I hope you're fishing
He called them "our two top pros". Clearly wrong
First of, I'm not fishing. Yes, in my mind they were our top two professionals. I'm not talking about skills, but about professional behavior. For example, Xabi told Rafa and the club months before the transfer window opened that he wants to leave. In this day and age, when players endear a new club if they pay more, and lay their love in front of the fans (e.g. Adebayor), Xabi didn't say a word. There were many pages on RAWK written about that, why he wouldn't come and say that he want to stay (now we know that would have been a lie), or why he didn't say that he wanted to leave (which would have tied Liverpool's hands). Instead he chose to bide his time, giving us every chance to squeeze a few bob from Real. Yes, he got frustrated, but wouldn't you? Yet, he still didn't say much. So I respect him very much for that. I can go on about Sami as well, but that's a different topic. And no, I don't think that Gerrard is our most professional player (well, now he may be, I may need to rethink that, but not with Sami and Xabi in the team). This is an opinion, and if you don't agree with it, I'm sorry, but I won't lose any sleep over that. I think we will both agree that Xabi is a pro, and deserves respect for that.
Secondly, I'm not trying to say that we are better or worse without Xabi. We are simply taking a different route. As BazC and other have pointed out, Xabi has his deficiencies, and perhaps Aquilani will drive us forward even better. While Xabi's play directed the team's performance, there were elements missing, which may be the key ingredient to success. I think we need a creative player (we've been missing one for years), and if what they say about Aquilani is half-true, he may be the one. We won't know until he's tested in the PL, because even proven top players (e.g., Morientes) may not make the grade. It's way to early to say.