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After being touted as the man to replace Xabi Alonso, Liverpool’s £18 million singing Alberto Aquilani has returned to Italy. The midfielder has joined Juventus on a season-long loan after enduring a difficult year in which he started only nine Premier League games. An ankle injury delayed his anticipated PL debut to October. Niggling injuries, his substantial price-tag and reputation all combined to be too much for the former Roma man. But as a takeover of Liverpool seems increasingly unlikely and doubts persist over Javier Mascherano’s future and Lucas Leiva’s quality, was there not room for Aquilani this season? Roy Hodgson could not guarantee Aquilani regular first-team football but with his aptitude for improving players, could he not have restored his fortunes?

The 26-year old joined Liverpool from his boyhood club Roma last summer where he made 102 performances, scoring nine goals. He prospered after returning from a loan spell at Trieste and working with Fabio Capello. ‘The King of Rome,’ Francesco Totti had this to say about the ‘Little Prince:’ “Alberto is an incredibly talented player, with great technique and an excellent understanding of the game. He is elegant and smart.” These desirable characteristics saw Aquilani become an increasingly important component in the Roma team, scoring long range efforts and displaying his creative passing.

These qualities were not lost on the former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez who claimed that the player would have been more expensive if he had not be recuperating from an ankle injury. After failing to live up to expectations, is this a classic case of an Italian being unable to acclimatise to the physical demands of the English game? Earlier this year, Benitez appeared to lose patience with his pricey signing. “Some players maybe can manage with the pain, but some cannot.” The Spaniard hinted that the player’s persistent ankle problems were partially physiological. This could explain why Aquilani never flourished in the role that was ear-marked for him. Replacing Alonso was always going to be an uphill struggle and would require confidence, passion and determination to settle into an all-round central midfield role.

By moving forward to support a lone striker in the hole, fans started to see what the initial fuss was about. Freed from defensive responsibilities he was able to concentrate on his imaginative, passing game supporting the attack through neat, incisive touches. Astoundingly the Italian set up a goal every 136 minutes last season which was the best assist rate across Europe’s top five leagues. Furthermore he scored with an accurate half-volleyed finish in Liverpool’s Europa League semi-final against Atletico Madrid. Yet he only played 26 times last season and these were mostly substitute appearances.

Notwithstanding his precocious talent Aquilani is viewed by many as another name in Benitez’s long list of failed signings. This is arguably an unfair portrayal of a player whose position was unclear and found his playing opportunities circumscribed. Although used in pre-season Roy Hodgson sanctioned his return to Serie A. “It gives him the football he needs and protects the value of the player. We’re doing it with a view to bringing him back.” Aquilani’s Anfield career may not be finished but with Mascherano unsettled and further signings doubtful, could the club have not used his talents this season? It is a sensible and pragmatic move by Hodgson but his team’s deficiencies were ruthlessly exposed by Manchester City on Monday. The evidence suggests that Liverpool need all the help they can get from their squad this season.

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Click on image below to see the gallery of Mario Balotelli’s stunning girlfriend

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Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe has confirmed that he is fit and available for selection for his side’s game against West Brom on Tuesday night.

The England international has been unavailable for Harry Redknapp’s men recently due to a hamstring injury, but played 20 minutes in the North London club’s 1-1 draw with Swansea at the weekend.

Defoe is raring to go, and hopes he will get a chance to play against Roy Hodgson’s men.

“I missed three games in a short space of time,” he told the club’s official website.

“No-one wants to get injured, it was a hamstring, quite minor, but I have to be careful, especially with the way I play. I’ve no problems now and I’m ready to go.

“West Brom

have only had one full day’s rest, so that could play a part, especially with the intensity of the Premier League.

“Every game is massive, every game is like a cup final and we need to get the points to stay up there.

“Everyone is beating everyone this season and we have to win to stay up there.

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“I can’t wait for 2012 to get going. Hopefully I’ll get a chance on Tuesday and do my stuff,” he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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The fight for English Premier League survival will be on in earnest when Blackburn welcome Birmingham to Ewood Park on Saturday.Steve Kean’s Blackburn are without a league win since their 2-0 triumph over West Brom on January 23, and they are in 14th place on the league table – just two points clear of the bottom three.

