Rafa the Baffler

[Bender]

Rafa knows best.

bull**** but hey works for some

[kev776]

The Shankly/Paisley days are long gone, stop living in the past.

In those times there was never as many games, the matches were less physically demanding. Footballers could even have a booze twice a week back then.

As for Alberto being on the bench, well FFS, we've got an injury crisis at the moment didn't you notice it?

Ok, lets leave him on the bench each week, maybe some fitness will rub off onto him from players coming off the pitch when subbed.

Playing for the reserves will improve him more than sat on the bench.

[Guest]

Ok, lets leave him on the bench each week, maybe some fitness will rub off onto him from players coming off the pitch when subbed.

Playing for the reserves will improve him more than sat on the bench.

As if he never trains. Rafa is gradually trying to bed him in, nothing too hard to understand. And I do think he'll start tonight.

[ElRobbie]

PeteBest - I totally understand he doesn't want to rush him back and get him injured, but there is caution and then there is over-cautious. He's training every day and has been for weeks so if he was feeling anything then it would be apparent he wasnt ready and in which case I'm sure he wouldn't be on the bench.

If he isn't playing him in the reserves then the only way to get match fitness will be for the first team. The thing is we've spent 20m on a player who hasn't started yet if we had spent that 20m on a good attacking player/striker/winger it might have made a difference to the position we are in now.

Clearly Kuyt/Babel/Riera aren't good enough or don't posess the ability to win games for us when we don't have Gerrard/Torres

[Guest]

PeteBest - I totally understand he doesn't want to rush him back and get him injured, but there is caution and then there is over-cautious. He's training every day and has been for weeks so if he was feeling anything then it would be apparent he wasnt ready and in which case I'm sure he wouldn't be on the bench.

If he isn't playing him in the reserves then the only way to get match fitness will be for the first team. The thing is we've spent 20m on a player who hasn't started yet if we had spent that 20m on a good attacking player/striker/winger it might have made a difference to the position we are in now.

Clearly Kuyt/Babel/Riera aren't good enough or don't posess the ability to win games for us when we don't have Gerrard/Torres

We should have won far more than we have. We've been unlucky in a lot og games (the Lyon one and plenty of others) but we've shipped in goals that has undone us this season. We're scoring goals, creating chances, even when we aren't playing with Torres or Gerrard.

So, to me, this shows that we can cope without Aquilani & al too, meaning we don't need to rush him back. And it's not as if he's going to be an instant saviour is it?

[The Erectile Banana]

I agree with the original poster.

If Aquilani has been fit enough to sit on the bench for the last month then he should be fit enough to be able to start games and last an hour or so.

And for those who say oh, he could get reinjured and be out for another three months, I say nonsense. He is fit and ready to play as are (nearly) all our other players on the bench and in the starting XI. Just because he has been out with serious injury doesn't mean his leg is going to explode the minute an opposition player looks at him. He is just as likely to get injured as any other LFC player on the pitch, no more, no less. He is fit to play. He doesn't need to be protected anymore. Some posters are going too far in this regard. Maybe we can send him out tonight swathed in cotton wool? He won't be very effective but he won't get injured either.

[Guest]

I agree with the original poster.

If Aquilani has been fit enough to sit on the bench for the last month then he should be fit enough to be able to start games and last an hour or so.

And for those who say oh, he could get reinjured and be out for another three months, I say nonsense. He is fit and ready to play as are (nearly) all our other players on the bench and in the starting XI. Just because he has been out with serious injury doesn't mean his leg is going to explode the minute an opposition player looks at him. He is just as likely to get injured as any other LFC player on the pitch, no more, no less. He is fit to play. He doesn't need to be protected anymore. Some posters are going too far in this regard. Maybe we can send him out tonight swathed in cotton wool? He won't be very effective but he won't get injured either.

I don't think he could play a whole match though so maybe it's better to start him on the bench, that way he'll have more impact. Rafa is trying to protect him, easing the pressure on him, as I understand he's very eager to show what he can do and this could be dangerous if he tries too hard after a lengthy spell on the sidelines. He hasn't played a competitive game since March/April.

[The Erectile Banana]

I don't think he could play a whole match though so maybe it's better to start him on the bench, that way he'll have more impact. Rafa is trying to protect him, easing the pressure on him, as I understand he's very eager to show what he can do and this could be dangerous if he tries too hard after a lengthy spell on the sidelines. He hasn't played a competitive game since March/April.

If you reread my post you'll see I didn't say he should play the whole game. I said he should be able to start and be able to last an hour. I know he has been out for a long time, but the original point remains valid. If he has been fit enough to sit on the bench for the last month he should have had much more playing time by now. How is he going to regain match fitness by coming on for ten minutes here and there or not being used at all? He's a £20M midfielder and is supposed to be potentially one of our key players. I would have thought it would be in Rafa's interest to give him as much game time as possible to get him match fit and into our starting XI as soon as possible.

[Pablo]

Patience young one his time will come very soon

[Tee]

Patience young one his time will come very soon

Can we afford to be patient right now though? We play a half fit Torres, Gerrard, Benni and Riera, but do not give Aquilani more then 10 or so minutes when he is fully fit and raring to go!!

[-V-]

I must say I found it quite bizarre that a reserve game was not organised for him during the international break. In the past we normally arrange practice matches to get players back to match fitness

[Fan65]

I read on another thread a post from one of EST1892's valued insiders that the reason Aquilani is not playing is because "Rafa is bumming Kuyt & Lucas."

It's treasured inside info like that that makes being on here worthwhile.

...I think.

[Guest]

I must say I found it quite bizarre that a reserve game was not organised for him during the international break. In the past we normally arrange practice matches to get players back to match fitness

This is because our backroom team is so inefficient and past it (incl. Rafa) that they can't organise a match for him. Sack all of them.

[BFG]

If he lacks match fitness, get him off the ****ing bench and play him in the reserves. In Shanklies/Paislies days a player returning from injury first had many games in the reserves, they didnt sit on the bank waiting to get match fitness during important matches.

Every reserve game should have him starting, first 30 mins, then 50 etc. Once he completes a couple of games,he does the same in the first team.

At the moment it seems to be tactics and how the game is going that decides if he comes on or not. The way we are playing at the moment means he will never start.

Since he has been fit he could have played in 3 or 4 competitve reserve games and be almost totally match fit.

If he'd come back from a month or two out then fair enough but the lad has had to undergo a complete rehabilitation. It wasn't just a case of get him running when the pain's gone and then get him on the pitch, he needed time to build up the muscle again which would have detoriarated massively in the time he's been out.

We've been very cautious in getting him playing but with the problems he's had it might be the difference between him being fully fit for seasons to come or constantly breaking down with the same problem. It seems inherently sensible to me to bring him in very slowly giving the muscles around the injury time to build up again and recover properly for his long term fitness.

[BFG]

He is just as likely to get injured as any other LFC player on the pitch, no more, no less. He is fit to play. He doesn't need to be protected anymore.

That's not true mate. If you've basically not run for over 12 months your muscles, especially those around the injury would have become extremely weak and be much more prone to further injury than a player who'd been out for a few weeks, even if both injuries had technically healed.