Attacking Midfielder - have we already got one ? or do we need to buy ?

We need an attacking midfielder for sure: I'd go for Kaka whose reported to be available, or Kagawa who is Asian and is reported to be available also. We also need a DM-I'd go for either Lass(for a solid DM) or Sahin(who can pass very well).

I don't think we need a sneijder type player. I think we need more players in the mould of Maxi and Meireles. Midfielders who move well and can score goals. I also liked that Alaba in the game against Madrid. If Enrique and Johnson can attack like this then we don't need the focal point in midfield in an attacking sense... to me that is. Lucas passes the ball well to get possession higher up the park and through midfield. I think Spearing and Henderson can sort the other position out because it's about performing a simple role well. We do need a striker or turn a couple of the ones here into better ones. Kuyt and Maxi will go and there are two sources of goals in the past.

I

Of the opinion that with a real attacking mid who can dribble with vision is what we need to really unlock the saint. Gerrard cannot be counted for fitness and is still the only one who can link properly. Suarez being fed to beat a man versus dancing around three then an unbalanced shot wastes him. Dm would be my 2nd wish, and a poacher third.

IF Gerrards stays fit, he should be our AM. How do you attract a world class player to be a sub? OR, do we place the skipper as CM (where he has been wasted in numerous occasions)? Hard call if you ask me, but id go with 2 AM, and 2 contention players. You need some kick ass Left and right defenders to pull that off, or 2 workhorses as defensive midfielders.
Uruguay for instance play


                                    1
Pereira              Godin                             Lugano                Caceres

                        Rios           Perez

Cavani                            Forlan                          Pereira             

                                 Suarez


Where Forlan and Pereira are proper AM, and Cavani tends to start in the Midfield and come as a second striker.
Point is our to DM are monsters, and leave Forlan and Cavani free to play up, as well as Pereira

I wouldnt mind seeing this approach at Liverpool. Very attacking minded, and we could use what we have, providing we get a kick ass  attacking midfielder

Aquilani can play as AM I think, he won't score much but we'll not need to sign an AM then. My preference would go to Kaka who I'm sure would succeed her with Gerrard, Suarez and Lucas around. We need an AM but I'm not convinced by our signings so far, I'd rather see us invest in wingers, a DM and a striker rather than on AM which is a position which only few players can play well in PL.

Yep lets get Kaka, he is available for the right price, the right wage etc dependent on if he wants to come here to play with the likes of downing, Adam and Henderson. !!
But based on his appearance and performance he is doing nothing to justify the big wages he commands. What if he comes over here and does F**k. Why not just bring back aquilani who we dont have to pay a transfer fee for and get another player. Getting Kaka and his wages would be great but unrealistic for our club at this juncture.

Yep lets get Kaka, he is available for the right price, the right wage etc dependent on if he wants to come here to play with the likes of downing, Adam and Henderson. !!
But based on his appearance and performance he is doing nothing to justify the big wages he commands. What if he comes over here and does f**k. Why not just bring back aquilani who we dont have to pay a transfer fee for and get another player. Getting Kaka and his wages would be great but unrealistic for our club at this juncture.

I don't think that his wages will be increased. I think that his wages will be reduced I think unless Milan, Juventus, Chelsea or ManCity try to sign him. but I think he's worth the gamble but it's true we should not rush ourselves but the idea of having Kaka, Suarez, Gerrard and Carroll(in form) is moth watering to me. and to add to your point Adam and Henderson(at the moment) are not good enough and they need to fight for their places if they want to play for LFC. I also tink we need a DM just to bring stability in midfield together with Lucas.