However, they did manage a 0-0 draw with Arsenal at the Emirates in their most recent start.

The situation is much the same for Birmingham boss Alex McLeish, with his side winning just two of their past 10 league matches and sitting in 15th place, also on 34 points.

Birmingham did enjoy some success last time out, beating Bolton 2-1, but like their rivals on Saturday they are skating perilously close to the drop zone.

The highlight of McLeish’s season was undoubtedly Birmingham’s 2-1 win over Arsenal at Wembley on February 27 to claim the Carling Cup, the first piece of silverware to arrive at St Andrew’s in 48 years.

The Scot is desperate to ensure his side do not become just the second team to win the League Cup and be relegated in the same season, a fate which befell Norwich in 1985.

In their only other meeting this season, two goals from Craig Gardner helped Birmingham to a 2-1 win at St Andrew’s on August 21.

Kean has selection problems of both a fitness and disciplinary nature ahead of the clash, with midfielder Steven N’Zonzi suspended for the next three games after being sent off for a rash challenge on Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny on Saturday.

Vince Grella is out for the rest of the season, and Keith Andrews looks unlikely to shake off his troublesome groin problem in time to feature in the seven games they have left.

The injury list at St Andrew’s is slightly more extensive, with defender Martin Jiranek, midfielder Alexander Hleb and striker James McFadden all in doubt, while defender Scott Dann is nursing a hamstring injury.

Blackpool manager Ian Holloway is frustrated at delays which have held up his move to sign free agent striker Marlon Harewood.

The 31-year-old was expected to feature for the Seasiders in a weekend friendly with Hibernian, but he was pulled out of the fixture due to concerns from his agent over the possibility of sustaining an injury.

A frustrated Holloway told The Gazette:"I was going to play someone, but his agent didn't want him to play because of the risk of injury. I can understand that, so I tried to do a deal with him.

"Turns out it's a different agent, turns out he wanted more than he said, turns out my chairman's head is coming off because of all these people who are getting involved when they shouldn't.

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"So we didn't get the correct information and now it's gone above what we wanted, so we will have to try to batter them down."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has admitted that his side are going through a difficult spell currently, but has aimed for three points against Swansea this weekend to stop the rot.

After an impressive and unbeaten start to the season the Tynesude club have lost three out of their last four games, with defeats to Chelsea, Manchester City and Norwich causing them to slip down the league standings.

A number of key players have picked up injuries for the Geordies, and Pardew hopes that this will be the toughest part of the campaign for his team.

“We are having a tough run in terms of injuries and suspensions,” he told Mirror Football.

“This is what the Premier League is about – it tests you.

“You are not going to have it smooth all year, and maybe this is our rough patch,” he stated.

Meanwhile Jonas Gutierrez is hoping to get back to winning ways against Brendan Rodgers’ men next time out, and feels the fans deserve a victory.

“We now have to give a gift to the fans. We want to give all the supporters who have followed us all season a boost.

“Swansea is a good opportunity for us to return to winning ways. We need a win because we have not picked up three points for four games.

“When that happens you start dropping down the table and we cannot let his happen,” he concluded.

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The Daily Mail also report that Pardew may well have the services of Cheik Tiote and Fabricio Coloccini to call upon against Swansea, as the pair make a recovery from injury.

By Gareth McKnight

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Javier Mascherano’s acrimonious move to Barcelona at the beginning of the season had an air inevitability to it. The well trodden path of Premier League stars departing for La Liga’s hegemonic duo of Barcelona and Real Madrid remains an attractive proposition that few are capable of turning down. However, after departing for pastures new, Mascherano appears to have made one fatal error – he has seriously underestimated his new employer’s preference for a local lad.

Barcelona are a club that, rather arrogantly at times, revels in the quality of its youth system and they often laud the strength of their system and their relative superiority over Real Madrid‘s with nothing short of youthful glee. It is thought by many that a long-held association to the club can often triumph over even the best of players – and this appears to be a trap that the Argentine captain has fallen into.

Mascherano is to my knowledge, currently the greatest exponent of the holding midfield role in world football. When on form and fired-up, he can be devastatingly destructive. His distribution skills, while not as consistently excellent as his tackling, are an area often overlooked for praise. In short, Mascherano’s move to Barcelona, on paper at least, made a lot of sense as it was thought that he would help add a steeliness, urgency and aggression to the Barcelona midfield that has at times been lacking.

