aCe' wrote:Im not sure where this discussion is headed but anyways...
Lets just start off by saying that IF we end up losing Alonso, it wouldnt be the end of the world... Theres a good chance that selling Alonso would only help in us becoming a better team in terms of attacking play IF Rafa goes out and bring in the right players and figures out a winning setup...
Two big IFs but it all comes down to Rafa and what he decides... I dont think Alonso wants to leave, i dont think Rafa would want to sell Alonso if we had enough funds, but given that we dont, i think that if Alonso does eventually leave, it would be because Rafa made it clear to him that he is replacable.
Now back to the whole discussion about Alonso and his role in the side... To me, Alonsos main role is controlling the pace of the game, linking the play and providing defensive cover to the back 4.... Mascherano does pretty much the same things, except his added mobility allows to pop up and cover more ground on the pitch, albeit with less game intelligence and average link up play... To me, i'd much rather have Alonso in the side than Mascherano, but Rafa sees it differently and im sure theres a point to be made about each player and what they add to the side...
To put things in context, you look at a Chelsea side that has Essien as one of 3 in the middle of the park, a manutd side that has Carrick in a 2man midfield pairing and it seems like different setups could work just as effectively if carried out in the right manner... to me, Essien is probably one of the best around... better than Alonso, better than Mascherano, and offers more at both ends of the pitch than both... Carrick is more of an Alonso type of player, except hes better at carrying the ball and poppping up at attacking positions, and thus offers more of an attacking threat than Alonso does... Point is, they can both do Alonso's job in our current setup and it would work just as well if not better as far as im concerned... Before people stat jumping on my back, im not saying we should go out and sign either of them, im not saying that Carrick is the better player, im just saying that losing Alonso might not be as big a mistake as some seem to suggest IF Rafa plays it right...
Alonsos role or his position in the side are not a problem as far as i can tell... him not scoring double figures in the league every season isnt a problem, i wouldnt think. Our problem has mostly to do with our forward play... our creativity down the final third, and that isnt Alonsos territory .. Hes benefitied from having Riera in the side... Picking a pass to a player who knows how and where to position himself to recieve a good ball has added to Alonsos game this season as Sabre has pointed out... Maybe we should focus on replacing the attacking players we have with better quality... the Kuyts, Rieras, Babels and Benayouns all while being good player, can be improved upon...
I agree with most of what you say except i think that we will loose a lot of our aggresive play if it is just Mascherano in that midfield area controling the pace because he doesnt have as good a passing ability as Alonso.
That said though, you made a good point that our team would become better in terms of attacking play if Rafa brings in the right players if Alonso is sold.
An idea of my ideal line up would be something like this:
Tevez - Torres
Gerrard
Riera Silva
Mascherano
Aurelio - Agger - Carragher - Johnson
We have Kuyt as backup Right Winger/Striker and Silva can always play on the left. Mascherano acting as a bit more of a distributor and Gerrard can drop back and help defend when needed. We would also have Benayoun and Barry as Backup midfielders for Rafa's rotations.
There is of course the other option of sticking to the same formation that we have but replacing Alonso with this Javi Martinez guy from Atletico Bilbao who ive been hearing good things about.
hope true I hate the transfer 
around this time of year bring on new season!
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