I questioned earlier in the season why Benitez had chosen to bring in Aquilani, who we all knew wouldn't be fit for several months, as opposed to those that Real Madrid were desperate to fob off to us. Striker Alvaro Negredo last week grabbed a brace for Spain on his international debut whilst Wesley Sneijder and Rafael Van der Vaart have helped Holland to a perfect qualification campaign.
Sneijder and Negredo left for a combined €30 million and Real were even looking to offload Van der Vaart on loan. Yet Benitez preferred to go for broke on the single signing of Aquilani as a replacement for Alonso and not to bother looking for someone to play second fiddle to Torres.
Now I'm no tactical genius and certainly not able to revive a club that was 3-0 down to an incredible Champions league victory, but it was pretty obvious that if Torres got injured Andriy Voronin and David Ngog were not going to fill his shoes.
And the same goes for Xabi Alonso. From Lucas' previous performances we knew that he couldn't replace the Spanish international and one of the best midfielders in the world. Now this is not to say that Lucas and Ngog aren't good players but they aren't good enough yet for a team challenging for the League.
If I were a Hull, Stoke or Bolton supporter, Lucas' performances would be more than adequate. But I'm not and he's playing for one of the most demanding clubs in the world and a club in which teams will raise their game when they face us.
We can't afford to carry passengers when we're so close to the league title and though Lucas isn't terrible he isn't great. He doesn't score, he doesn't create much, he doesn't put many tackles in and cannot pass a ball like Alonso, so why did Benitez think we would be ok with him in centre midfield for several months?
Benitez now has huge pressure on him that Aquilani immediately comes into the team and performs exceptionally. He will be measured against Alonso but unlike Alonso he's going to be thrust into shark-infested waters and expected to perform. Aquilani has had no pre-season, he has never played in the league before and has not played with his team mates in a competitive match before. It often takes players time to adapt and in some cases they aren't half as good in one league as they were in another. Dossena is a prime example.
There's no guarantee that Sneijder or Van der Vaart would have been successful but I expect if they came into the team at the start of the season and took a bit of time to adapt the fans would have awarded them a degree of leeway. Benitez signing a player that cannot play has foregone that leeway and placed a huge amount of pressure on Aquilani.
The league is near enough gone but if we lose any more then it's not the league we'll be in danger of losing sight of but a Champions League position. The Italian will have to land on his feet and cannot afford to have average games. We have a really difficult run of 11 games, facing United, Arsenal, City, Everton and the usual troubling trip to Craven Cottage. We also have the three 'must win' games in the Champions League and the Carling Cup visit to Arsenal. There is absolutely no room for error now and I hope for Benitez's sake that Aquilani is a success, because if not I don't believe the owners will give him a chance next season.