That's a big statement.

[iWhen Aquilani played in the middle he was probably better there, as that's his natural position, whereas with Gerrard, I believe he's naturally a second striker/attacking midfielder[/i
[ihe's much better at getting forward than Alonso[/i
Surely him going forward is irrelevant if as you say Gerrard will be charged with that role. You need a good centre midfielder who can link up the play etc. Something Alonso did well week in week out.

Alonso wasn't an amazingly creative player. Gerrard creates everything for us, Alonso just got it to Gerrard. In terms of opening up a defence and creating a goalscoring opportunity, then I'd say Aquilani has more in his locker in that department. I also believe he has more dribbling and shooting ability than Alonso.

Alonso was a good player, he kept the ball well and he was brilliant and picking the right pass almost every time, he had the ability to execute this every week, but what he done wasn't something of the God's. If Aquilani settles well and gets up to speed with things quickly, then I believe he could fill Xabi's hole very well.

Against small sides at home, I'd probably say Aquilani's ability to get forward will be needed. Our problem last year was our lack of go-to players, if we couldn't get Gerrard in the game, we were pretty much screwed at times. I believe having a player as dangerous as Aquilani is around the box will certainly give us more options in terms of creating chances against small sides. Alonso rarely ventured forward and created things, against small sides at home (the ones we drawn with), we needed something more.

Away from home and in the bigger games, I believe is where we'll miss Xabi more. But if Aquilani settles well, then playing away from home won't be so bad, but Alonso's underrated defensive game will be missed in the bigger games.

I think you'll realise what you've lost when you're losing touch in th title racce come Christmas and Alonso is turning it on for Real Madrid.

He has his Liverpool blinkers on mate nothing is getting through...
I do believe Xabi Alonso is a massive loss and i can't comment on Alberto Aquilani as i haven't seen enough of him but why would Real Madrid pay £30m for a player when they can have a supposed better player for £19m [i(Or what ever the figure was)[/i, It doesn't make much sense replacing on of your most influential players with somebody who won't be fit until October...

Straight question Robbie. Do you think Liverpool will win the league?

Here's another for you. Do you think Benitez is the right man for the club?

My Dads bigger than both of yours

I didn't say Aquilani was a better player. Alonso was more complete and probably more suited to our game, but I do believe if Aquilani settles well, then he's potentially a better player than Alonso. And he can potentially bring what we need more than maybe what Alonso did. Aquilani has been touted as one of Europe's best for years, but he's had too many injuries to have a breakout season. He's with us now and I hope we take better care of him, because he can become one of the world's best, but he could also become an injury prone flop who can't settle in England.

Alonso was a good player but he had his limitations, Aquilani is potentially a better player, but it's up to Rafa and Alberto to make sure that happens.

Real spent so much on Alonso for a few reasons: the first - he's Spanish, the second, he's a player who Perez rates a lot and wanted to bring to Madrid before he came to us, and three, it's part of his policy to bring in the best Spanish players, they failed in their bid to sign Villa so they had to make it up somehow.

Last year Alonso nearly signed for Juve for £13m, but for Rafa intervening, even with a world class season under his belt, even I was pretty chuffed we managed to get £35m for him (potentially).

Quiet you

1) Honestly, I don't have the slightest. Things look very open this year and there's still plenty of twists and turns left. I've always remained that my prediction on us winning the league depends on when Rafa gets us to peak physically, last year it was not long after the FA cup ties against Everton, sadly it was too late. This year, he needs to get us picking up form around Christmas, then hopefully strengthens a bit more in January to keep the form consistent.

2) Yes I do, I think he's a great coach.

Colleen throws them at him. Not all of them land in his mouth........

Just watching the Serie A here. Who's that pretender at right back for Inter thinking he's Glen Johnson?

If Almunia had a brain he'd have held his arms back and Rooney would've been getting a yellow for his dive. Because Almunia doesn't have a brain he kept his arms out, made contact with Rooney and gave the ref an easy call. The only thing in Rooney's mind was winning a pen though. He went in to nip the ball away and hopefully get taken down. He was going down as soon as he won the ball.

Ridicuous challenge from Fletcher. I'd like to hear the refs explanation why he didn't give the pen.

Fantastic shot from Arshavin. Should have only resulted in a corner though. Poor 'keeping from Foster.