The tippy, tappy stylings of this Barcelona side are the thing of legend. This current Barcelona side will go down as one of, if not the greatest club side of all time, yet there is a school of thought that persists in suggesting that this side have a soft underbelly at their very core. A side of Barcelona’s character that is often overlooked in favour of their breathtaking brilliance is that they are sometimes left resorting to acts gamesmanship and other less savoury tactics in an attempt to gain a significant edge over their opponents – attributes that I happen to think are integral to the makings of a successful side. Mascherano typifies this and upon completion of his move it was thought that he would help add a new dimension to the Barcelona engine room.

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It remains extremely difficult to stifle this Barcelona side, but Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan side laid a blueprint last year whereby they turned Barca’s greatest strength – their passing ability – into their greatest weakness. In essence, Mourinho’s risky plan meant that Barca stifled themselves with their sideways passing and stilted movement.

The loss of Samuel Eto’o up front hit the side greater last season than they could have imagined. He often acted as the first line of defence and his phenomenal work-rate often forced opposing defenders into making rash clearances and stray passes.

Last season Barcelona took that little bit longer in winning back possession from their opponents than they would have liked. They missed Eto’o’s presence as a defensive force leading the line and because they appeared to lack a degree of urgency up front, it heaped too much pressure onto the midfield and so reinforcements were called for in the middle of the park. This at least sets the context for the Mascherano move and from a Barcelona point of view, it appeared a logical step.

Continue to the NEXT PAGE…

Mascherano was expected to take the place of Sergio Busquets in the Barcelona midfield – something which has yet proved to be the case. Busquets is a player that quite often divides opinion, but something tells me that he’s a player that will be revered more in years to come than he is now. People underestimate how essential Busquets is to Barcelona’s style of play and indeed Spain’s.

Busquets may not possess the technique of team mates Xavi or Iniesta, and he may not possess the tenacity or aggression of Mascherano, yet he represents a halfway house between the two and is ideally suited to the holding midfield role in the Spanish league – a league that often values intelligence of movement and speed of thought above all else, attributes that Busquets routinely displays with ease.

The former Liverpool player, much like in his final full season on Merseyside, has been forced to play at right back at times instead of his preferred central holding midfield position. Mascherano has been involved in only 18 of Barca’s 28 league fixtures to date so far this season and the player will no doubt be surprised that he is not as integral to the first-team line-up as he would have perhaps previously anticipated upon signing for the club. It would seem that all Mascherano has done is to replace Yaya Toure as Busquets’ understudy and he is looked upon as a squad player rather than an essential component of the first-team.

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While Mascherano may feel surprise at his role on the fringes, his failure to make his mark thus far will have come as no surprise to most football fans who realise that Barca value their’s and the club’s identity above all else. This identity is often best personified by the graduates of the club’s Cantera – Barcelona’s famed and highly successful youth system.

Barcelona fans love a local lad more than anything else, yet they are aided by the fact that their youth team and B-team players happen to be of a sufficiently high enough standard that they actually merit their chances in the first-team squad and the opportunities that are granted to them to establish themselves.

Barcelona have a unique system of blooding in youngsters that very few clubs on the planet are able to replicate. The club’s identity remains it’s most powerful asset. Locality triumphs ability in the minds of many Los Cules and Mascherano appears to be the latest victim of the club’s preference for local talent over foreign imports.

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Mascherano has been linked with a move at the end of the season to Italian duo Juventus and Inter as well as Chelsea. Moving to either Barcelona or Real Madrid remains the pinnacle of any footballer’s career, however very few of these moves have happy endings as Kaka will no doubt testify to.

With a little else other than a role on the periphery secured at Barcelona for the time being, with Busquets’ status as a guaranteed started under no immediate danger, the Argentine could very well by forced to depart Barcelona at the end of the season in search of guaranteed first-team opportunities elsewhere, after being confined to an unfamiliar role on the bench at times this campaign.

If by chance he does happen to move to Chelsea – not an entirely absurd notion in itself – then there may be a few Liverpool fans, just a few, that may allow themselves a wry smile at the move; this would not come from the identity of the club he is joining, but the fact that the player is being forced to return to our fair shores with his tail wrapped firmly between his legs.

