Liverpool FC Forum

[aCe']

Whatever we do.. we need to stick to signing quality rather than quantity

[Alex G.]

whatever we do... the substitute of Alonso in the midfield aint gonna be as good as him.
Conclusion: oh oooh oh we HAVEN´T the best midfield in the world....

[Bad Bob]

Not necessarily, I think we have Benayoun, Lucas and Spearing who can come in and do a job, ok not as good as Xabi but not that much worse either

   

You do come up with some whoppers, don't you?  A bit like saying to your missus, "we can't get to the French Riviera this year but, don't worry, the Norwegian Riviera's just about as good." 

[dawson99]

If Alonso goes we need a replacement simple as. We cannot afford for Stevie to drop back into CM when he is so devastating in the more forward role

[Alex G.]

If Alonso goes we need a replacement simple as.

How many players are in the world as good as him? four, maybe five?

[aCe']

whatever we do... the substitute of Alonso in the midfield aint gonna be as good as him.
Conclusion: oh oooh oh we HAVEN´T the best midfield in the world....

Alonsos a good player and all but lets not over exaggerate his abilities or importance to our side here ...
The way i see it, there isnt much difference in quality between the likes of Alonso, Barry, Carrick, Pirlo, Cambiasso...etc... Alonsos passing stands out, Barry's ball retention and crossing stand out, Carricks attacking play and contributions stand out, Cambiasso's defending and linkup play stand out...etc etc... overall theyr all about the same level... You have better players in their positions (Essien, Fabregas, Scholes, DeRossi, Xavi, Iniesta, Ballack..etc) and you have worse...

Again, if we replace Alonso that doesnt have to mean that we'd only be looking for someone who has passing skills that stand out, while everything else he has in his game is prettyy ordinary... Imo, we'd be better off getting someone who offers that little more in the final third in terms of direct contribution to our attacking play.. There are many names out there who imo would do a very good job in our side replacing Alonso in the current setup, and depending on how we go about our transfers IF Alonso leaves, i think we have a very good chance of actually coming out of this whole thing with a better squad and starting 11 than we do now...
And the whole best midfield in the world thing is a funny one... its like Milan having Flamini, Emerson, Ambrosini, Gattuso, Pirlo and about 15 other defensive midfielders and bragging about it... In attacking terms, all of them combined played in the starting 11 amount to half a 74 year old Filipo Inzaghi... ManUtd dont have the best midfield in the world but i'd say they've been doing pretty okay the last couple of years ! Wonder how theyv managed to go on and win games without having Alonso in their side 

[Dundalk]

He has set a deadline for this to be sorted


Xabi Alonso has reportedly told his agent: Finalise my transfer to Real Madrid by July 19 or I will stay at Liverpool.

In a highly-detailed account of the emerging saga, The Daily Mail reports that 'The Liverpool midfielder, who has been on international duty with Spain at the Confederations Cup in South Africa, met his representative Inaki Ibanez immediately after flying back to Madrid yesterday. Alonso went straight to lunch with Ibanez at Madrid's Hotel Melia Barajas after getting off a 10-hour flight from Johannesburg.'

It was at this meeting that Alonso is said to have set a deadline - July 19 is the date on which he is scheduled to return to Anfield for pre-season training - for his proposed move to Real. He is quoted as saying to Spanish newspaper AS: "I don't know what will happen. The clubs now have to negotiate."

According to the Mail, 'Madrid are considering a £55million combined bid for Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Alvaro Arbeloa, but are prepared to negotiate players separately as Liverpool are unlikely to even contemplate losing both Alonso and Mascherano. In a bid to scare off suitors, Benitez has quoted a price-tag of £50m for Alonso, but sources in Spain say the actual valuation coming out of Merseyside is £35m.'

[stmichael]

Alonsos a good player and all but lets not over exaggerate his abilities or importance to our side here ...
The way i see it, there isnt much difference in quality between the likes of Alonso, Barry, Carrick, Pirlo, Cambiasso...etc... Alonsos passing stands out, Barry's ball retention and crossing stand out, Carricks attacking play and contributions stand out, Cambiasso's defending and linkup play stand out...etc etc... overall theyr all about the same level... You have better players in their positions (Essien, Fabregas, Scholes, DeRossi, Xavi, Iniesta, Ballack..etc) and you have worse...

