Has Rafa Benitez lied over the fitness of Alberto Aquilani? Is it fair to label Liverpool's manager a liar over the regularly changing estimates about the Italian's return to fitness? That is the question being considered here.
Let's take a look at the evidence.
AUG 7th 2009: Statement on the official Liverpool FC website:
"Liverpool FC confirmed this evening that Alberto Aquilani has successfully completed a medical and agreed a 5-year contract with the club. Click to continue reading...

Four months into the season, and Liverpool still hasn't deployed the first-choice XI thanks to injuries. And last week we got word that both Benayoun and Riera could be out for a month. Awesome.
Injury problems have consistently troubled Liverpool this season, but with those two missing, the left flank is a massive concern. Click to continue reading...

Some uplifting news for the Liverpudlians. Stevie G is ready to rock n' roll against City this weekend. Will Liverpool join the list of clubs that have stuck it to City?

Personally, I think Liverpool played well against Birmingham - they faltered familiarly on set pieces but overall they were a number of positives.

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There seems to be a lot of confusion over how much Liverpool paid/will eventually pay Roma for the services of Alberto Aquilani. Figures such as £20m, £17m and £5m (!) have been bandied about, but the truth is the total outlay could (potentially) turn out to be much more.
On the 8th August 2009, Roma released official details of Aquilani's transfer fee. Click to continue reading...

Why didn't Alberto Aquilani play any part of the Lyon game? Can someone please explain to me the logic behind keeping him on the bench for the full 90 minutes because I just don't get it.
Aquilani was on the bench against Lyon therefore he must be fit. He was even warming up at one stage. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool failed to close the gap on Chelsea tonight as they could only manage a two all draw against Birmingham at Anfield.
David Ngog opened the scoring for the Reds with a thunderous volley into the roof of the net on 12mins.
However Birmingham were soon level when Christian Benitez Headed a goal from a free kick on 28mins. Click to continue reading...

If you believe what you hear - and what you saw against Fulham - you'll probably believe the wolves are at the door for Señor Benitez. However, I'll try to put things in perspective without using an array of cringe-worthy Halloween puns.
What happened against Fulham was a disaster, and a game we shouldn't have lost going into. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool drew 1-1 with Lyon last night, leaving any chance of getting through the group stages of the Champion's League hanging by a thread' but what do you think went wrong last night? There are a number of possible reasons: Rafa's tactics/his woeful decision to play Voronin/the lack of introduction of Aquilani/bringing on Babel too late, [. Click to continue reading...

Rafa Benitez has decided to start with Fernando Torres against Lyon.
The full team for Lyon is:
--------- Reina
Carragher --- Agger -- Kyrgiakos -- Insua
Kuyt -- Lucas -- Mascherano -- Benayoun
Voronin -- Torres
Subs: Cavalieri, Aquilani, Babel, Ngog, Spearing, Darby, Ayala. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool face Lyon in the Champion's League tonight, but given the fact that Rafa has an injury list longer than his arm; who do you think should play? The squad is as follows: Reina, Cavalieri, Carragher, Ayala, Darby, Insua, Agger, Kyrgiakos, Kuyt, Lucas, Benayoun, Aquilani, Babel, Mascherano, Spearing, Plessis, Ngog, Voronin, Torres. Click to continue reading...

With our injury crisis and our poor run of form, Lyon are favourites to win in France tonight.However, I am sticking my neck out and going for another famous win in Europe.Yes, we are missing loads of first team players, most notably Steven Gerrard.Yes, Fernando Torres isn't fully fit and yes we are in our worst run of form for decades. Click to continue reading...

2:45pm, live in the US on FSC
Last 3 matches:
Liverpool: 1-3 Fulham (a); 1-2 Arsenal (a); 2-0 United (h)
Lyon: 1-0 St Etienne (a); 1-4 Nice (a); 2-1 Liverpool (a)
Group Stage:
Liverpool: 1-2 Lyon (h); 0-2 Fiorentina (a); 1-0 Debrecen (h)
Lyon: 2-1 Liverpool (a); 4-0 Debrecen (a); 1-0 Fiorentina (h)
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (BEL)
De Bleeckere was the man in the middle for wins over Inter and Real in the last two seasons. Click to continue reading...

There's no option to italicize,bold and increase the font to 15 of the word "Bad" there. But I think you got the message already so I leave it to you. Listen, this whole global warming thing is sickening. There's also widespread poverty and a lot of kids with AK47 guns. Added to that are extra problems like say the rising Fuel prices, water problem and traffic through the city.