I would like to see us bid for Keita. I would also like to see us bid for a couple of players in the mould of Kuyt and Maxi. Players who know how to play football, pass, score, move and are professional. You can stick the prmadonna's. We need to have top drawere attacking fullbacks.I think Johnson and Enrique are but are Kelly, Robinson and Flanagan is the question. Lastly I think we need to think really long and hard about Carroll. IS he good enough to be a number 9 or  do we need to get another one, or play a different way. If he needs game but he is going to be used as a plan B a lot of the time then do we move him on and take the loss.

video not enough you say? Try 15+! I'm afraid it's that time of the year again...The updated version of last year's thread killer attempted post. Didn't bother updating the stats part, but rest assured, Adam's passing rate improved to 80% this season playing for us, though he is strictly a deep midfielder so his passing % should be at least this high as opposed to his Blackpool stats.

The Situation: The original signing of Aquilani was paying a bit too much imo especially as he was injured. However the original perceived injury length was 5-8 weeks but it turned out significantly longer so bad luck, sh*t medical staff back then. If you're questioning why he was bought or his desire read this interview (not the headline): http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Alberto-Aquilani-insists-Liverpool-are-better-without-Xabi-Alonso-and-that-his-combination-with-Steven-Gerrard-and-Fernando-Torres-can-help-turn-the-season-around-article283315.html
He had a poor injury record but he was managed well by us and has just completed basically a full season fit for Juve which is one of his best spells in terms of fitness in his career, next season at Milan it was still reasonable. Unwanted by Juve because a new coach came in and could get a similar position player called Pirlo for free. Same sh*t could happen with AC and Montolivo. We made it clear he's not part of our plans because we have Gerrard and Adam, so Aquilani took the best choice for his football - play CL, challenge for title he hasn't won, get into national team, while getting to be at home. He had to take a paycut to do it. If we had welcomed him back like Adam (personal chauffeur from Kenny) into the club and guarantee him starts he would probably still be here. As it stands even if Milan don't want him, he will probably still be off.

Mental problems? Some should be ashamed of themselves for falling for the media agenda-driven headline. Please read Rafa's actual quotes and see how much it corrolates to the headline
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/03/alberto-aquilani-liverpool-mental-physical
"We don't know if he needs an operation. He has some pain and we will just analyse that with the doctor. It's the same ankle he did before. Some players maybe can manage with the pain, some players when they have pain cannot. When you talk of pain you never know, it depends on each individual and that makes it really difficult."
Now honestly its one big F***ing stretch to suggest he had mental problems of making up pain just because he said he had pain in his troublesome ankle and couldn't play/train. He also reportedly had some problems with illness but again is it F***ing impossible to catch a cold or virus? seen several examples of other players missing games for this reason.

Benitez didn't trust him enough to play him? Wait...so the same people claiming he had mental problems which implies he didn't want to play (due to imaginary injuries) when the manager wanted to use him, are now saying the manager didn't want to use him in the first place?
It doesn't take a genius to use just a little bit of logic:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/6414121/Liverpool-must-be-patient-with-Alberto-Aquilani-says-Rafael-Benitez.html
"So for a new player who has been injured, like Alberto, it will be even more difficult. It is a question of keeping him training and when he is fit, we have to support him.
"We will have to choose the right moments to put him on the pitch. But he is learning all the time and we are looking forward to playing him."

So we were careful of when to play him to nurse his injuries so he didn't start every game a the trot when fit. Unfortunately incomprehensible by half of RAWK.

Sulking?
-Kenny says himself Aquilani is a good trainer - Kenny must be telling fibs.
-Supported by being arguably the best player in the preseason Asia tour, no sulking to be seen...
-Stayed back very long to sign many autographs in the Asia tour even though knowing he prob wasnt goin to be a Liverpool player
-Photos of plenty of smiles with teammates in preseason.
-Doesn't speak to media much but when he does he never says anything cocky or wrong, always professional - kinda hard to do when you're juggling priorities between different parties.
-All he said about Liverpool upon joining was that he doesnt like the weather (like every other player from sunnier places) BUT he likes the city and the people - but people only focus on the first bit as use it as another bit of evidence he is likely to "sulk" however trivial the comment was in the first place...
-Comolli calls him honourable for only focusing on his passion for football and taking a WAGE CUT of 50%+ to join AC for a better opportunity than here - honestly how many players would do that
-From the same source above from Benitez: "He has got very good levels of stamina but now he has to improve his sharpness." Also said he was a hard worker in later interviews, after he was sacked I think.

