As Liverpool laboured through last season one of the main reasons given for their dismal showing which saw them slump from second to seventh in the space of one season was the transfer to Real Madrid of Liverpool’s midfield dictator and playmaker Xabi Alonso.
With the loss of Xabi Alonso, Rafael Benitez resorted to playing the Defensive Pivot of Lucas Leiva and Javier Mascherano in Central Midfield. This led to a chronic lack of creativity from the centre of Liverpool’s midfield as though Mascherano and Lucas are good Defensive Midfielders they are not known for their passing abilities in the offensive half. This resulted in Liverpool’s dismal offensive showing, especially in games away from Anfield and in Europe.
But the main reason which led to Rafael Benitez’s decision to play lucas and Mascherano in Central Midfield and ultimately led to his sacking was the loss to injury of Xabi Alonso’s natural replacement at Liverpool, the Italian Alberto Aquilani.
The Italian joined Liverpool amidst much fanfare and was expected to play a stellar part in Liverpool’s ultimately doomed campaign for the Premier League title once he recovered from his ankle injury, which he was carrying from last season at his former club AS Roma.
However after several setbacks in his recovery the Italian was limited to a clutch of cameos at the end of the season, by which time Liverpool’s season was in shambles and he was largely labelled as a flop.
However now with the sacking of Rafael Benitez and Roy Hodgson’s arrival as the new manager at Liverpool a new era is expected to begin at Anfield and the big question is what part, if any shall Alberto Aquilani play in it ?
Though injured for most of the last campaign, when fit Aquilani showed in his few cameo appearances what he was capable of. He bought to the pitch his unique set of skills which included several tricks and flicks, while also showing an eye for a good defence splitting pass which was a welcome relief from the rather stale pairing of Javier Mascherano and Lucas Leiva.
So if Roy Hodgson decides to employ a good attacking style at Anfield then he can’t ask for a better player than Alberto Aquilani to link the defence with the attack which shall include players like Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole and Maxi Rodriguez.
Therefore it might turn out that the player whose injury-prone season led to the sacking of Rafael Benitez might lead to Roy Hodgson becoming a legend at Liverpool and Benitez’s parting gift to the Anfield faithful who supported him till the very end.
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