One man who’s not leaving Liverpool any time soon is Conor Coady, watch the video below to see why…

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The feel good factor has continued on Merseyside this week as Hodgson is convinced that Fernando Torres is set to remain at Anfield next season. Elsewhere Liverpool has been linked to a variety of new signings from Rafael van der Vaart to Luke Young, as Hodgson looks to rebuild Liverpool’s fortunes.

This week at FFC we have seen a mixed bag blogs which has included…

Plus we have taken a look at the best Liverpool stories on the Web this week.

Ill-timed comments are exactly what Liverpool don’t need

Liverpool set to fall victim as player power rears its ugly head

Is Fernando Torres really a step too far?

EIGHT runners and riders to replace Mascherano

Hodgson’s grand plan starting to gel together

Liverpool starlet offers Roy a striking Plan B

Has Match of the Day had its day?

Liverpool’s forgotten man set for a new lease of life?

Roy Hodgson facing up to his first big Anfield battle

Liverpool have more pressing concerns than a bid for Van Der Vaart

One deal that Liverpool cannot afford to baulk at

Premier League’s lesser lights set to benefit from new rules

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Best of Web

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Compared to Ageing Man U and Chelsea, Our Young Squad Looks Promising – Live4Liverpool

What price loyalty, Masch? – This is Anfield

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Joe 90 and Stevie Glee put a (temporary) smile on Liverpool FC – Well Red

Young defender Danny Wilson can be the latest Great Scot at Liverpool FC – Liverpool Echo

Dani’s Dilemma could be difficult to solve Roy – Live4Liverpool

Warning, debt can seriously damage your core support – This is Anfield

With the PL season nearly upon us, let’s see the WAGS that will be keeping the players on their toes. Click on image to VIEW gallery

When Gary Lewin left Arsenal director Ken Friar described him as “quite simply… one of the best physiotherapists in world football” and he was right. Lewin, who began his career with Arsenal as a goalkeeper, became a physio for the Gunners in the early eighties and worked under George Graham, Bruce Rioch and Arsene Wenger. His unquestionable talents however led him from working for both Arsenal and the FA to securing a full-time post with the England team. For many it is too simplistic to say that Arsenal’s injury problems post-Lewin have been down to his departure and for others the Arsenal medical staff is now riddled with incompetence, but what does the evidence suggest?

Misdiagnosis

Misdiagnosis is one of the major problems for footballers suffering from repeated injuries and the Arsenal medical staff have been caught out on numerous occasions in recent years. Most recently we have Jack Wilshere who was supposed to be out for a few days after injuring himself in pre-season, this turned into five months shortly after. The problem here lies not only in the poor judgement of the injury but also in the revelation that this is an old injury to Wilshere that had gone unnoticed and been allowed to degenerate. The same can be said for Vermaelen last season: originally out for a week, that week turned into the majority of the season as he suffered continuous recurrences of his injury before finally having surgery to sort the problem out. Kieran Gibbs was also recently let down. His stomach problems were supposedly over when a hernia was discovered and the Arsenal medical team admitted that this had been the likely cause of the problem all along. His return date is currently unknown.

Diaby in particular sums up our last few years of medical history. The Frenchman’s ankles seem to be made of glass, or perhaps something more brittle. Diaby’s injuries can at least be partly blamed on the initial ankle injury that he suffered at the hands of Sunderland’s Smith in 2006. However, since then Diaby has been fit for approximately half of his time with the club. Whether Diaby’s fitness has been mismanaged or simply unfortunate it would be easier to overlook the situation if the same things had not happened with Rosicky, van Persie, Fabregas, Gibbs, Vermaelen, Wilshere, Walcott and others. All of those players have for whatever reason spent considerable, and repeated, times on the sidelines sometimes taking years to regain full fitness. At first I was one of the people to say that we were just unlucky. That our players were simply on the wrong end of freak tackles like Taylor’s on Eduardo, Smith’s on Diaby or Chiellini’s on van Persie. However you have to take into account how players recover from these injuries. And also with the exception of broken bones, which really are freak injuries, the medical staff should know when a player is reaching their limits physically and should not be playing.