STATISTICS
Sources: http://www.anfieldindex.com/2180/team-part-iii-centre-midfield.html, official PL website
Considerations: Aquilani was injured often so couldnt play consistently yet still had favourable stats especially when compared to other mids, had no preseason.
Erratic Passing? Aquilani played a mixture of CM and CAM in his time at Liverpool, so did Meireles (though plus wide mid) and Gerrard. Aquilani had a similar pass completion rate to Gerrard over the past couple of seasons and was not too far off Lucas a DM. Admittedly I thought Aquilani's passing could be erratic at times but he seems to take much more criticism that others such as Meireles, dont even start me with Adam (though his large amount of set pieces taken skew it slightly). Look at this:
Aquilani pass completion rate: 79-80%
Meireles pass completion rate: 73%
Adam pass completion rate: 67-68%
Aquilani is more creative than Meireles and makes pass and move happen. Meireles makes more gut busting runs but general passing is less precise and has less range. Adam has a great range of passing but he is super erratic especially given he usually plays a deeper role than the above 2. Adam's long passing style is kinda like Gerrard but with less consistency but obviously he excels in set pieces.

In the PL Aquilani had 1 goal and 6 assists in 815 minutes of football, Meireles 5 goals 6 assists in 2525 minutes, Adam 12 goals 9 assists in 3049 minutes. It must be noted all of Aquilani's contributions were in open play, some of Meireles' assists were from set pieces. Adam only scored 2 goals and had 4-5 assists in open play. Imo open play is much more important than having a set piece specialist especially when we have plenty who can do a decent job already. I do not think these stats are a good measurement anyhow cos they only involve 1 season and limited game time e.g. Aquilani only played 18 PL games 9 started, 9 off the bench - in Meireles' first 18 which were all starts bar 2, he did not even score and only had 2 assists (period before purple patch). You could also add Aqua scored a goal in Europa league, Meireles played more minutes in that competition and did not make any contribution.

Cant tackle? Shits out? Look at the source link above. Doesn't tell everything, but more or less proves he is not that bad...
Tackles per 90min average: 3
Tackle win success rate: 64%
Possession duels won: 52%
Now if this is not holding his own, actually winning more 50/50s than losing then I dunno what is. Also again look at the considerations regarding his fitness issues, and he says he has worked in the gym to get bigger and this has improved his defensive side in Italy. Gerrard noticeably shits out of more challenges these days since his injuries.

For comparison although Adam wins 82% of tackles he only goes in for 2.12 per game average and has 51% possession duel win rate.
Meireles has 69% tackle win, 56% duel, doesnt tell us how many he goes in for though but I assume it is around 2.5+
Gerrard has 63% tackle win with 2.76 tackles per game last season, 53.5% duel win
Lucas 63% tackle win, over 5 tackles per game.

VIDEO SUPPORT

Here is a collection of MATCH compilations showing most touches if not every touch in games. Does not include his Burnley match where he got 3 assists (admittedly 2 were lucky but 1 sublime). Don't see where "laziness" comes from, seems very energetic and even passionate to me. Had some erratic passing games such as Bolton and Spurs but came up with important assists in those games. Also Liverpool's MOTM against Fulham and Hull in bland 0-0 draws near end of season where he was the only one creating anything. Only played 3 big clubs Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea. Chelsea match he was voted best outfield player for Liverpool though no1 was trying. Also we do sh*t against sh*t teams, he will help us better unlock them. Adam and Henderson haven't come close to some of these performances despite so much playing time.

