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Rafa on aquilani

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kopmastermind

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Man Of The Match
You'd like to think that with the staggering sums of money being chucked around for transfers these days, managers would do their research thoroughly.

And it certainly looked that way yesterday, when Rafa Benitez was discussing potential Liverpool new boy Alberto Aquilani.

"I always remember one game - England versus Italy U21s at Wembley, and he was man of the match in a 3-0 win," said Rafa.

Sounds convincing. The only problem with that is England and Italy's Under-21s have played each other once at Wembley. That was the first game at the new stadium - a game that finished 3-3.

We suspect Giampolo Pazzini would be pretty peeved if he didn't get the man of the match award in that one, given that he scored a hat-trick.

And he'd be even more peeved to miss out to Aquilani, given that he didn't play that day.

Good to see Rafa has his thumb on the pulse. Good job he hasn't been given sole charge of Liverpool's transfer policy, eh?

Xabi Together
"Xabi has been talking about how he wants to stay here and we certainly want to keep him so I don't think there will be any problems" - Rafa Benitez, May 16.

"A few months ago I took that decision as I thought it was the right moment to find a fresh challenge, to look for a new club. That's when Real Madrid came along. Luckily a deal has been done and I'm very happy. It is a personal challenge I felt is necessary for my football career" - Xabi Alonso, August 6.



A friend sent it to me, i dont know how true it is.
 
International Record (from Wiki):

At youth level, he was capped for Italy at 2001 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship qualifying. He won 2003 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship with Italy and scored 1 goal. He was then promoted to the U21 team and took part in 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualifying, but was not selected to the final tournament due to injuries.

Aquilani won his first cap for Italy on 15 November 2006 for a friendly against Turkey. He played as a regular during the 2007 U-21 Championship held in the Netherlands, scoring 2 goals, and being named in the "UEFA Team of the Tournament". Italy finished 5th and qualified for Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

He was named to the 23-man roster for Euro 2008, his first major international tournament. He came on as a sub in Italy's third game of the tournament, which was a 2-0 victory over rivals France. He started Italy's quarterfinal match against Spain due to the suspensions to Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso where Italy lost 4-2 in a shootout after a 0-0 tie through 120 minutes.

He scored his first goal with the Azzurri during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Montenegro on 15 October 2008, a tally he doubled later in the same match.
 
Kopmastermind - you've taken that post from This is Anfield and if anyone bothers to read the thread there is a post from Rottweiler which seems to cover the error :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwFdRJmU8KI


Aquilani free kick against England U21s for Italy U21s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bLYuQHg ... re=related

Aquilani goal against England U21s. Game finished 2-2.

Aquilani was man of the match.

I presume this is the game Rafa was talking about, but mispoke about the score and location of the game. He's human, he made a verbal mistake, we don't even know if he was misquoted. He watches thousands of games presumably. (I would hope so).

Some people here are desperate to pick every single flaw possible.
 
Well, few managers I know pay much attention to who was the 'official' man of the match. They think they know better, and when they refer to someone as man of the match they usually mean 'That's who I think was man of the match'. They don't jump up and down when a name is announced via the tannoy. So that point is just downright facetious. As for the location and score, maybe he mixed it up with the match later on that year. I doubt it means that he ignored the countless reports he would have organised on the player, the many other studies he made of the player's performances and the conversations he would have had with his staff about the player. (Funny how Saint Bobby Robson's gaffes are now excused because of his belatedly acknowledged genius.) But I guess someone can try to depict Benitez - who is usually acknowledged even by his critics for his exceptional attention to detail - as poorly informed if it helps them to contrive another sneering little snipe.
 
Who gives a fuck really?

This purchase will only be capable of being sensibly analyzed months from now, and the information that drove the sale certainly isn't likely to have been Rafa's foggy recollection of some nothing game.

He was made to make some remark about the new purchase, and he made a throwaway comment intending to sell the player a bit. Turn's out his recollection of some U21 game was a bit off. Oh noes.

I think he just might have watched a game or two of football since then.

I can't wait until we have a game for everyone to bitch about, because we are really stretching right now.
 
Exactly right...It's not surprising that Rafa thinks he's a good player; lots of people have, including Oncy.
 
