The Aquilani Headache

No.

Havent given the lad time to prove himself and more importantly we lose a creative midfielder.  For the first time it looked like we had options within our squad and now because "we cant guarantee first team football" (THAT doesnt make sense to me as the whole point of a squad is to have competition for places, cover and options if you want to change up the team for particular games) we lose Alberto.

After such a postive start to the season, this has thrown me.

If it's Aquilani's idea to get more game time then I don't blame him.  But if it's Roy's decision then it is an absolute shocker considering the other like for like personnel in midfield.  I was expecting Aquilani to be like a new signing this season, a fresh start after being injury plagued last season and this would be an absolute humdinger of a decision if he went out on loan.

I just don't understand the thinking behind it unless a replacement is being lined up, and even then I wouldn't understand!

No, No , No.. It makes no sense at all.
As has been said ,we are not exactly over run with creative players. He deserves a chance to prove himself this season in a team whose confidence is already looking 100% better than last season.
Little things are starting to ring some alarm bells. The sooner the owner situation is sorted the better.

What a shock, instead of discussing the issue at hand, people are using it to slag Lucas.  Sometimes I despair.

Personally I don't think any one is slagging Lucas at all, its fair to suggest that Aquilani is a much better player than both Lucas and Poulsen and offers us a greater chance of winning games with him in the team. To me its small minded comments like this that make the whole Lucas Leiva debate fairly explosive as if your not rubbing his middle leg and praising how good he is, your by default slagging him off.

Pole added.

My take on it is that it is a decision that the player has had some say in. He's probably thought that getting regular first team football is his priority in getting back to full fitness.

It's hard to say. If it's to up his price as we can't sell him for much at the moment, then it's a shocker. The comments from Hodgson seemed to suggest that they wanted to 'protect the players value.' That's certainly not what I want to hear from our manager if we're supposed to have any ambition this year.

I've voted that it's a bad decision, on the basis of how it affects us. But as a decision for Alberto getting back to his full potential, it might be the only way. It's all well and good looking at it in simple terms, but there's probably so much more to it.

Can't understand who would vote yes, we are letting a £20 million pound player go out on loan without replacing him how exactly will that help the team. It is just further weakening the squad.

All time WTF transfer moves? I do not see how loaning an injury prone player so he can get regular 90 minute football is one of the all time wtf moves. Spending 20m on him knowing his injury record maybe?

Can you not make a post without having a dig at Rafa?

Please post a poll if possible!

I personally feel this is a terrible move - The lad wanted to prove himself this season and he is being packed out "to preserve his transfer value"

Shocking business by Woy.

Where is the reasoning in the statement "preserve his transfer value" FFS he hasn't got ANY transfer value to preserve yet!
He is still finding his feet and must be allowed the time on the field to prove his worth, the post count for keeping him indicates with how much optimism he is viewed.  

Can you not make a post without having a dig at Rafa?

Well done Roy, not only have you ensured that if Gerrard gets injured we have no recognised playmaker and our season would be over, but you have opted to keep Lucas, yet get rid of Aqua who is a million times the better player, Roy you've gone down alot in my estimites today and you need to do a lot to impress me -_-, what is the point in keeping Lucas? When we have possibly Masch/Poulsen 2 class defensive mids one in Masch and Poulsen as good cover, two world class CM/CAMs in Aqua and Stevie, then you have Spearing and Shelvey as the back up youth.
Now we have one good passer in midfield in Gerrard, he gets injured for a month and we have no creative spark from CM for a whole month, it's an absolute joke, why not get rid of Lucas and keep Aquilani? It's just, mindblowing, and i bet you my entire life savings and my house that Dirk Kuyt will be on the right for monday when Babel and Maxi are both better, sort it out Roy you've been impressing me so far but if you really do let Aqua go and don't sign another playmaker then i'm not interested.

No its terrible business for many reasons.

(1) Aquilani could get plenty of game time here whether it be in the Europa league, League Cup, FA Cup, In rotation with Gerrard & Cole, Along side Gerrard playing lesser teams, Covering for injuries to Cole & Gerrard.

