Fabio Aurelio Player Thread

[Rafa La Bamba]

Well now we have a player thread for Fabio Aurelio our first ever Brazilian!
Decent left back, needed time to adapt but I believe he is not as bad as many make him out to be. Has one heck of a shot on him with some crisp passing, a player I don't want us to let go off as I believe he has more to offer!

He talks pretty good English too !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=http://youtube.com/watch?v=i2pPXKVH2nk

[Venom-C]

You know......we might just see a new player now that he's scored his first goal (and what a goal it was!). I reckon he was losing alot of confidence when all of those decent open play shots go just wide.

But lets not jump the gun, he needs to sort out his defending (and free kicks?) before he becomes a reliable full back because thats what we need right now.

[Rafa La Bamba]

This player is definitley twice the player Riise is. I can't see what Riise can offer apart from 100mph shots which travel wide high and hansome (like Richobaz) at every attempt!

[kelv78]

Must say he seems to blow hot and cold for me maybe just taking time to settle in,nice goal.

[EddieC]

He seems to be a good player once he gets a run of games behind him, the problem is every time he does he goes & gets injured again & we're back to square one. On his day I would definitely say he is a better player than Riise, but we do still need someone more defensively minded to play on the left too. I would sell Riise in the summer & get someone moore defensive, for me Fabio gets one more season to prove he can stay relatively injury free.

[ShanerB]

fabio is definately a better option at left than riise, fair enough his defending isnt quite up to speed but either is riise's. what you do get with aurelio is a flying left-back that is much more effective than riise on attacks but will always get back when posession is lost. good cross, good dribbling ability, decent pace and as we saw yesterday a brilliant left peg!

[Oldred]

I think he had a decent game yesterday, scoring a great goal certainly helps.  On the other hand I thought he had an awful game against Middlesbrough.

If he can build on the Bolton game and improve I will be more than pleased but the jury is still out as far as I'm concerned.  From a Liverpool point of view I hope he stuffs my words straight back down my throat.  After all it's the team' success I'm really interested in.  My ego can take a bashing as long as we are successful. .   

[F9T]

Found a couple of clips -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00mvZ8HvtUg

He once WAS good at free-kicks. And have to admit his one against Fulham wasn't half-bad, the Keeper played a blinder. Can't find his goal yesterday, but F***ing amazing.

[ste_macca]

Maybe if he works hard enough in training, he can be the new Roberto Carlos at free kicks.

[lil cisse]

He is a great player and a good taker of free kicks aswell and will show it when he has alot of confidence.

His downside is his defending, at times he can be a rock and bothing will get past him but when his defending is bad its terrible his man gets past him and their gone. I really want him to succeed though, have wanted him to score for ages and I hope he will push on from this now.

[JD]

Who said Fabio could have his own thread?

[F9T]

Who said Fabio could have his own thread?

Alot of the other players do, I think. And its only fair after his goal yesterday.

[HUYTON RED]

Good performance from Fab yesterday, about time anyway, how many times has riise had a thread eh!

If Aurelio could play like he did yesterday, I would not have an argument in rafa keeping him and letting soft lad go.

[Rafa La Bamba]

Who said Fabio could have his own thread?

He is a Liverpool player at the end of the day, your lucky I'm not going to start a Jermaine Pennant thread! Well not yet anyway...

[redhotrobbie]

did he not score some wonder free kick last season before his injury?

[paulrobbo]

did he not score some wonder free kick last season before his injury?

Nope that was his first goal for us at the weekend.

[bartman49]

At the end of last season Fabio was playing some great football then he got injured and slowly he has been working hard to get his form back .

He's achieved that now and again he's showing what an asset he his to the squad and without injury's he can get even better.Great player...

[Venom-C]

Its amazing what one goal does to people's opinions of a player.......

[ayrton77]

Its amazing what one goal does to people's opinions of a player.......

Ho ho! I was just about to make the same point! It wasn't that long ago I seem to remember many of us being pretty outspoken about Fabio, but in the negative sense! It was a great goal that he scored, a fantastic volley, but that doesn't make him a great player or a fantastic asset to the team... It's always nice when our more defensive players score for us, it can ease the pressure on our forwards, it's always a bonus, but it's not what we expect from Aurelio every match. He should always primarily be judged by what he brings to the team defensively, his tackling, his passing, his overall performance... the odd goal he bangs in, however spectacular, is just the icing on the cake.

That being said, he's a much better player than Riise, who got by for too long due to his occassional "wonderstrike". I would just be happy to see his general play continue to improve as it has over recent weeks. He can become a great player for us, but I don't feel he deserves this amount of praise just yet.

[Rafa La Bamba]

Thought he played rather well tonight, far better than Riise in my opinion!

[lil cisse]

Super tonight. Riise showed in the derby how good he CAN be though. But I do think he will do in the summer. I would be happy with insua and fabio as out lb's for next season.

[Rafa La Bamba]

Super tonight. Riise showed in the derby how good he CAN be though. But I do think he will do in the summer. I would be happy with insua and fabio as out lb's for next season.

Riise is good in the heated physical games where most players play with passion rather than brain. But in a game against Arsenal I just feel that his bad awareness would let him down and he'd be chasing shadows all night long.

Aurelio has composure and calmness on the ball, ideal when playing teams such as Arsenal. It helps slow the game down in our favour!

[lil cisse]

True. Fabio is like alonso but a defender type. Composed player who knows how to get out of a sticky situation and make time for himself. Slows down the game when he needs to but knows when to get rid of the ball.

[artaylor]

Best game of his time last night, didn't let anything down our left flank, and although he didn't have a chance to get forward, you can trust that he'll deliver something decent most of the time with that left boot.

[lil cisse]

Second best game I've seen him have for us and the best was against arsenal last season.

[Rafa La Bamba]

Well he's done nothing wrong this season, but hasn't done nothing amazing either!

He's no Cashley Cole or Gael Clichy imo

[Podge]

I have to say I think after next season, Aurelio is going to be hot property. He's been playing well and will progress rapidly imo. However one thing that im not happy about ( and not just because he's my profile pic either) is the level of Riise bashing in this thread. I mean come on every player is entitled to go through a bad patch but instead of supporting him everyone seems to be jumping on the lad's back. I for one think JAR did a good job when he was brought on in the Arsenal game the other night. He quietened Walcott down anyway. After the second goal he hardly got a look in ! I might even go so far as to make a new world famous Youtube video - "Leave Riise Alone"

[Bpatel]

Fabio Aurelio may not play again this season after being ruled out for three weeks with a torn abductor muscle. 
The Brazilian left-back was stretchered off in the second half of Tuesday's drawn Champions League semi-final against Chelsea following an innocuous challenge with Joe Cole.
 
Even if Liverpool do manage to get past Chelsea at Stamford Bridge next week, Aurelio would still face a race against time to be ready for the final on May 21.
 
Rafa Benitez said: "I have been talking with the doctor and with this kind of injury it usually takes a minimum of three weeks for the player to recover, so it will be very difficult for Fabio to play again this season.
 
"It is very disappointing because Fabio has been doing a good job for the team." 

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N159697080424-1200.htm

If only he didn't get injured and we didn't have to substitute him. 

[AJ]

Sh*t looks like we will be calling Arbeloa back to cover LB now then, unless we play Riise but drill it into him he needs to stay back!

[bartman49]

Another injury , that's sad he's been playing well. I think Raffa will opt for JAR on Tues with maybe Insua on the bench as cover but who Knows what Raffa will be thinking and it may be to soon for Emiliarno Insua.