am looking forward to seeing him in our team.

[Craig_H]

And oh so similar to Alonso's tally of 15 in 141 premier games and he's one of the best midfielders on the planet.

Don't you think that Rafa would want more goals from his defensive midfielders?

What has this got to do with my post that you quoted?

I was responding to the previous post, suggesting a role of 'goal threat' along with SG & FT for Aquilani, and i replied with his goalscoring stats, which suggest that he's nowhere near the kind of 'goal threat' level that SG and FT are.

What does this have to do with Xabi Alonso or what Rafa would want from his defensive midfielders?

[red g]

What has this got to do with my post that you quoted?

I was responding to the previous post, suggesting a role of 'goal threat' along with SG & FT for Aquilani, and i replied with his goalscoring stats, which suggest that he's nowhere near the kind of 'goal threat' level that SG and FT are.

What does this have to do with Xabi Alonso or what Rafa would want from his defensive midfielders?

Torres went from a 1 in 3 to 2 in 3 striker since his move

gerrard has gone from being at a guess 1 in 8 scorer to more like a 1 in 3 since Rafa has arrived.

Looking at the skills aquiliani has in his locker its fair to say he should score more than he has been doing, something he said himself he wants to do

[Pacman]

I saw him play Lampard, Essien and Ballack off the park for 45mins.

I can't wait to see him play.

[Tee]

Torres went from a 1 in 3 to 2 in 3 striker since his move

gerrard has gone from being at a guess 1 in 8 scorer to more like a 1 in 3 since Rafa has arrived.

Looking at the skills aquiliani has in his locker its fair to say he should score more than he has been doing, something he said himself he wants to do

[Craig_H]

Torres went from a 1 in 3 to 2 in 3 striker since his move

gerrard has gone from being at a guess 1 in 8 scorer to more like a 1 in 3 since Rafa has arrived.

Looking at the skills aquiliani has in his locker its fair to say he should score more than he has been doing, something he said himself he wants to do

He may well do.

But scoring more than he's been doing previously, and becoming a goal threat of the ilk of Torres & Gerrard, are worlds apart.

[cream]

He may well do.

But scoring more than he's been doing previously, and becoming a goal threat of the ilk of Torres & Gerrard, are worlds apart.

We don't need him to be a goal threat of the ilk of Gerrard and Torres, just a goal threat from midfield will suffice.

[Craig_H]

We don't need him to be a goal threat of the ilk of Gerrard and Torres, just a goal threat from midfield will suffice.

I was replying to el matador's comment: "he will add another genuine goal threat to gerrard and torres."