I thought he was excellent against West Ham too, around the same time, but I also think the team got penalised against Premiership standard opposition in the same period. I thought he looked best when Cesc was around - even if it was only for a few games.
It's not a massive criticism either - any player will benefit from playing next to someone who can direct a midfield like Cesc, and when song was in there too taking the majority of the defensive responsibility, it was a very good environment for a talented but raw kid like Aaron to learn the ropes. He was still a bit sloppy, but because he had less individual responsibility the team didn't suffer too much most of the time. Two years and one broken leg later, he hasn't had a chance to iron out a lot of the kinks in his game, and the team as a whole is more susceptible for it.
