Source: Liverpool_Echo
Tommy Smith: Aquilani has to show he’s a class act for Liverpool FC - starting tonight.
TONIGHT really is the ideal game for Alberto Aquilani. But it's certainly not the ideal game for Liverpool FC.[LNB]I can't remember a European match at Anfield which was effectively meaningless. But this one is and it's so frustrating.[LNB]The Italian though, will quite rightly see it differently and after sitting on the bench for so long he'll be bursting to get out there.[LNB]The fact the pressure is off is a good thing for him. But there is a different sort of pressure on him and it's all to do with expectation.[LNB]Everyone can see, that, as we feared, the loss of Xabi Alonso this season has hit us hard.[LNB]Fans are praying Aquilani can replace him now, though he'll have his own style and strengths and comparisons in that sense will be unfair.[LNB]He's also comes with a £20m price tag. But if reacts to it in the same way as a certain Fernando Torres did, then it will prove money well spent.[LNB]Aquilani's appearance really is the main focus tonight because win or lose we're going into the Europa League.[LNB]Some people say it's not worth winning but this is not just a trophy, it's a European trophy and one I was proud to lift back in 1973. So I hope we shrug off the disappointment of being in it and next year go all out to win it.[LNB]If we do so it wll give the fans a great day out in Hamburg and prove to people that we're not suddenly to be written off as a force in Europe.[LNB]Add to that a to four finish which would put us back on the big stage next season, and we can still prove a good few people wrong.[LNB]But tonight at Anfield it's all about Aquilani.[LNB]Not many Italians have succeeded in the Premier League.[LNB]But for the sake of Liverpool and Rafa Benitez, this guy just has to go on and make a real difference now.
