Liverpool FC Forum

[redhayesy]

alonso is quality, glad to see he is thinking positive about our & his future with LFC
imho he is a massive part in our furture success, as he has been since he joined us!!

[god_bless_john_houlding]

glad to see Xabi staying. hasn't been at his best, but is still a top player.

Yeah but your saying it as if he has a choice. All he is basically saying is he has no intentions of placing a transfer request. Whether or not Benitez uses the sale of Alonso to fund a Barry purchase is yet to be seen.

one don't assume how I'm saying anything, two Alonso has every choice. The club accept any bid for him then it's up to him to say whether or not he's going, so if he decides to stay (which thankfully he has) then what sale of Alonso?

Alonso has all the choice, once a bid is accepted.

Con, I'd just like to ask you what quality wingers has Alonso had to work with since coming to Anfield. Garcia (hit and miss) Riise (2004-05 his best ever year with us and Alonso's) Smicer (hit and miss) Finnan/Kromkamp/Josemi all had stints on the right. Gerrard (best player in the side wherever he's played) Gonzalez (miss or not even do enough to claim a miss) Cisse (lazy) Kuyt (not in my opinion a winger) Pennant (half decent in my opinion) Benayoun (less said the better) Babel (has potentional but doesn't wanna play wing) So I don't really understand how people say Alonso plays better with quality wingers, when we've been short of real quality down both flanks since the days of Barnes and McManaman.

I don't buy into this "press him and he's useless" he's been playing in the premiership for four years now, and the first two he was pretty much flawless, are you really trying to say he wasn't pressed during those two years? He never had the pace to be a box to box midfielder. He's always been a holding midfielder pulling the strings, chipping in with some (not enough) goals. So I don't think people have found him out as such, because during his first 18-24 months in England he'd of been constantly pressed as well.

For me where the dip in form has gone, was the signing of Mascherano. Since Mascherano arrived, Alonso has dipped and I think Alonso thought he was irreplaceable and he was in the comfort zone. Then Mascherano came around, proved he could replace Alonso with Gerrard/Sissoko next to him and Alonso hasn't recovered from that. I don't know Xabi personally but he seems to me to be the kind of lad who needs an arm round his shoulder and needs to be told that he is the number 1 central midfielder. Put it back into him that he is irreplaceable and give him the confidence back that the team can't work without him. It does seem funny that Alonso's serious dip started from about January 2007...Mascherano arrived around the same time. Also Benitez criticising Alonso publically may not of helped (if he is the kind of lad who needs confidence instored into him) So to summerise, I think Alonso just needs that confidence that he is the number 1 holding midfielder.

He replaced Hamann, saw off Sissoko but Mascherano has overtaken him in that respect and it's affected Alonso from what I can see.

[mike72]

I'm absolutely chuffed if Alonso stays, he is one of the few geniune world class players that we have, and certainly in a different league to Barry as a central midfielder.  Alonso has been there and done it all, which is more than you can say for Barry.

Maybe Rafa is looking at Barry at left full back?

[Sabre]

Erm, for what is worth, I agree most of that GBJH, including the arm over the shoulder thingy.

I don't think he's the kind of guy who thinks he's irreplaceable though.

[Owzat]

So we sell Alonso and then use precious transfer funds to buy another CM, then we spend the next season moaning about not having quality out on the wings 

If we can find a decent CM for maybe £5m and get £12m+ for Alonso then I'd be tempted to sell. As you say funds are precious and if offers of £12m+ come in for players, other than Gerrard and Torres, then we'd be fools not to at least consider them and push them up.

We don't absolutely have to play three CMs next season, Mascherano and Gerrard may well be most people's 1st choice midfield pairing and Lucas is doing ok as cover, so an extra CM on the (relatively) cheap could be enough with then funds to buy another Fernando Torres or a good wide player. Unfortunately we don't know how much funding Rafa will get, so to a certain degree I tend to think we'll have to raise some funding to buy players if we want the best players. But what we can't afford is to spend £6m or so on budget players and find we're no closing to sorting a position or several out.

[SupitsJonF]

I can't see us winning the league next year with too many changes, and losing a player like Alonso won't help.

[VamosRafa]

I'd like to see xabi stay. Sure he's had a dissapointing season, but i think that had a lot to do with him getting injured early on. He struggled to get back into the swing of things. I seem to remember him putting in a great performance against arsenal at home before he had an injury relapse. Rotation plus his lack of fitness meant he didn't get an extended run in the team until the last few games or so. Xabi has shown his quality, there's no doubt he can recapture it.

[alxy]

Xabi is quality. His form hasn't been the best but I am sure it will come back. Even Stevie G's form this year wasn't as hot as we would have liked at times. Keep Alonso.

[Kash_Mountain]

Xabi' had a bad season.  All players at some point (even the best of them) go through a period / season when it's not happening for them. 

I for one would like to see Xabi stay.  He's quality, has great vision and fantastic passing ability.   He'll be back next season- watch this space.

[Reg]

He'll be back next season- watch this space.

Wearing a Barcelona shirt in the CL ? 

[7_Kewell]

I hope he stays. Form is temporary, class is permanent

[metalhead]

I hope he stays. Form is temporary, class is permanent

[Bad Bob]

I'll be gutted if Xabi leaves.  We'll survive without him, mind, but he's a quality player and a great servant for the club.  Plus, he's a large part of the reason why we don't need any more CMs and can concentrate our funds on signing wide players and strikers.  What's the point of letting him go if we have to divert precious funds to replace him?

[redmikey]

i would want him to stay unless we can use him to get david villa fm valencia,

players i would rather offer would be pennant,dirk,j a r, voronin(lets be fair       no chance of anyone doing that) yossie or a long list of resevres leto,bruna etc

barry is better than alot of our squad but i wounld want xabi to go the other way

[Torres25]

Youd get rid of Gerardo Bruna loooooooooooooooooooooooooooool

oh i hope 2 god ur still on this thread in afew years

i cant wait 2 rip u iver that post

get rid of bruna humph u muppet