By a cruel irony, the midfielder who could have saved Liverpool from their recent defeat at Anfield by Arsenal, and so much else, was watching from the stand, while his supposed deputy struggled on the field as a substitute. Xabi Alonso, the Spanish international sold expensively last summer to Real Madrid, had been the inspiration of the Liverpool midfield, much admired by the local hero, Steven Gerrard. He clashed, however, with Rafael Benitez, his fellow Spaniard, Liverpool's increasingly controversial manager, and Benitez rashly sold him. In his place he signed, for another large fee, the Italian international midfielder Alberto Aquilani and has surely lived to regret it.
Whether or not a fully fit Aquilani, who arrived from Roma, could have emulated Alonso, with his superb through passing, and long-range shooting, who can say? The fact is that given his dire record of constant injury, seemingly ignored by Benitez, it was never likely. And this season, all too predictably, Aquilani has been a casualty for weeks on end, eventually and recently brought back, far short of proper match practice. He is beyond doubt a talented player, but surely a manager as experienced as Benitez must have seen the risk he was taking.
For me, however, Benitez's reputation has long been inflated. Far from emerging from Liverpool's amazing three-goal recovery in that European Cup Final against AC Milan, in Istanbul, as a hero, I felt it was largely his fault, letting Kaka run wild and free in the first half, that his team went 3-0 down.
Plainly, he need not worry about the sack since, having recently given him a massive new contract, it would cost Liverpool £20 million to get rid of him! Nor was Aquilani's the only transfer to perplex one. What, last summer, possessed him to buy that swift striker Robbie Keane, again at vast expense, from Spurs, when he had plenty of talent up front? It didn't work and in no time at all, Keane was back at White Hart Lane. One must say, though, that when beaten at Anfield by an Arsenal team galvanised by Arsene Wenger's half time team tirade, Liverpool should certainly have had a first-half penalty, when William Gallas brought down Gerrard.
Whether or not a fully fit Aquilani, who arrived from Roma, could have emulated Alonso, with his superb through passing, and long-range shooting, who can say? The fact is that given his dire record of constant injury, seemingly ignored by Benitez, it was never likely. And this season, all too predictably, Aquilani has been a casualty for weeks on end, eventually and recently brought back, far short of proper match practice. He is beyond doubt a talented player, but surely a manager as experienced as Benitez must have seen the risk he was taking.
For me, however, Benitez's reputation has long been inflated. Far from emerging from Liverpool's amazing three-goal recovery in that European Cup Final against AC Milan, in Istanbul, as a hero, I felt it was largely his fault, letting Kaka run wild and free in the first half, that his team went 3-0 down.
Plainly, he need not worry about the sack since, having recently given him a massive new contract, it would cost Liverpool £20 million to get rid of him! Nor was Aquilani's the only transfer to perplex one. What, last summer, possessed him to buy that swift striker Robbie Keane, again at vast expense, from Spurs, when he had plenty of talent up front? It didn't work and in no time at all, Keane was back at White Hart Lane. One must say, though, that when beaten at Anfield by an Arsenal team galvanised by Arsene Wenger's half time team tirade, Liverpool should certainly have had a first-half penalty, when William Gallas brought down Gerrard.
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