This begs the question - Has Rafa actually watching the right player? He obviously wasn't with our other rather large Italian import 😱
 
[quote author=Avmenon link=topic=35139.msg921373#msg921373 date=1249806519]
Exactly right...It's not surprising that Rafa thinks he's a good player; lots of people have, including Oncy.




[/quote]Yeah but in light of this new information i say we sell him and cut our losses.
 
[quote author=Mors link=topic=35139.msg921388#msg921388 date=1249809015]
This begs the question - Has Rafa actually watching the right player? He obviously wasn't with our other rather large Italian import 😱
[/quote]

I imagine you think that the POTUS has a big button on his desk that is labeled "Atom bomb".
 
[quote author=Farkmaster link=topic=35139.msg921390#msg921390 date=1249809590]
[quote author=Mors link=topic=35139.msg921388#msg921388 date=1249809015]
This begs the question - Has Rafa actually watching the right player? He obviously wasn't with our other rather large Italian import 😱
[/quote]

I imagine you think that the POTUS has a big button on his desk that is labeled "Atom bomb".
[/quote]

I thought it was labelled 'nuke'.
 
A rare error from El Boss , as has been pointed out his attention to detail is usually exemplary.
I would not dismiss it out of hand though. Rafa, since his spats with GinSoak, needs to make sure he does not give any ammunition to those who would want to make him look daft.

As regards Aquilini I admit to being (possibly) the same as most on here that I have little real knowledge of the guy, still given it seems the Roma fans seem quite pissed off that they had to sell him that will do for me. He is also more attack minded and that is an important facet, we have for some time, lacked the guile and ability to break teams down.
One under 21 swallow does not make a summer. We have to trust Rafa's judgment on these matters, at least until we can make our own objective judgment. Rafa sinks or swims by his purchases this year...no excuses.

regards
 
No more excuses?

If we spend £0 this summer, i think it will be clear to all who's fault it is if we come up just short again.

GJ and Aquilani both look like good signings imo. It's just a shame that after getting so close last season, that Rafa hasn't been allowed to take full advantage this summer.
 
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=35139.msg921491#msg921491 date=1249821656]
No more excuses?

If we spend £0 this summer, i think it will be clear to all who's fault it is if we come up just short again.

GJ and Aquilani both look like good signings imo. It's just a shame that after getting so close last season, that Rafa hasn't been allowed to take full advantage this summer.
[/quote]

Bit early to start laying the groundwork for Rafa's excuses next season,PM.
 
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=35139.msg921491#msg921491 date=1249821656]
No more excuses?

If we spend £0 this summer, i think it will be clear to all who's fault it is if we come up just short again.

GJ and Aquilani both look like good signings imo. It's just a shame that after getting so close last season, that Rafa hasn't been allowed to take full advantage this summer.
[/quote]

It's also a shame that he more or less wasted all the money given to him last summer - maybe we wouldn't have come up short and maybe we'd have more dosh to spend or better yet, less of a requirement to spend.
 
[quote author=keniget link=topic=35139.msg921608#msg921608 date=1249833451]
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=35139.msg921491#msg921491 date=1249821656]
No more excuses?

If we spend £0 this summer, i think it will be clear to all who's fault it is if we come up just short again.

GJ and Aquilani both look like good signings imo. It's just a shame that after getting so close last season, that Rafa hasn't been allowed to take full advantage this summer.
[/quote]

It's also a shame that he more or less wasted all the money given to him last summer - maybe we wouldn't have come up short and maybe we'd have more dosh to spend or better yet, less of a requirement to spend.
[/quote]

I don't think a single poster has even tried to argue that Rafa didn't fuck up last season with regards to transfers.

Still the point stands though. If we end up with GJ and Aquilani being our new signings after spending £0, we would have missed a huge opportunity. G&H would clearly be to blame for this.
 
[quote author=Avmenon link=topic=35139.msg921602#msg921602 date=1249832520]
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=35139.msg921491#msg921491 date=1249821656]
No more excuses?

If we spend £0 this summer, i think it will be clear to all who's fault it is if we come up just short again.

GJ and Aquilani both look like good signings imo. It's just a shame that after getting so close last season, that Rafa hasn't been allowed to take full advantage this summer.
[/quote]

Bit early to start laying the groundwork for Rafa's excuses next season,PM.
[/quote]


Its never too early mate.

I was of the opinion that Rafa would live or die by his transfers too this season, but i also thought that he'd get at least the usual amount to spend.
 
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