Patience is a virtue sorely lacking in modern football and that is something Alberto Aquilani will have discovered this week.
Despite the fact he is just starting to find his feet after enduring a 12-month spell that was decimated by injury and included the upheaval of moving to another country, he is being branded a flop two Premier League starts into his Liverpool career.
For some commentators, it wasn’t enough that he stroked the ball around with elan, tried his hardest to launch attacks whenever he received possession or that he kept getting up from every robust tackle that knocked him out of his elegant stride.
No. Judging from some of the views that have been raised in the days since his performances against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa, it has already been decided that Aquilani is going to be a Liverpool flop.
Perhaps his reviews would have been kinder if he had scored goals in each game from inside his own half as well as hitting a series of raking, cross field passes into the path of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, to show he has a telepathic understanding.
But neat and tidy isn’t good enough any more, is it?
In this era when everything must be done yesterday and there is no time for reflection, knee-jerk reactions are commonplace and determine whether footballers are instant triumphs or turkeys.
It is, quite frankly, ridiculous. Had this same rationale been applied at the end of the 1990s, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry, for instance, might have been drummed out of Arsenal because the English game was too much for them.
Thanks to a bit of time and understanding, though, they became two of the greatest players ever to appear in the Premier League; now this is not to suggest Aquilani will become an all-time great but you get the picture.
Simply, it is his misfortune that he has to follow in the footsteps of Xabi Alonso; his sale to Real Madrid is used as the reason why Liverpool’s campaign came off the rails and the inference is that the Reds are no longer a force now he has gone.
Yes, Alonso was a majestic player. His five years on Merseyside were littered with many highs, he scored some wonderful goals – not least the equaliser in Istanbul – and he was a terrific ambassador for the club.
The way he conducted himself after moving to Madrid also screamed class, backing Benitez to turn Liverpool’s fortunes around, for instance, when it might have been easy for him to stick the boot in.
What those commentators who are labelling Aquilani as a dud now are conveniently forgetting, though, is that in his penultimate season at Anfield, Alonso had what can kindly be described as a dip in form.
Alonso’s quality is missed at Liverpool but he, like 2009, is now part of the past; 2010 is the future and, contrary to certain opinion, it is bright for Aquilani, particularly if he continues in the same vein he has shown so far.
There have been comparisons made with his style being similar to that of Jamie Redknapp but Aquilani is much more adventurous, eschewing the backwards or sideways option at all cost to push forwards.
That trait – first shown in the Champions League dead rubber with Fiorentina – has been the most encouraging aspect of his start to life here, as has the way Aquilani has not let the physical nature of the English game bother him.
Only by the end of the season will we really be able to truly gauge what Aquilani has brought to the side but, if the body language of Torres and Gerrard are to be used as a barometer, it is so far, so good.
Of course, that he hasn’t done anything headline-grabbing to date, other than arrive with an injury, will mean his worth has already been assessed in certain quarters; fortunately, Merseyside’s footballing public is much more knowledgeable – and patient.
Despite the fact he is just starting to find his feet after enduring a 12-month spell that was decimated by injury and included the upheaval of moving to another country, he is being branded a flop two Premier League starts into his Liverpool career.
For some commentators, it wasn’t enough that he stroked the ball around with elan, tried his hardest to launch attacks whenever he received possession or that he kept getting up from every robust tackle that knocked him out of his elegant stride.
No. Judging from some of the views that have been raised in the days since his performances against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa, it has already been decided that Aquilani is going to be a Liverpool flop.
Perhaps his reviews would have been kinder if he had scored goals in each game from inside his own half as well as hitting a series of raking, cross field passes into the path of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, to show he has a telepathic understanding.
But neat and tidy isn’t good enough any more, is it?
In this era when everything must be done yesterday and there is no time for reflection, knee-jerk reactions are commonplace and determine whether footballers are instant triumphs or turkeys.
It is, quite frankly, ridiculous. Had this same rationale been applied at the end of the 1990s, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry, for instance, might have been drummed out of Arsenal because the English game was too much for them.
Thanks to a bit of time and understanding, though, they became two of the greatest players ever to appear in the Premier League; now this is not to suggest Aquilani will become an all-time great but you get the picture.
Simply, it is his misfortune that he has to follow in the footsteps of Xabi Alonso; his sale to Real Madrid is used as the reason why Liverpool’s campaign came off the rails and the inference is that the Reds are no longer a force now he has gone.
Yes, Alonso was a majestic player. His five years on Merseyside were littered with many highs, he scored some wonderful goals – not least the equaliser in Istanbul – and he was a terrific ambassador for the club.
The way he conducted himself after moving to Madrid also screamed class, backing Benitez to turn Liverpool’s fortunes around, for instance, when it might have been easy for him to stick the boot in.
What those commentators who are labelling Aquilani as a dud now are conveniently forgetting, though, is that in his penultimate season at Anfield, Alonso had what can kindly be described as a dip in form.
Alonso’s quality is missed at Liverpool but he, like 2009, is now part of the past; 2010 is the future and, contrary to certain opinion, it is bright for Aquilani, particularly if he continues in the same vein he has shown so far.
There have been comparisons made with his style being similar to that of Jamie Redknapp but Aquilani is much more adventurous, eschewing the backwards or sideways option at all cost to push forwards.
That trait – first shown in the Champions League dead rubber with Fiorentina – has been the most encouraging aspect of his start to life here, as has the way Aquilani has not let the physical nature of the English game bother him.
Only by the end of the season will we really be able to truly gauge what Aquilani has brought to the side but, if the body language of Torres and Gerrard are to be used as a barometer, it is so far, so good.
Of course, that he hasn’t done anything headline-grabbing to date, other than arrive with an injury, will mean his worth has already been assessed in certain quarters; fortunately, Merseyside’s footballing public is much more knowledgeable – and patient.
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