Again, if we replace Alonso that doesnt have to mean that we'd only be looking for someone who has passing skills that stand out, while everything else he has in his game is prettyy ordinary... Imo, we'd be better off getting someone who offers that little more in the final third in terms of direct contribution to our attacking play.. There are many names out there who imo would do a very good job in our side replacing Alonso in the current setup, and depending on how we go about our transfers IF Alonso leaves, i think we have a very good chance of actually coming out of this whole thing with a better squad and starting 11 than we do now...
And the whole best midfield in the world thing is a funny one... its like Milan having Flamini, Emerson, Ambrosini, Gattuso, Pirlo and about 15 other defensive midfielders and bragging about it... In attacking terms, all of them combined played in the starting 11 amount to half a 74 year old Filipo Inzaghi... ManUtd dont have the best midfield in the world but i'd say they've been doing pretty okay the last couple of years ! Wonder how theyv managed to go on and win games without having Alonso in their side 

Carrick's attacking qualities stand out? You're having a laugh mate.

Alonso is unique. The likes of Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas (fantastic though they are) couldn't come into our system and play in the way Xabi does. Alonso's more prone to sit deep and play longer balls into the channels. Those three are more adventurous and favour the more intricate stuff in the final third. They also don't have the physicailty or comitment in the tackle in my opinion.

The likes of Pirlo & Riquelme could come in and play in the same way but price and age might rule them out. I don't think De Rossi has the technical quality (but if Masch went I'd happily have him step in there). Carrick is a poor, poor second (and Utd wouldn't sell to us in a million years anway)

I don't think Gerrard is disciplined or savvy enough to play there and surely we'd prefer him playing off Torres given the partnership they've established?

[Alex G.]

st. michael

[aCe']

If Alonso goes we need a replacement simple as.

How many players are in the world as good as him? four, maybe five?

4 or 5 ?
Holy craap !

let me name 10 ...

Gerrard
Xavi
Iniesta
Essien
Fabregas
DeRossi
Lampard
Y.Toure
Seedorf
Stankovic
Deco?!
Aquilani?!
Ballack?!
Scholes?!

I know id pick every single one of the names on that list before i do Alonso's... Theres more but im not sure many would agree with them... Lucho Gonzales, Riquelme, Senna, Melo, Javier Zanetti, Giggs....

Hes a very good passer and does his defensive duties very well... others offer more in different areas and i think we could use more of that especially when we have Mascherano playing alongside...

[Ace Ventura]

Dont want him to go but if he does at least if it for something like 35 milliion then we can replace him.

Just think we were going to sell him for about 14 last summer 

[Sabre]

Not necessarily, I think we have Benayoun, Lucas and Spearing who can come in and do a job, ok not as good as Xabi but not that much worse either

   

You do come up with some whoppers, don't you?  A bit like saying to your missus, "we can't get to the French Riviera this year but, don't worry, the Norwegian Riviera's just about as good." 

Yes, it's funny.

What Alonso does must be good because yesteryear the valuation for some members was low teens, and now when we read Dundalk's post the lower sum is about high thirties.

Perhaps I was wrong on Heimdall and he has a higher regard for our players than I thought. I've never slagged Lucas too much, but I never rated him as highly as Heimdall, being able to provide the same or slightly less than a low teens high thirties player.

Anyhoo like Lando says, it's opinions. We'll see who's right. If Alonso goes and we win the league he'll be right. If Alonso goes and we notice it big time, no problem, he'll be right aswell, it will be Rafa's fault.

[Redman in wales]

If Alonso goes we need a replacement simple as.

How many players are in the world as good as him? four, maybe five?

4 or 5 ?
Holy craap !

let me name 10 ...

Gerrard
Xavi
Iniesta
Essien
Fabregas
DeRossi
Lampard
Y.Toure
Seedorf
Stankovic
Deco?!
Aquilani?!
Ballack?!
Scholes?!

I know id pick every single one of the names on that list before i do Alonso's... Theres more but im not sure many would agree with them... Lucho Gonzales, Riquelme, Senna, Melo, Javier Zanetti, Giggs....

