Where exactly do we play Aquilani?

I think we've got a bit of a conundrum regarding Aquilani as where to play him if he stays.
Firstly he can't play in a flat midfield four as part of a 4-4-2,as we would get torn to shreds as he isn't strong enough. It would be carrying a passenger. I don't think Lucas would be able by himself to carry him when we are defending. Going forward may be fine,but when the opposition squeeze up and attempt rough house tactics,then I reckon we would be on a hiding to nothing.
One option is a 4-3-1-2 formation with a flat midifield 3 of Gerrard,Adam and Lucas with Aquilani playing in behind Suarez and Carroll. However that side would have no natural width apart from the full-backs.
That side leaves out Downing.
I know he's technically very good,but he causes problems ie where to put him and who to put in and around him.
He's a good player no question,but would it be better if he actually for his own sake moved on permanently.
Its just a question.
Some may say that Mereiles causes a similar conundrum,but Mereiles is willing to play as a tucked in left sider and has done so previously,,sometimes with Maxi on the right.So I don't think he causes this sort of a problem.

 

Okay, back up that contention that he isn't strong enough. It's becoming a cliche and quite an annoying one now. He never looked weak when he's played for us. He's not a hardman like Gerrard but not many are. Dalglish wasn't, either. He used his skill and positioning.

Meireles had the same accusations with less of the finesse and still made Fans' Player of the Year.

Aqua's looked like the best option if Gerrard's injuries don't get better.

'Lightweight' is a bogus argument.

 

Left back.

 

I'll back up the contention that Aquilani is a light-weight.
Against Hull last week they got in his face and nullified him,he wasn't able to knock the ball around with the same precision as he did against the Malaysians. Against the Malaysians he looked like Plantini in his pomp,the precision passing,the accuracy was superb. However in the rough house English league,you are not going to have the same amount of time on the ball,it has to be released quickly and moved about at a fast pace. He's not like Charlie Adam who has the ability to dictate and control the tempo to how he wants the game played. Charlie Adam has been called the ''Scottish Alonso''. Also Charlie Adam although a DLP is gritty and can handle himself.
Now if you're going to get over-run by Hull,then you are going to get eaten alive by superior opposition like Stoke. Okay playing alongside Poulsen didn't help matters,but still he got over-run.

 

Aqua can be cover for Reina and we can sell Doni for £1.

 

I don't believe Adam actually has the ability to dictate the tempo, he's more from the Gerrard school of increasing the tempo and driving the game forward, I've never seen him once put his foot on the ball a la Alonso and slow the game down letting his team regain their composure. It was one of the main reasons Blackpool scored so many, but also the reason they conceded so many.

 

Adam is a play-maker aka spray passer,and thats why he was signed.
He is definitely not a Gerrard type,we didn't need another Gerrard type as we already had Mereiles.

 

Gerrard got sent off against Utd. Undisciplined liability? Of course I'm not going to draw conclusions from one game. That'd just be silly. Neither will Kenny, otherwise we won't be playing 4-4-2 because West Ham ran all over us.

Saying Aqua was poor against Hull reminds me of the pasting Ngog got in the Europa when the entire team was pants.

Against Gala, better than Hull, he looked the best on the pitch, teased defenders with his quick passing and got stuck in where required, but sometimes you're better not getting stuck in.

Like I said, Kenny used to ride tackles to take defenders out. It's far more effective than muscle.

This does not mean Aqua is a shoe-in to play against Stoke. Horses for courses.

 

It's not a question of where Aqua would play but more of who with.

 

Gerrard can play that tucked in role when alongside someone like Lucas who will tuck in beside him and they basically do a lot...without doing anything,they hardly move.
In the game against United at Anfield Lucas and Gerrard(whom at the time was carrying a groin injury) battered 3 shades of ****e out of Carrick and Scholes...without moving.They let the others venture forward and do damage,they just sat in front of the back four and picked United off when they came too far.Thats why it worked.
However could you play Aquilani in beside Lucas?...or Aquilani in beside Gerrard? I don't think so.

 

Perhaps Kenny is not looking at it in those terms at all. He has the opportunity to set up his midfield to take account of the opposition. He now also has the opportunity to change the whole style of our midfield play if the opposition as successfully countering our original strategy.

Everybody goads us for not having pace out wide. Having bought Downing they expect us to play him regularly to feed Carroll. But what if we play Downing only when the defence tires. But we employ a range of different midfielders using different skills to feed Suarez using Carroll as withdrawn CF? The you start looking at the different offensive skills of all of our midfielders. The trick would then be to identify which premutations would best fit individual circumstances.

 

This.

The only possible position Aqua would play is really the playmaker role, be that CAM or CM.

 

I don't agree that he's a playmaker in the Alonso/Pirlo/Molby mould though.

 

To be honest, I don't know where to play Aquilani. We have quite a few midfielders and I couldn't honestly tell you who I would play. There are many different players who all have different qualities which they can bring to the team.

I trust Kenny to get it right regarding the midfield.

 

I'm not disagreeing with you. The question really is who you combine him with? Both Aqua and maxi come to life 10 yards outside of the box - Aqua for his stiletto passing, maxi for his darting runs. Adam sits deeper and sprays passes (in some way like Gerrard). Cole and Kuyt work out to in. Downing stays wide but can cut in. Henderson is an unknown quantity at this time. If you can combine the different talents then you have set a real problem for any manager or team to cope with.

 

I get the concern. Kenny gave priority to Downing over Mata, probably for the same reasons, and I agreed. But few people were saying Mata might be too lightweight and need too much time on the ball.

Downing has PL experience; Aqua has a season under his belt but Mata doesn't. And I'm not saying Mata wouldn't have worked out. But if we're talking muscle Aqua looks to have better upper body strength than Mata. It would've been part of his training when he was with us.

So it seems Mata is going to Arsenal, which will suit him. The big criticism of them was they were muscled off the ball too much. The solution in most people's minds isn't to get rid of them all and not sign Mata but simply to add some muscle in the right places to protect their flair players.

If we protect Aqua I think we'll get something worth having, what we thought we might get from Joe Cole but didn't. Our best protector is Lucas so he'd get my vote to partner.

 

If Gerrard is out and we need someone to fill that role in beside Lucas,then there is only two options depending on the opposition and they are Charlie Adam and Jay Spearing.Spearing for his tenacity and Adam for his range of passing.I for sure would not put Aquilani in there,If I were going to put him in,I would put him further forward thus leaving Mereiles, and Henderson out.

 

Aqua needs more of a free role too I feel. When his only concern is setting up players, he can be extremely useful. Also the light weight holds no water, if he has the right players around him he can be 5'0 and 100 pounds, the opposition won't touch him becasue the ball moves too quick ( Spain u-21 vs England u-21 springs to mind).

I feel he has to stay, even if it is just one season, prove us wrong, and basically he will command his own fee, if he is S**** then a lot of us were wrong about him and he go cheaper, but if he excels, maybe he stays, or maybe he commands a bigger fee later and we can all be happy.

 

Agreed. I was talking about Aqua from an offensive standpoint. For the DM duties, we already have a unit of Lucas, Spearing and maybe Gerrard - oh and at a push Adam.

 

You know who I would love to see there ( even just once)......Agger. He has good size, can cover well and see the game really well. Top that with his distribuition. Also Aurelio can fill that DM void as well. Not great but can do it, hell a LOT better than Poulsen ffs!