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View from the Kop

Freedom: The answer to the Aquilani Conundrum

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After all the injury problems, criticism and lack of game time, Alberto Aquilani finally showed what he was capable of last night. It was not only the goal which was taken so impressively, but nearly every part of his game was on song; he even won a 50/50 tackle during the second half! Since moving from Roma last summer, Aquilani has had problem after problem which have hampered him settling in to his new life in England. First he recovered later than expected from a long term ankle injury, then he picked frequent knocks and viruses prompting fears he was injury prone, and then there were questions as to whether Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez had bought the right player.

The last point is crucial here in why it has taken so long since his recovery from injury for Aquilani to establish himself in the first team. Bought as a replacement for Xabi Alonso, the Italian midfielder initially slotted in alongside Javier Mascherano in the centre of midfield when chosen to start by Rafa. As we all know, Rafa likes his two holding midfield players and Alonso perfectly fitted the bill; for as well as being disciplined in the defensive midfield, intercepting passes, he could also use his fantastic long range passing abilities to set up attacks and give both Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres the ammunition they needed to threaten the opposition penalty area.

Now, Aquilani can fulfil the attacking elements of Alonso’s play, but his discipline in central midfield was lacking and it restricted his play and freedom of movement. He is not a natural defender and you would sometime see him dawdle around the centre of midfield rather than picking up the player with the ball or sticking to the role the manager had assigned to him. You will not see the best of him in that position and consequently some average displays came from the 25 year old.

Something had to change, and Benitez decided to do something different in the game against Burnley last Sunday. He picked him in a more offensive position behind the striker and moved Steven Gerrard back into central midfield. The move worked as Aquilani made three assists during the match. It was change of fortunes that was replicated last night as Aquilani seemed to have much more freedom to move and “play as he sees it” as Graham Taylor said on Five’s commentary. The consequence being was that we saw a completely different player. On top of his fantastically taken goal, first time with his right foot, he controlled and offloaded the ball fantastically for the majority of the match, and pinged the ball left and right quickly to set up quick counter attacks.

The freedom of play let Aquilani off the leash and you could see he wanted the ball all the time. The match against Atletico Madrid, which although ended in a defeat over two legs, may well have been the start of something really special for Aquilani. It was a step up on recent performances from the Italian and we all hope he continues to improve in the last two games of the season, setting up a good pre-season, and hopefully a barn-storming start to the next campaign for the midfielder. The £20million signing may be coming good at last.

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4 comments

  • Karim says:

    were you watchin the same game i did? i thought for the majority of the game he wasnt great. In the middle third, the game bypassed him and he was a stranger.. yes he produced a few decent passes and his goal was well taken, but he needs to do more in the middle 3rd. Okay, so we play him in an advance role, but still we looked so narrow and thats what happens when we have 3 CMs on the pitch. I think he looks lost in the Liverpool shirt, so many times Steve G just looked at him and thought “what the hell”.

    Maybe im being harsh.

    In my opinion, we need to play – Reina, LB, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Benayoun, Gerrard, Mascherano, Babel, Kuyt and Torres.

    4-4-2 job done.

    Aqualani and Lucas on the bench where they belong.

  • Pas Mazziotta says:

    Karim,

    Im sorry to say, but i think you were the one that was watching at totaly different game!! Maybe you were watching the Fulham game, and Aquilani doesn’t play for either team!!!! Aquilani was pure class last night, he only missed passed about 4-5 times!!! watch the match again and you’ll see. I’m a keen Seria A fan and Aquilani played that exact role for Roma, and trust me, you dont get in the Italian national side playing that role if your no good or even average!!!

    He will be just as valuable as Torres,Gerrard next season. You heard it here first.

  • redman says:

    lets all hope that there are better days to come. as far as a title goes, let win a bloody trophy first. last season was a dream and now we are at a point where we can either realize our potential or become Leeds. oh yea, one more things let stop faking it and show how bad a coach Rafa is, the only factor he has is being buddies with Torres and renia

  • Jack says:

    Redman maybe you want to show us how bad Rafa is. Useless nonsense.

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