Wednesday night really is the ideal game for Alberto Aquilani. But it’s certainly not the ideal game for Liverpool FC.
I can’t remember a European match at Anfield which was effectively meaningless. But this one is and it’s so frustrating.
The Italian though, will quite rightly see it differently and after sitting on the bench for so long he’ll be bursting to get out there.
The fact the pressure is off is a good thing for him. But there is a different sort of pressure on him and it’s all to do with expectation.
Everyone can see that, as we feared, the loss of Xabi Alonso this season has hit us hard.
Fans are praying Aquilani can replace him now, though he’ll have his own style and strengths and comparisons in that sense will be unfair.
He’s also comes with a £20m price tag. But if reacts to it in the same way as a certain Fernando Torres did, then it will prove money well spent.
Aquilani’s appearance really is the main focus tonight because win or lose we’re going into the Europa League.
Some people say it’s not worth winning but this is not just a trophy, it’s a European trophy and one I was proud to lift back in 1973. So I hope we shrug off the disappointment of being in it and go all out to win it next year.
If we do so it we’ll give the fans a great day out in Hamburg and prove to people that we’re not suddenly to be written off as a force in Europe.
Add to that a top four finish which would put us back on the big stage next season, and we can still prove a good few people wrong.
But Wednesday night at Anfield it’s all about Aquilani.
Not many Italians have succeeded in the Premier League.
But for the sake of Liverpool and Rafa Benitez, this guy just has to go on and make a real difference now.
I can’t remember a European match at Anfield which was effectively meaningless. But this one is and it’s so frustrating.
The Italian though, will quite rightly see it differently and after sitting on the bench for so long he’ll be bursting to get out there.
The fact the pressure is off is a good thing for him. But there is a different sort of pressure on him and it’s all to do with expectation.
Everyone can see that, as we feared, the loss of Xabi Alonso this season has hit us hard.
Fans are praying Aquilani can replace him now, though he’ll have his own style and strengths and comparisons in that sense will be unfair.
He’s also comes with a £20m price tag. But if reacts to it in the same way as a certain Fernando Torres did, then it will prove money well spent.
Aquilani’s appearance really is the main focus tonight because win or lose we’re going into the Europa League.
Some people say it’s not worth winning but this is not just a trophy, it’s a European trophy and one I was proud to lift back in 1973. So I hope we shrug off the disappointment of being in it and go all out to win it next year.
If we do so it we’ll give the fans a great day out in Hamburg and prove to people that we’re not suddenly to be written off as a force in Europe.
Add to that a top four finish which would put us back on the big stage next season, and we can still prove a good few people wrong.
But Wednesday night at Anfield it’s all about Aquilani.
Not many Italians have succeeded in the Premier League.
But for the sake of Liverpool and Rafa Benitez, this guy just has to go on and make a real difference now.
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