Liverpool FC Forum

[Madmax]

great new.. and yeah i think would be good if his rested against stoke

[HacksawJimDuggin]

This is great news for us. Think he's certain to be rested for the weekend's game vs Stoke. Not keen on him and Mascha missing out on Saturday though so hopefully Mascha is fit.

In fact...if Stoke are likely to sit back and defend against us like they did at Anfield then maybe we should rest both of them, play Lucas in the middle with Gerrard, bring Kuyt back into RM and play Benayoun as a 2nd striker playing off Torres.

I have been impressed with both Lucas and Yossi of late.

Rafa if you are listening take heed

[johnymarcu]

Stoke isn't going to be a problem He can rest quietly

[Toffeehater]

This is great news for us. Think he's certain to be rested for the weekend's game vs Stoke. Not keen on him and Mascha missing out on Saturday though so hopefully Mascha is fit.

In fact...if Stoke are likely to sit back and defend against us like they did at Anfield then maybe we should rest both of them, play Lucas in the middle with Gerrard, bring Kuyt back into RM and play Benayoun as a 2nd striker playing off Torres.

I have been impressed with both Lucas and Yossi of late.

Rafa if you are listening take heed

alright , i have taken note 

[redmikey]

fair doo s lucas played well in the last game and defo should start against stoke but glad as a mother fecker that xabi isn't out for a long stretch

[HacksawJimDuggin]

This is great news for us. Think he's certain to be rested for the weekend's game vs Stoke. Not keen on him and Mascha missing out on Saturday though so hopefully Mascha is fit.

In fact...if Stoke are likely to sit back and defend against us like they did at Anfield then maybe we should rest both of them, play Lucas in the middle with Gerrard, bring Kuyt back into RM and play Benayoun as a 2nd striker playing off Torres.

I have been impressed with both Lucas and Yossi of late.

Rafa if you are listening take heed

alright , i have taken note 

Contradicted myself a little by stating in another thread that I'd like Mascha to start tomorrow and if Stoke decide to sit back and defend we make a change early to be more attack minded (revert back to my original post)

Please note this change to the team...

[stmichael]

I wouldn't risk him tomorrow to be honest. I'd save him for the Derby match. Go back to 4-4-2 and really go at Stoke.

Been magnificent this season though. You saw our performance significantly drop against Preston in the second half after he went off. Ran the show in the first half.

[Sabre]

Alonso's been given the week end free by the club, and he's been at San Sebastian, he's given an interview in the local tv.

He has said he couldn't watch the Stoke game by TV... so he had to manage to watch it with streams in the internet

He had forbidden to shot balls because he has the stiches just in the place he contacts the ball most frequently. The stiches will be today (he took the plane yesterday) and he doesn't expect to have problems to shot the ball. He's confident he'll be ready for Everton.

Xabi seems to have full confidence in the team, but he showed a little face of when he talked about the points lost at Stoke. He says draws are not good enough, and he's confident we'll manage to win more games. He sees belief in the squad.

[Reg]

At last some positive news, thanks Sabes.

[Sabre]

I just found this excellent pic in The Rattle forum posted by a fellow red with merseybox as nickname.



Beautiful photograph I think. Some may argue that Casillas saved it because he's a great keeper, but the key of that save is that he knows our Alonso too well, he started running quickly enough!

[dawson99]

Great pic sabre, he's running already and the ball's only just left his feet.
I got to admit, Xabi has more than prooved himself to any doubters this term. And he's gonna score against boro which will be nice

[Sarge]

I just love this guy....

Can't we just like offer him a 40-year contract??

[NANNY RED]

tIME FOR A SING SONG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjOsfYGfQUo

Learn the words now Sabes

[Sabre]

El Diario Vasco, a local newspaper, sent a journo to Anfield last game, and the journo interviewed Aldridge (also known as Aldo and Sir John William Aldridge in my town).

I translate the part of the quotes, not the introduction which is cheesy and stupid. But before I translate, I'd like match goer like Nanny or Lynds clarify me if it's true that ALonso heard this song I've never heard of with the tune of "let it snow"

"«Oh the man is a midfield maestro, and his pass is so delightful, everybody wants to know, Alonso, Alonso, Alonso"

I hadn't heard of it.

Translation of the quotes part:

All of a sudden, in the mixed Zone of Anfield I saw a legend of Real Sociedad and Liverpool, John Aldridge, as soon as I tell him where I'm from he tells me "Kaixo" in basque with a big smile.

Aldridge works as a commentator these days and admits that "Xabi and I are twin souls,  both souls are of Liverpool and La Real"

"Since he arrived Xabi Alonso won an influential position in Liverpools football, he's undoubtedly a starting eleven player. Last year several injuries didn't allow him to be regular and we saw a more vulnerable Xabi. I think that Benitez, who knows Basques well, tried to "wind up" him saying he was in the market."

"Anyone who knows Xabi Alonso knows that if you give him a challenge he'll take it. He's a true winner, a tough guy who never has his arms down, and if my theory is correct, Benitez has done a perfect move with this tactic, because Xabi Alonso has shown himself as one of the best midfielders of the world this season"

"The stuff he does is done by none, against Real Madrid he didn't show his full repertoire of passes, but he did show his perfect positioning in the pitch. He's always in the right place, it's as if he has a GPS device in his head. His movement combinations with Mascherano shoud be shown in every school of the world so that the children know how football must be played".

"Another things that makes Xabi is his ability to steal balls. He has evolved into a tough guy in England, if he gets a hard tackle he gets up and shakes hand with the oppo player. He's a gent, a noble player and I'll be gutted if Madrid comes with a lot of Millions and he bought him. He's irreplaceable as we speak".

Just before saying Goodbye he says "I've been watching Real all this years but since they're in segunda there's no way I can keep following them as I don't find videos in the internet nor Tv games, I never stopped doing it since I left San Sebastian, I spent two marvelous years there"

The article has other praises of Steve Hothersall a Radio City journo, but the comments of Aldo are enough for the questions I want to make.

The praises he makes about Alonso's game have been repeated too much in this thread and others (by several fans), but I love the fact that Aldo appreciates Xabi even when he doesn't show his full repertoire of passing, I think his positioning is rarely mentioned nor appreciated.

It's interesting aswell his theory about Benitez and the transfer list thing. The Basque character he mentions is about moan little, and work a lot. I can tell for sure that Alonso's answer to that incident is the stereotype of Basque attitude against a blow, but I'm not so sure about his theory of Benitez. I'm not sure of the opposite neither. What do you think?

And another question. What yould be your price tag now on Alonso? that is, if you had to pick a number to let him go, what figure would it be?

And a last question, Do you agree Aldo about the Alonso-Mascherano partnership? do you like it?

P.S. Aldo saying hello video

[RedBlood]

greta player one of the worlds best his partnership with mascherano behind gerrard and torres is what we should build the team around