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11am, live in the US on Setanta
Last 4 head-to-head:
1-0 Liverpool (a) 04.04.09
0-0 (h) 11.22.08
2-0 Liverpool (a) 04.19.08
2-0 Liverpool (h) 11.10.07
Last three matches:
Liverpool: 1-2 Arsenal (a); 2-0 United (h); 1-2 Lyon (h)
Fulham: 2-2 City (a); 1-1 Roma (h); 2-0 Hull (h)
Goalscorers (league):
Liverpool: Torres 9; Benayoun, Gerrard, Kuyt 3; Babel, Johnson, Ngog 2
Fulham: Duff, Murphy, Zamora 2; Dempsey, Gera, Kamara, Konchesky 1
Referee: Lee Mason
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Degen Carragher Agger Insua
Lucas Mascherano
Kuyt Benayoun Aurelio
Torres
Still can't get around those injury concerns. Click to continue reading...

Maddy's Note: Our man Felipe is back, bringing you a great take on thhe Carling Cup encounter which he was THERE for. Who would expect a team of kids to beat a very experienced and solid Liverpool? One one would say Arsenal were favourites, but I just have to confess I didn't think that way until the kick-off yesterday. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal 2 (Merida 19, Bendtner 50) Liverpool 1 (Insua 26)
(Carling Cup)

A mix of experience and youth was enough to see off the challenge of Liverpool in an entertaining game, made all the more fun by the visitor's admirable attacking intent. In the end, we sneaked home in one of the most enjoyable games I've seen all season.

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News tonight that Steven Gerrard may need surgery on his troublesome groin injury will be meet with dismay by Liverpool football club and its fans.Gerrard, after all, got injured playing for England against the Ukraine when England had already qualified for next year's World Cup so what was he doing playing in that match in the first place? Click to continue reading...

I'd planned to write a full match report for the Arsenal vs Liverpool Carling Cup game I went to last night, but there's not much to write. For a League Cup fixture it wasn't a bad game at all, with two excellent goals and quality throughout. But most of the things I could write about either side have been written plenty of times before. Click to continue reading...

The moment all Liverpool fans have been waiting for came last night when Alberto Aquilani made his competitive debut for the club. (hurrah!) Here is footage of all the moments in which he was involved during the game.
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Cavalieri
Degen Skrtel Kyrgiakos Insua
Spearing Plessis
Kuyt Voronin Babel
Ngog
Goals:
Merida 19'
Insua 26'
Bendtner 50'
Any loss is disappointing, especially when the team's already lost six, but this one doesn't sting too bad. Arsenal, with Nasri, Bendtner, and Eduardo in the line-up, didn't exactly play the Super Teens, and probably deserved their victory. Click to continue reading...

Lineups are in:

Arsenal: Starters: Fabianski, Gibbs, Silvestre, Senderos, Gilbert, Eastmond, Nasri, Ramsey, Merida, Eduardo, Bendtner. Subs: Szczesny (Gesundheit!), Bartley, Coquelin, Frimpong, Randall, Sunu, Watt.

Liverpool: Starters: Cavalieri, Degen, Skrtel, Kyrgiakos, Insua, Kuyt, Spearing, Plessis, Babel, Voronin, Ngog.

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Tonights Liverpool team to face Arsenal in the Carling Cup at the Emirates Stadium: Liverpool: Cavalieri, Degen, Insua, Skrtel, Kyrgiakos, Plessis, Spearing, Babel, Kuyt, Voronin, Ngog. Subs: Reina, Aquilani, Benayoun, Darby, Dossena, Eccleston, Ayala. Arsenal: Fabianski, Gilbert, Senderos, Silvestre, Gibbs, Eastmond, Bendtner, Nasri, Ramsey, Merida, Eduardo. Click to continue reading...

Its Carling Cup time! The trophy that no big club wants to win, but if they win it they'll be happy to gloat about it anyway. Visions of Mourinho celebrating back in 2007 when they beat us in the final still make me sick.

Rafa's red revolution received a massive boost when they humiliated Utd on Sunday.

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While a Liverpool versus Arsenal match is always an interesting affair, the prospect of seeing two stars make their Premier League season debuts in the match makes the game all the more interesting.Arsenal's Samir Nasri and Liverpool's big money signing Alberto Aquilani are both set to make their season debuts in Wednesday night's Carling Cup match between Liverpool and Arsenal. Click to continue reading...

