Benitez Trademark

[ElRobbie]

He always does this, he's just bigged up Lucas and praised the lad in a press statement, you know what comes next, he drops them, so expect Aquilani in for Lucas the next game that Mascherano is back.

Let's be honest if we had signed Aquilani for £20m and known it would be 4-5 months before he started rather than the 4-5 weeks we were told, most fans wouldn't have been so relaxed about selling Alonso and buying the lad.

Not criticising Aquilani in any way I feel for the lad because the circumstances have put a lot of weight on his shoulders, but I guesss we will see how good a player he is because he knows that.:bird:

[Fivex]

We weren't told 4-5 weeks though mate, I'm fairly sure it was late October / early November from the start??

[Shaggy]

I had it in my head it was about 8-10 weeks before we expected him back?

Obviously it proved a lot longer than that.

Can't say I've noticed this trademark. I'll be surprised if Lucas is eased out of the side to be honest.

[red g]

We weren't told 4-5 weeks though mate, I'm fairly sure it was late October / early November from the start??

I think the earliest we ever hoped was for Chelsea game i think ? But then my memory is **** and sailor jerry doesn't help!!

[Icon]

Pains me to say but Lucas is doing a better job that most at the moment...

Hang on........he'll be dropped then!

[EwarWoo]

We brought a player who was crocked to replace an essential part of the team.

****ing stupid thing to do and our own fault.

Hopefully he can get it together quickly and we'll get back to some form.

[red g]

We brought a player who was crocked to replace an essential part of the team.

****ing stupid thing to do and our own fault.

Hopefully he can get it together quickly and we'll get back to some form.

Yep poor old Lucas. Done well this season

[Reece]

I think it's fairly obvious that Rafa genuinely does rate Lucas, whether some fans agree or not. He'll play a big part for the remainder of the season, not a bit part.

[Fivex]

The problem Lucas has had is he's had to learn a more disciplined role, obviously his reputation at Gremio involved charging forward a lot more than he has done for us, and I think the fans were expecting a bit too much from him too soon, especially since his name was among some great players after he won that award. I think he's proving very consistant this season, and hopefully next season we'll be saying he's maturing into a very accomplished player.

I think Rafa might be doing this with a mind to his future development - it's easier to learn something when you're doing the same thing consistantly, and in this case since he's been an attacking player, later on in his career we might well see him move further forward on the pitch, similar to the way Gerrard has progressed.

[ElRobbie]

OK so when he said weeks he meant 16 weeks?

"When we were talking (to Roma) about Aquilani we knew he was recovering from an operation and would not be able to play for the first weeks of the season," admitted Benitez. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/8186102.stm

Bit misleading that, cause I thought weeks not months?

[Reece]

I thought it was weeks/a month originally, but it just turned out to be longer. No conspiracy or anything, just one of those things.

[ElRobbie]

with the club admitting that it will be 'between four and eight weeks' before the ace is ready to return to action.

http://www.extrafootie.co.uk/clubs/detailed/liverpool/23065/

that was on 8 Aug

[Reece]

I don't mean this in an offensive way, but I'm not really sure what your overall point is here

[Fivex]

No point holding a grudge against Rafa or Bert over this one folks - as Reece rightly says, it's just one of those things.

[little dave hedgehog]

i think it's *totally* possible that rafa is trying to groom lucas to be the next stevie g, with more defensive ability in the middle, and as well-rounded as possible.

stevie was a natural, no idea if you can actually groom a player to do the same. even when he can train with the real deal.