Aquilani - when will he play?
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The Italian international, signed from Roma as a replacement for Xabi Alonso this summer, spent much of the first three months of the season sidelined by an ankle injury but has managed just 26 minutes of first-team action since his manager declared him available for selection.
Aquilani’s debut came in a 15-minute cameo against Arsenal in the Carling Cup, and he has since appeared for 10 minutes in the 2-2 Premier league draw with Birmingham and, rather derisorily, enjoyed injury time of Liverpool’s ultimately futile win against Debrecen in the Champions League.
But Benítez insists he is simply being cautious with a player he sees as integral to Liverpool’s short and medium-term future.
"He has been out for longer than we expected and, because he has been injured during the summer, he couldn’t train properly,” the Spaniard said.
“When you have a player who is not fit, he is always going to need time to settle in to a game. If the game is tight and he makes mistakes, then you have a problem.
"We want to protect the player but, at the same time, we want to keep winning games. He understands that he needs to be a little bit fitter before he can play.”
A visit to Blackburn on Saturday is hardly the ideal time to hand Aquilani his first league start, though he will, once again, feature on the bench.
The dead rubber Champions League tie with Fiorentina at Anfield, then, represents Aquilani’s best chance of a first start at his new home before Christmas.
“We know he is a top-class player and we want to do the best for him and the team. But the best for the player and the team sometimes means he cannot play,” said Benítez.
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any odds fm Sg Pool? :D
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When liverpool is mid table, then Rafa will unleash him to take liverpool back to the Top 4.
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Liverpool don't need Aquilani. They need team spirit and endless gut. Aquilani is like... the dragon scroll from KungFu Panda. 1 player don't change a season, but a team does.
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Rafa just likes to buy players but plays them sporadically or not at all.
Shopping addiction.
Much like girls going to a Charles and Keith year end sale.
Buy lots of shoes, but maybe will wear them once or twice.
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I think the italian will ask for transfer in Jan 2010.
He is fit and he is not playing.
Reason: Only Ah Ben know or he just basically buy and waste the player like Babel.
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i still dun get it leh, y he want to play lucas sia? the blackburn match, lucas is like a bystander la....n btw if LFC still dun gt another gd striker, or winger, RB shud gt sacked....
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The worst part is that we still don't know who his main transfer targets are...
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Originally posted by Googooboyy:
The worst part is that we still don't know who his main transfer targets are...
Everybody is a target.
I tell you, it's a shopping addiction.
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Originally posted by Googooboyy:
The worst part is that we still don't know who his main transfer targets are...
To add on to that, we know that not much money is available. -
Liverpool's Alberto Aquilani 'frustrated' by lack of game time, according to father
Rafael Benítez's reluctance to give Alberto Aquilani, Liverpool's £20 million summer signing from Roma, the playing time he needs to regain fitness after more than six months on the sidelines has left the player deeply frustrated, according to his father.
Aquilani was declared free of an ankle injury sustained in March more than a month ago but has managed just 26 minutes of competitive action, all as a late substitute, for his new club despite Benítez's side winning just three of their past 11 games.
The Liverpool manager has confessed he is wary of risking Aquilani in finely-balanced games because of his lack of match fitness and, while sources close to the player insisted the relationship between the two remained "excellent", the Italian international's father, Claudio, admitted his son had found it difficult to accept life as a permanent substitute.
"Alberto is available to play," said Claudio, a paramedic at Roma. "He has been ready for more than a month. He feels good, the injury has cleared up and he is confident he is at no more risk than any other player of the problem coming back.
"The only way he can get truly fit is to start games. There has been a lot of frustration for him, first at being injured and then at not being chosen to play for so long. He is a player, so of course he does not want to wait to be involved with the team and to start his career in England.
"I do not know why Benítez has chosen not to play him, but that is an issue for Alberto. He must convince the coach he has to play."
Aquilani made his competitive bow for Liverpool in the Carling Cup defeat at Arsenal last month, but since that 15-minute cameo has managed just 10 minutes in the Premier League tie with Birmingham and injury time of Liverpool's futile Champions League win against Debrecen.
His first start is likely to come in Wenesday's dead rubber with Fiorentina at Anfield, almost four months after he joined the club, a game for which Fernando Torres is likely to feature as a substitute.
Yet Aquilani's father insists, despite the long wait to feature for his new club and the heartache of leaving Roma, the team he supported as a child, Aquilani could not be happier on Merseyside.
"He is really happy in Liverpool, he has settled in really well," he said.
"He's getting to grips with the language and he's always surrounded by friends, family and his fiancée. He likes the city a lot, the culture, the football and the atmosphere at the stadiums. He has been really impressed by the bond the crowd have with the players.
"He has had plenty of time to watch the Premier League, to study how the game is played in England and how it is different from Serie A. In England it is more physical, more frenetic, quicker, and you have less time on the ball. He is confident he can adapt, though."