(2) Letting Aquilani go out on loan means we recoup no transfer fee but lose a player with no funds available to replace him.

(3) letting Aquilani go out on loan means that if Gerrard gets injured we will possibly be reliant on a Lucas/Poulsen central midfield pairing if Mascherano leaves and that will stifle us with creativity as playing two defensive midfielders did last season.

(4) He added good strength in depth from the bench and the ability to unpick the lock of a stubborn defense.

(5) 1-0 down at Anfield with 30 minutes to go I'd rather see Aquilani coming on than Lucas or Poulsen as it would give me greater confidence in clawing the game back.

I'm sure there's more but the more I type the more I'm getting pissed off by it.

Stick a poll up mods, I'd be very surprised if it wasn't a %100 bad decision

Agree with this 1 million %,

^^^ Horrid username.

^^^ Horrid username.

Could be worse, could be IWannaDoNandoUpTheArse.

Where is the reasoning in the statement "preserve his transfer value" FFS he hasn't got ANY transfer value to preserve yet!
He is still finding his feet and must be allowed the time on the field to prove his worth, the post count for keeping him indicates with how much optimism he is viewed. 

According to Roy, Aquilani feels its vital he plays every week this season. That is not going to happen at Liverpool. What if he asked to be loaned out? Do you feel this a wise move by Aquilani if that is the case? Maybe start a poll for that? The bottom line is we do not know all the facts and what is going on. Im sure by September 1st all will be clear and to me all this is completely knee-jerk stuff and belongs on that thread. This player is injury prone and has been called injury prone and had his value and quality questioned by many on here. And yet when it seems he may go on loan, its the worst thing in the world. Lets wait and see what happens.

^^^ Horrid username.

Agree. Must have joined today to bash Roy

It was all i could think up when Roy has just got rid? of our top 3 creative players

What players are these you speak of. Alberto. . . And who else in this top three creative players. Do divulge

Well for me Aquilani three times as many assists in half the appearances of our first choice central midfield pairing combined last season, so for me this is a F**k up of biblical proportions.

And for anyone who says Aqua is to slender and frail for the Premier League, Yossi is hardly Hunter Hurst Helmsley is he ?

Liverpools most creative and Talented players? Torres, Gerrard, Aqua and Cole, its not rocket science, RedLfcBlood u got it spot on mate

So when you said Roy got rid of our top 3 creative players. . Plural. . You meant our third most creative player. . Singular. I see. Why did you not just say that then. 

RLB can you guarantee Aquilani will stay fit the whole season and aid our top four push?? Yossi is a walking toothpick but unlike Aquilani he doesn't trip over his ankles, fall down and then spend the next 5 months with Peter in his Melwood treatment room.

On the face of it its not a good move in the current climate, i voted no because we need quality players even if they are warming the bench, we all know how quickly things can change at any one time during a match, and not tempting fate here but if say Joey were to pick up a injury that sidelines him for a month or two, woukl it mean Gerrard moving forward and having Poulsen/Lucas, if Masch fucks off too then that would leave us short on in midfield.

Having said that tho, who knows what Roy has up his sleeve, it could turn out he pulls a rabbit from the hat and we are all slating him for nothing, He might even know something we all don't about affairs upstairs and is making room for say a bid for Xavi or even Iniesta, especially if Masch goes the other way, you never know whats on in a managers mind, it may just be that Aquillani just doesn't fit into his plans, we are all just going to wait and see.

Maybe we buy Van der Vart or something. Roy definitely must have plan. Just lets wait and see.


But maybe H&G realised that they dont get anything from club sale and trying to sell all our players to earn so much money as they can

RLB can you guarantee Aquilani will stay fit the whole season and aid our top four push?? Yossi is a walking toothpick but unlike Aquilani he doesn't trip over his ankles, fall down and then spend the next 5 months with Peter in his Melwood treatment room.

You can not Guarantee that with any player ROF and it would be foolish to suggest other wise, however lets ask another question here ROF.

Were 1-0 down at Anfield there's 30 minutes to go and the team have struggled to create any chances through a stubborn resilient defence, who would you rather see come off the bench, Poulsen, Lucas or Aquilani ?