Hes a very good passer and does his defensive duties very well... others offer more in different areas and i think we could use more of that especially when we have Mascherano playing alongside...

okay.

so maybe a better question is

How many players are in the world as good as him, would come to us and we could afford?

[aCe']

Alonsos a good player and all but lets not over exaggerate his abilities or importance to our side here ...
The way i see it, there isnt much difference in quality between the likes of Alonso, Barry, Carrick, Pirlo, Cambiasso...etc... Alonsos passing stands out, Barry's ball retention and crossing stand out, Carricks attacking play and contributions stand out, Cambiasso's defending and linkup play stand out...etc etc... overall theyr all about the same level... You have better players in their positions (Essien, Fabregas, Scholes, DeRossi, Xavi, Iniesta, Ballack..etc) and you have worse...

Again, if we replace Alonso that doesnt have to mean that we'd only be looking for someone who has passing skills that stand out, while everything else he has in his game is prettyy ordinary... Imo, we'd be better off getting someone who offers that little more in the final third in terms of direct contribution to our attacking play.. There are many names out there who imo would do a very good job in our side replacing Alonso in the current setup, and depending on how we go about our transfers IF Alonso leaves, i think we have a very good chance of actually coming out of this whole thing with a better squad and starting 11 than we do now...
And the whole best midfield in the world thing is a funny one... its like Milan having Flamini, Emerson, Ambrosini, Gattuso, Pirlo and about 15 other defensive midfielders and bragging about it... In attacking terms, all of them combined played in the starting 11 amount to half a 74 year old Filipo Inzaghi... ManUtd dont have the best midfield in the world but i'd say they've been doing pretty okay the last couple of years ! Wonder how theyv managed to go on and win games without having Alonso in their side 

Carrick's attacking qualities stand out? You're having a laugh mate.

Alonso is unique. The likes of Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas (fantastic though they are) couldn't come into our system and play in the way Xabi does. Alonso's more prone to sit deep and play longer balls into the channels. Those three are more adventurous and favour the more intricate stuff in the final third. They also don't have the physicailty or comitment in the tackle in my opinion.

The likes of Pirlo & Riquelme could come in and play in the same way but price and age might rule them out. I don't think De Rossi has the technical quality (but if Masch went I'd happily have him step in there). Carrick is a poor, poor second (and Utd wouldn't sell to us in a million years anway)

I don't think Gerrard is disciplined or savvy enough to play there and surely we'd prefer him playing off Torres given the partnership they've established?

I dont get the part where everyone thinks Alonso is the only player who would fit in our system !!
To me, the fact that he sits deep (too deep more often than not) is one of the biggest criticisms to Alonsos game with us... Too often we'r outnumbered in the final third with not enough support from deep to try and open up spaces for our forwards and wingers... Against the smaller sides, we waste too much time with Alonso, Mascherano, the 2 fullbacks and the wingers exchanging passes with none of them willing to carry the ball forward themselves or looking for a run off the ball to try and open up spaces... Riera has done so in patches and thats the one thing imo thats keeping the fans from turning on him... he offers something thats different to seemingly everyone else but Gerrard and Torres, and it has helped us alot last season...

You might not like Carrick, you might think hes rubbish.. fair enough.. i think hes a very good player and one whos helped ManUtd alot ever since he was signed... When going forward hes always in a good attacking position to recieve the ball and find someone to pass it to, and hes not afraid to carry it himself when needed... dont recall Xabi getting himself in advanced positions too often, dont remember him providing many killer balls from advanced positions either... Mascherano doesnt do enough of that either, but atleast his limitations are known to all, and i dont think many expect much from him in that sense anyways...

My point is, against most sides, we dont need the 2 deep lying players who shield the defense and look for passes from deep all the time... might actually help to have someone who is, and ill quote you on this one "more adventurous and favours the more intricate stuff in the final third".. dont think it'll affect our defensive solidity much against most sides (smaller sides we struggle against in particular, where we need more of the creative impact player type and less of the sit there and control the tempo type) , and it'll definitely add a new dimension to our attacking play... imo...

[dawson99]

cant we swap him for Yaya with Barca?