3:45pm. As with the last round, it looks like it's only available on ESPN360.com, even though United at Barnsley is on Setanta today. So, most of us will be stuck with streams. Check the usual places; my first stop will be MyP2P.eu.
Last 4 head-to-head:
4-4 (h) 04.21.09
1-1 (a) 12. Click to continue reading...

In the midst of the Alonso summer saga, I posted the results from different midfield pairings. Lucas/Mascherano's line looked like this:
6 wins, 4 draws
2-0 West Brom, 3-0 West Ham, 4-1 United, 1-1 City, 1-1 Wigan, 0-0 Stoke, 5-1 Newcastle, 3-1 PSV [4-4-2], 0-0 Fulham [4-4-2], 2-1 Marseille
Let's ignore the PSV and Fulham games because of the 4-4-2 formation in Gerrard's absence (and Torres' against PSV). Click to continue reading...

Defeat against Man United on Sunday is unthinkable, and the decisions Rafa Benitez makes for that game could literally make or break Liverpool's season. Despite the doom and gloom hovering over the club at the moment, if Rafa keeps it simple and goes with aces in their places, I fully expect Liverpool to beat United. Click to continue reading...

10am, live in the US on FSC
British Daylight Saving Time kicks in on Sunday, which is why the game's at 10. We'll catch up next week. I hate Winter Time so much.
Last 4 head-to-head:
4-1 Liverpool (a) 03.14.09
2-1 Liverpool (h) 09.13.08
0-3 United (a) 03.23. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool and Injuries by Jonny Neale Benitez "We have just too many problems, I cannot remember an injury situation like this." http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5641497,00.html By my reckoning Liverpool are 'potentially' missing 6 players for the next game - Gerrard, Torres, Johnson, Aquilani, Kelly, Kyrgiakos Of those, two players wouldn't normally make the first team anyway (I [. Click to continue reading...

Alberto Aquilani showed a few good touches on his debut against Sunderland reserves last night. Now let's get him in the first team!

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Liverpool fans should hopefully see Alberto Aquilani in a red shirt for the first time at the end of this month, but where will the Italian fit into the team and will he be used effectively?
With three defeats in 8 premiership games already, the pressure is on for Liverpool to start producing premiership winning performances on a more consistent basis. Click to continue reading...

Steve McManaman has warned Liverpool not to heap pressure on Roberto Aquilani to be the club's saviour.
Aquilani has yet to play for the Reds after an operation on his right ankle in May.
But Liverpool legend McManaman fears too much pressure is already being placed on the 25-year-old Italian to rescue the club's season. Click to continue reading...

OK. Better performance, bad result yesterday.Played 8 :won 5 lost 3 in the league, already when we only lost two games in an exceptional season last year.So, not a good start to the season, but then Liverpool has always been slow starters even going back to the times of Shanks and Paisley yet they won us bucket loads of trophies so that's a crumb of comfort. Click to continue reading...

Bookmaker and Liverpool FC partner Paddy Power caused a predictable outrage when they opened betting on "the next Liverpool player burglary whilst they are playing".

Take a minute to soak in what a stupid, yet tastelessly hilarious idea that was.

As you can probably guess, betting was quickly shut down after the club found out about it and some fans contacted Merseyside Police, who probably weren't too keen on the idea of giving burglars even more financial incentive to rob players, considering it's already happened more than a dozen times, including the 2007 incident where Steven Gerrard's wife was held at gunpoint during a burglary while he was away for a Champions League match.

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2:45pm, live in the US on FSC. Also, if you have DirecTV (which I couldn't recommend more), you can get all the Champions League games on channels 461-469. And supposedly, most if not all will be in HD, but I'll believe that when I see all the glorious pixels.
Last 3 matches:
Liverpool: 4-0 Burnley (h); 3-2 Bolton (a); 1-3 Villa (h)
Debrecen: 1-0 Paksi (a); 3-1 Nyíregyháza Spartacus (h); 2-0 Levski Sofia (h)
Referee: Pedro Proenca (POR)
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Johnson Carragher Skrtel Dossena
Gerrard Lucas
Benayoun Kuyt Riera
Torres
With a midweek game following an international break, and a trip to West Ham on Saturday, there are bound to be some changes, no matter how well Liverpool played last time out. Click to continue reading...