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Figures

This season we have already had the second highest number of injuries in the league. We haven’t yet reached December and already Jenkinson, Gibbs, Miyaichi, Sagna, Vermaelen and Wilshere have all been injured; most of them still are. I managed to dig up some figures for the number of injuries sustained amongst Premier League clubs since the beginning of 2003 and over those nine years it doesn’t look good for Arsenal.

When comparing Arsenal to other clubs I have looked at Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. The reason for this is that these teams are the most similar to Arsenal, not only in the budget for their medical staff, but also because these four teams have consistently been in the Champions League and therefore have played roughly the same amount, and types, of games that Arsenal have.

So, over this period Liverpool have suffered on average 42 injuries per calendar year, Chelsea have averaged 45, Man Utd 57 and Arsenal 65. Now there are obviously some flaws with this data in that it only specifies the number of injuries and not the length of the injuries. However, it gives a good idea of the problems faced at each club and we know for a fact that Arsenal have also had a considerable amount of long-term injuries over this period. Moreover, part of the medical staff’s responsibilities is to help prevent injuries as well as treat them and these figures are quite damning on this issue.

So this tells us that Arsenal do appear to have a general problem with injuries in comparison to other clubs. But what do these figures tell us about Arsenal’s problems since Gary Lewin left the club? Well in the years previous to Gary Lewin’s departure Arsenal averaged 62.5 injuries per season and after it we have averaged 75. That is a considerable jump, especially considering that during that time advances in medicine have been made to the point that we should be better equipped to deal with injuries.

Other factors

When this debate comes up amongst Arsenal fans the other arguments include the fact that people foul us more and also our small squad means that players have to play more games. To an extent both of these are true. Playing possession football does invite more fouls on to your team – the more time you have the ball the more likely you are to get fouled. However, against the vast majority of opposition teams all of the top clubs play a form of possession football and it doesn’t seem to affect them nearly as badly as it does Arsenal. In terms of the small squad I think there might be a case to argue there but that doesn’t explain why the figures jumped so sharply the year after Gary Lewin left for England.

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Ultimately it seems quite hard to argue that Gary Lewin’s departure was, as so many people have said, the root of all our problems when we were clearly struggling before. However what these figures do suggest is that his departure certainly hasn’t helped. Arsenal’s recently built medical centre will hopefully go some way to alleviating the problem but one thing is for certain: it is an issue that has taken too long to be addressed.

For more Arsenal news follow me on Twitter @H_Mackay

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Who doesn’t love a hero? This week on Football FanCast we’re celebrating football heroes – players who are loved by supporters and in their eyes can do no wrong. These players will long live in the memory at their clubs as footballers who were adored and cheered every time they stepped onto the pitch.

Every hero has a story. There is always a reason why they’re loved by the fans, whether it be for the effort and commitment they showed on the pitch or the success that they were part of, and more often than not greatly contributed to.

So here we are letting football’s heroes step forward and take the limelight one more time and pay homage to their achievements and remember just why they have the status that they do.

Blogs:

The Top TEN Returning Football Heroes

Liverpool Hall of Fame – Ian Rush

The Premier League’s Cult Heroes XI

Chelsea Hall of Fame: Gianfranco Zola

The Essential Ingredients of a ‘Cult Hero’ in football

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Manchester United ‘Hall of Fame’ – Roy Keane

Top 10 Premier League Cult Heroes

FFC Hall of Fame – Arsenal’s Non-Flying Dutchman

Arsenal striker Robin van Persie has said he wants to put his injury problems behind him and become a world-class talent next season.

The Netherlands striker missed much of the campaign with an ankle injury, but he is confident he can lead the Gunners to glory by playing a major role.

Speaking to L’Equipe, he said:“When I came back from my long injury back in the spring, Arsene Wenger told me that people will soon be talking about me in the same breath as they speak about Messi.

“I’m sure that would already be the case if I was not injured so often.

“I can feel that the manager has faith in me, but I must remain lucid. I am clearly not in the same league as Leo. Moreover, I am injured too often.

“I’m dreaming about a season with 30 goals and 20 assists. Wenger knows that I can do it, but my body will have to hold on.

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“My final objective is to be in the same class as Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney, but Leo above all because he is a giant.”

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