Aquilani vs Portsmouth Aquilani vs Portsmouth (domination) before u say they were relegated - Pompey beat us 2-0 earlier in season and made FA Cup final.
Aquilani vs Atletico Madrid Aqua v Atleti (pass and move at it's best)
Aquilani vs Wolves aqua (first start, standing ovation)
Aquilani vs Arsenal Aquilani with Liverpool (debut, as commentator said looks a real player)
Aquilani vs Wigan Aquilani vs Wigan (nice cameo, MOTM almost as substitute on a sh*t night)
Aquilani vs Reading Aquilani vs Reading 13/01/10 (works tight spaces extremely well - some of those moves against 3-5 players within 2 yards... best player on a sh*t night).

Aquilani: "In the early part of the season, we struggled a bit because I was injured and the team lacked this midfield geometry. This is the manager's fantasy."

Preseason:
Aquilani vs Malaysia XI Alberto Aquilani Worldclass vs Malaysian XI 16.6.2011 HD (runs the show but watch 2:27, gets clattered, doesn't F**k around like wuss, creates a lovely goal move)
Aquilani vs Valerenga Aquilani vs Vålerenga (In just 12 minutes, prob more good set pieces than Adam this season)

Comparison to Juventus matches (none include goals and a few assists missing), can clearly see less movement, deeper role and more tackling and more long passes. In England people close him down faster but strangely it works in his favour as he has a quick mind and opens up spaces whereas in Italy it looks slow and hard to pick out openings. 2 goals and 6 assists as well or something near it over there for the season as well, 90% passing completion rate in the 1st half of the season according to a couple of articles. Shows a few neat skills and flicks.

Aquilani vs Roma Alberto Aquilani V Roma 13 11 2010
Aquilani vs Genoa Alberto Aquilani V Genoa Match Compilation 21.11.2010
Aquilani vs Lazio Alberto Aquilani Match Compilation V Lazio 13.12.2010
Aquilani vs Inter Aquilani Vs Inter - Bianconer8
Aquilani vs Bologna Alberto Aquilani V Bologna 23.10.2010 (0:28 99% of Premier League would sh*t out of that challenge)
Aquilani vs Brescia http://www.youtube.com/user/milankakabarosfilms1#p/u/6/sBmYczTQcuk

A match for Italy:
Aquilani vs Slovenia Alberto Aquilani V Slovenia 25 03 2011 (nice match)

There are gaping holes in our squad, 1 of which can be filled cheaply with good quality.


FROM RAWK.

kaka and lucas sound good. Gerrard back on the right then leftsided player or Downing if he can find his feet

We need a poacher. We are capable of creating chances but incapable of scoring. The number of chances we create is evidence of sufficient AM qualities. We have a target man, but we need someone to put the balls in the back of the net.

I always love a hardworking player, but given our state, I wouldn't mind a lazy poacher who slacks off in training but knows how to be at the right place at the right time.

We need a poacher. We are capable of creating chances but incapable of scoring. The number of chances we create is evidence of sufficient AM qualities. We have a target man, but we need someone to put the balls in the back of the net.

I always love a hardworking player, but given our state, I wouldn't mind a lazy poacher who slacks off in training but knows how to be at the right place at the right time.

Where do I send my CV. I'm deadly from a yard out (sometimes I even manage to score in the right end)

I say bring back Aqualani and use either him or Gerrard in that position behind the front three with Lucas and deep lying plamaker like Martinez in midfield.

Here is our man, we really need to be looking to take advantage of this: (Great headline by the BBC)

Swansea City's bid for Gylfi Sigurdsson bid rejected

Swansea City have had an initial bid to sign on-loan midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson rejected by Hoffenheim, BBC Sport Wales understands.

The Iceland international joined Swansea in January on loan from the German club until the end of the season. The 22-year-old has impressed during his spell at the Liberty Stadium and has scored seven goals in 17 games. It is believed the German club value the ex-Reading player at around £10m.

Sigurdsson said in April he would be happy to stay at Swansea beyond the end of the current season. But Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins admitted the club will struggle to keep hold of the midfielder.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17945917