Aquilani typifies the predicament Rafa finds himself in
Alberto Aquilani has only played 3 minutes of Premier League football in over a month and for me it kind of typifies the current predicament that both Rafa Benitez and Liverpool find themselves in. I think most Reds fans believe that Aqua’s form hasn’t been good enough since his £20million move from Roma but we also know the mitigating circumstances which have prevented us from seeing the best of the 25 year old Italian international.
There are so many “what ifs” about this season that every time I think about them it makes me want to switch off the TV and forget football ever existed for a few days. Alas, it is my job as a football writer to highlight them to show how frustrating it has been to be a Liverpool fan this season. If we look at the league table at the same time last season, we had 61 points compared to only 48 this campaign. We would be two points off where Man Utd are right now if we had kept the same level. So why haven’t we?
If you start off the season badly, you tend to fall away very quickly. With injuries and the absence of any real creative outlet without Gerrard in the team, and the lack of any security at the back, confidence just seeped away despite rallies in ‘cup final’ efforts against Manchester United and Everton. The question becomes ‘what if’ players such as Aquilani, Gerrard and Torres started off the season fit and kept going throughout without injuries? If Aquilani had started off without his ankle injury, would the season have been much different? I believe certainly the season would have been an improvement for he would have had a full pre season behind him and although we might not have seen the best of him at the start, by now I believe he would be coming into his element as the season draws to a close.
The facts are though, Benitez bought the player whilst injured and we had to wait a fair few months for any game time from him at all. Then once back fit, Rafa wraps him in cotton wool, preventing him from playing in the majority of away games and any physical encounters such as Blackburn last week and Wigan last night. It has led to a bizarre situation where a £20million signing has to settle for a place on the bench when the team is plainly not playing well. A case in point when he began to show his class against Spurs in a 2-0 win back in January but then was named as a sub in the next game in a drab 0-0 draw against Wolves. Rafa believes that playing him would only make the team play worse in such games:
“When you have been injured for a while it’s not easy for a player. Then, when you are available and the team isn’t doing well, it makes it even more difficult. You have to decide if you can afford to give him two or three games when you know. He’s maybe not at the level he could be, so you could end up losing some of them. Alberto isn’t stupid, he knows the priority now has to be the team and what’s best for that. All he can do is keep training and make sure he is ready when we need him.”
Certainly when your back is against the wall and you are fighting for every point, defensive solidity is key, and that is why Aquilani’s attacking flair has been sacrificed. However it is also the case that we are only in this position because of our bad start to the season. The direct consequence of signing Aqua was that he became one of the many injury casualties earlier in the season which led to the poor form. Now to recover form, Aquilani is left out to play a defensive style to secure the backline. It is basically not the Italian’s fault. His late return to fitness has led to him playing his first season in a new league whilst playing in a side which is going through difficult times. It is certainly the case that one of the reasons for such a poor season is the decision by Rafa to buy Aquilani when he did. Now we will have to hope that both Liverpool and Aquilani come to life next season.
A lot of the problems the club have, though admittedly not all will go away when Rafa does. The man is a bit of an idiot.
Liverpool will finish 5th or 6th this season it pains me to admit this. I had a very bad feeling from as early as pre-season that we were going to have a tough season ahead. The team were absolutely shocking in pre-season and we lost against spurs and we have never really recovered. Its been the case of excuses and promises of a new dawn each week.
The loss of Alonso has been absolutely terrible to the rhythm of our team and play. Rafa made a terrible miss judgement to think that Lucas and Masch had the playmaking ability to semi compensate for Aquilani on his return to fitness. The biggest factor to hit us this season is Rafas ignorance regarding the centre forwards we should of had a solid back up to Torres for the last 12 months fortunately we got away with it last season but the back up strikers this season have proven they are not up to the job because Torres has been out for so long. Despite the initial success of Rafas reign I think its time Rafa moved on. A lot of Liverpool fans forget that Rafas poor judgement last season and decision to play it safe cost us last seasons title. I do also think we have to consider CFC were very poor last season because they had a manager who didn’t have the ability to cope with the premiership. If Gus or Carlo had been in charge I think Liverpool would have finished third.
A lot of fans argue that Rafa has had less funds to build a team but I think that he made some very bad recent mistakes with his transfer fund. I also even go as far to say that he should of bought a cheaper right back and should of either spent more to buy a fit and ready to go replacement for Alonso. His failure to create a back up forward line had been disastrous and I and a lot of pundits have been crying out for this for a long time.
Its often been sited by Alex and Jose that you need to have two quality players fighting for each position Rafa has failed to create this situation and competition up front.
Rafa has done a solid job creating a solid first 11 and has a good record in Europe and despite this season has moved the club forward slightly in the league but I feel he is lacking the creativity and vision to take us forward the final step.
I agree with u eldon
eldon.
simply put, alex and jose HAD/HAVE funds to have two quality players for each position. we all know rafa’s net spend for each season is roughly 15-20m. we all know that alonso was sold for 30m, johnson was bought for close to 20m, and aquilani was bought in 5x4m installments. now you tell me where the board gave rafa anywhere close to 20m cash on hand to spend? if he had 20m cash sitting on his desk, im sure he wouldve bought a 20m player. and thats where you get the quality in two positions from. we dont have the ability to put berbatov on the bench when rooney and ronaldo are available (last season).
yes granted hes made a couple of transfer mistakes, and theyre only highlighted because people have this delusion that liverpool have buckets of cash on hand for transfers.
also, must remember that after alonso left, the team had to adopt a different style of play, and this is one of the only situations where i would outrightly blame rafa. because the team hasnt been able to get any sort of flow or rhythm or style of play going. with alonso it was him dicating the pace and the flow. whereas now without a player like him, we need to adopt a more arsenal like approach, whereby players make small quick passes. because lucas and mascherano dont have the abilty to do what alonso did.
so dont just jump on the mans back because you can choose to omit historic events regarding transfers of players (eg keane…crouch wasnt going to get a start ahead of torres and didnt want to stay, so thats fair..same with bellamy), and the logic behind net spend and cash on hand.
there are so many non liverpool supporters already on rafas back for no reason whatsoever other than because the rest of englands tabloid have decided its open season for the man. its unfair, the victimisation of him.
the very least we as supporters can do is to either be LOGICAL in our understanding of the scenario. and once you do that, its very easy to see rafa exactly isnt all at fault here.
not to mention nobody ever blames the players for playing badly? they were terrible at wigan, and it was their fault. a loss of confidence from losses early in the season have burdened the team throughout the rest.
Rafa has had the money and bought a lot of rubbish. Not only that but he has a habit of selling the good players (Keane, Alonso and Crouch) and keeping hold of the tripe.
When you play week in, week out with rubbish like Insua, Lucas Leiva, Aquilani, Ngog and El Zhar then it’s no wonder we are where we are.
Rafa needs to head for the door along with the yanks so that we can rebuild.
I find it amazing that he has remained as long as he has!!!!