Liverpool got their pre-season underway yesterday (Wednesday) in China against Guangdong. Kenny Dalglsih gave all the players a run out as he changed the entire team at half-time.
Alberto Aquilani came on in the second half and put in a decent performance in the middle of the park, linking up well with Charlie Adam. There is a lot of talk with regards to Aquilani’s future after he failed to clinch a permanent deal to Juventus after his loan spell.
Some fans are calling for Aquilani to be sold whilst some would like to see him given another chance in the Premier League under the Kenny Dalglish pass and move style of play which would bring out the best in the Italian. Questions would still need to be answered: is Aquilani physical enough for the English game, how would he cope without getting as much time on the ball as he had in Italy and subsequently against a side like Guangdong, and is he past his injury problems?
Thanks to ElPistoleroJFT96 for putting together a video for us showing Aquilani’s display against Guangdong.
he was shite
He had a good game. He might turn out to be one of Liverpool’s player’s of the season as he has something to prove after his Juventus rejection.
if a player has a good preseason its always a bad omen, if he has a crap one its good. He was creative and looking up a lot, will enjoy a better class of player to pass to at the start of the season. good squad player to have, he will give the first team a rest.
He shows promise and would have benefited from some of the others being a little quicker off the mark!
Aquilani has shown in all his Liverpool games that he has far more understanding than many of our players, He is a quick thinker and has a good view over the field. The problem that I see occasionally is that some of the players are not playing or working on his tempo. He doesn’t want to dwell on the ball, he want go get it forward and he wants to get it there quick. And according to my book that is exactly how King Kenny and Clarke want to play the game.
The perfect trio would be Gerrard, Adam and Aquilani teaming up at midfield.
A typical comment from a muppet that has already made his mind up, and probably didn’t watch the game!
For a first game I thought most of the players looked short of pace. Lack of training together left a few passes going into open space instead of to players feet, but all in all it was a good workout. Alberto Aquilani looks willing to apply himself to getting into the line up and desreves his chance. We certainly don’t want to be losing any money on him. Give the midfield players until the January window and see who we can afford to be without.
Kelly, Wilson and Flanagan carried on from last season and show enormous promise for the future. If we fail to find a left back we can do a lot worse than Kelly at right back and Glen Johnson at left back.
I don’t know about Aquilani but Andy Carrol was crap. Even without fitness, his control was no existant.
From that brief display I think he shows good potential his strong distribution seems to be reasonable. I don’t think he was ever given enough playing time to prove his worth when he was here before there seemed to be a mystery surrounding him with not playing and could work out why that was. He may do well under Kenny
Carroll made one and scored one!!!…….what else do you want???, he looked a lot fitter and quicker too!!!
Aqua is class……end of story!!!!
i 4 1, always held the view Aqua was never given his fair share of run, mainly due to his injury… we always knew he was talented… he did show signs towards the end of Rafa’s last season and blossomed well at Turin… He can’t be bad from wat I’ve seen so far… he’s a quick thinker as sum1’s already mentioned, exactly wat’s expected of KK’s new pack… n if we’r hell bent on selling him… I say wait until atleast Jan, by when I’m sure he’ll show his true worth n notch up a truly huge market value… YNWA !!
Aqua is class BUT if he put himself out a bit more he would be world class and he has the ability to do that. People also forget that the place was hot and humid, players got tired quickly, for anyone who saw the game even Kuyt’s batteries ran out and that’s saying something. I was disappointed at Shelvey’s outing though.
Nice video – good job by El Pistolero. Anyhow I do not see this showing us properly if he had a good game or not. Nothing spectacular obviously but neither a bad game. I believe Aquilani could turn out to be a great asset for LFC
I thought he was really good!
Looked lively, bright, sharp. Picked out some good passes.
I would love to see him stay and develop his game under KD. Don’t know how happy he is to be in L4 though…
Personally he was one of my top 3 performers yday. The others were Flanno and Robbo!
aqua always play on high tempo, fits perfectly onto lfc’s new set play pass and move. hes got the quality,pace, vision,tricky. he one of the players lfc needs next season.i’d rate him 9/10. thinks hes more attack minded than alonso, thats why woy, even benitez did not used him as wanted cause they wanted perfect alonso replacement. aqua will give lfc new dimensions the time come with all new signings adjusting-jordan,adam,suarez,andy and now downing.
CONCLUSION: GOOD FOR SQUAD ROTATION/DEPTH PLAYER, SECOND TO GERRARD AND ADAM JUST LIKE MEIRELES AND LUCAS
aqualani is a promising world class playmaker, we shld expect alot frm him, he shld jus put his heart back in de game rather then wantin a move back to italy..he can still be a alonso, if we believe lik we did for lucas.. ynwa..
Sick to freakin death of these Carroll haters…….please STFU. Dont write him off just because of the inflated pricetag.
Aquilani is a class act, and is deserving of at least a season to prove to LFC he is good enough and also for LFC to prove to him that its not the same club that he wanted away from.
I have know Aquilani since his Roma playing days. The few games he played for us under Rafa he particularly stood out against Arsenal with a brilliant goal and there were a couple of exquisite killer passes he made which only a quality player with vision could see and execute. People who worry about him being light weight, he’s 6ft 1 and often his passing his quick and I see him being more of the tempo building, pass master than Adam and he has more mobility than Alonso. In the right formation with quality players around him he will be a Pirloesque player or like a new signing.
I think he is over his injury problems now and I once he gets more used to the Premier League he will be a very useful, classy option to have. He will definitely suit Daglih’s pass and move football we played during the 2nd half of last season and enjoy himself more. It will do no harm to raise his evaluation if we still want to sell him. All He needs to do is put in a few good performances and get called up by Italy who lack a player like him now.
Daglish’s main challenge now will be keeping all the players happy.
I think it’s good to have aqua back. Think of playing the lesser sides who will park the bus this season and having Adam and aqua on to pass through them. Priceless. then Lukas for when we play sides who will have a go at us.
I agree with you Nick. Man U haven’t had a dedicated defensive MF since Keane. Anderson and Hargreaves are the closest they have to one and they barely start. Carrick and Scholes are passers and I suppose Fletcher was missed in the CL final but we don’t need Lucas to play against the bus parkers. Retaining possession is important but we will be more of a threat if we pack our MF with pace on the wings and creativity in the middle.
4-2-3-1
Johnson cara skertel insua
Adam aqua
Downing Merelis suarez
Carol
What I saw: commanding in the middle, wicked low-ball distributions to flanks, calm on the ball, did some tackles to win ball back (not his forte btw) …. I’ll say he’s more than a squad player, he should be in the first 11 !
I want him to stay, unless we get a crazy offer.
Here are some of the reasons why:
He arrived as an apparently odd choice from Rafa,
to replace a much beloved player; one the fans resented leaving.
He was under serious pressure to perform and emerge from Alonso’s shadow,
while recovering from a long term injury.
He managed to show touches of his class in cameo appearances and
achieved the following stats in the
09-10 season at LFC
4 Man Of The Match awards during:
Premier League
•824mins total playing time inc. substitute appearances.
•9 starts
•1 goal
•6 assists
2 Europa league starts
•168 mins total playing time
•1 goal
It’s easy to make an argument for him being our best midfielder after Gerrard.
Certainly he would have been our best MF last year.
Those who comment on Italian football say he has also improved the defensive side of his game considerably.
His style really suits pass and move football, and
I genuinely hope he gets a chance to prove himself under Kenny and Steve Clarke this year.