Aquilani in Rare Action Pose
Rafa Benitez’ favourite movie has to be The 40-Year-Old Virgin. I’m not casting aspersions on the Spaniard’s sex life; moreso the mantra he shares with Steve Carell’s character regarding collectible toys. Do you know how hard it is for a kid not to take his toy out of the box? Once you do, the toy loses a lot of its original value, etc.
You see where I’m going with this, right?
It’s finally time to see Alberto Aquilani playing more than 11 minutes at the end of a reserve game, with news that he’ll start the Fiorentina match tomorrow night.
It’s a bit of news that has Aquilani’s dad, a paramedic at AS Roma, talking: “Alberto’s available to play and has been for more than a month,” he said. “He feels good and the injury has cleared up, and now the only way he can get truly fit is to play more and more minutes. He is desperate to get his career in England up and running. He has been very frustrated, first at being injured, then at not being chosen to play for so long. Obviously he’s not happy at waiting for such a long time to get involved with the team.” The outrage, I’m sure, is derived from their father-son bond and precious little else.
We’ll look past the fact that Liverpool could have used the dynamic midfielder in recent weeks, and point to Benitez’ dreadful history with bringing players back early from injuries. Out of desperation, Gerrard or Torres would return early from scheduled rest and inevitably aggravate their muscle pulls or minor groin tears, leading to more time on the sideline.
The truth of the matter is that in Aquilani, Liverpool have another talented-yet-fragile player whose success at Anfield could be measured simply by staying healthy. Bringing him back early from his rehab after ankle surgery in May would have shown Liverpool’s weakness and desperation following a poor run of results. From a practical standpoint, the suits upstairs wouldn’t be happy to see a 20m signing in the nurse’s office for longer than he really should be.
Mercifully, that time has passed, and we’re finally ready to see what he can do. Best call off the Missing Persons Bureau before tomorrow night.
This post has a bit too much of the “making excuses for Rafa” flavor. He could have played before now, in games that actually matter, unlike this one v. Fio, which doesn’t. Says Dr. Anonsters.
Someone has to at least make the effort. And anyways, I’m not defending him; more like I understand why he hasn’t used him much thus far. Not excusing it in the slightest; if he honestly doesn’t think Alberto could have made a difference in that limp 0-0 draw on Saturday, why on earth did he drop 20 million on him?
I absolutely understand what he has done, my irritation comes from the signing in itself.
Wenger didn’t sign Aquilani due to concerns over his susceptibility to injury. Repeat: Aquilani was too injury prone even for Arsene Wenger. Let that sit for a minute.
And Georger, I approve of the new gravatar