Liverpool FC Forum

by **ivor_the_injun** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 11:45 pm

First of all I'll qualify this by saying I rate Alonso as one of the best central midfielders in the world. On his day, he's unplayable, and I don't think for one second that he's a man in trouble.

That said, for the first match of the new Prem season, I think Rafa must drop Xabi Alonso to the bench.

In a way, Sissoko's storming form makes the decision to do this all the easier. As things stand, we've got 3 awesome central midfielders, but unless we go to 4-5-1, only two starting places. We look far better with two up front for me, and of the 3 central midfielders, on form you have to say that Momo should be the first on the teamsheet. Gerrard was poor against Haifa, but looked far better today.

Alonso, on the other hand, looks like he hasn't had a day off since Spain went out of the World Cup. He was poor last week, and frankly looked lost when he came on today. His normally exemplary passing is currently all over the place, and he frankly looks well short of fitness. A few times today he went for a ball that had moved on half a second earlier, and to me that's a clear sign that he's lacking simple conditioning.

So, for now, let's stop messing Gerrard around, and have him starting in the middle alongside Momo. Pennant and Gonzo (or Aurelio, who impressed me today) on the wings, and Alonso can start the season on the bench.

This for me is completely a question of form, and I don't doubt for a second that - come the end of the season - Xabi will have been one of our outstanding performers. A lot of our squad right now look incredibly sharp, right in time for the season's start, and I think that giving Alonso another week or two to get himself conditioned a little better would do the team no harm at all.

by **onizukaeikichi** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 11:58 pm

you are thinking like as if sissoko is god now, imo alonso is a needed entity at least to me that he can easily spread the ball to our winger accurately while sissoko lacks it but rafa can play with both of them, putting them in at times depending on the situation

neverless sissoko is going stronger and even stronger and that guy is just what, 22?

by **Dalglish** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 12:01 am

Its a good thought out article Ivor and theres some real sense in what your saying .

Xabi had a fine WC in my opinion after suffering an injury towards the end of last season. He was poor in the FA Cup Final mainly due to returning too soon but appeared to regain his form for Spain.

Sissoko has had a terrific start to the season and Gerard seems to be the utility player in terms of how many positions you can play him in but against Maccabi Stevie lacked purpose and had little impact. 15 mins today as a substitute was too little time to truly judge his contribution.

It wil be interesting to see who Benitez picks in the middle of the park when we play one or two of the big guns. I'd favour Benitez starting with all 3 in midfield with Sissoko playing the holding role.

No doubt people will jump all over the headline of the thread without reading the content but it's a fair and balanced thread ...

by **RUSHIE#9** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 12:07 am

Well thought out post ivor; and I agree that Xabi has looked well off the pace in the last couple of games. Today against the rent boys he made a few very sloppy passes and well off the pace of the game. He looks like he could do with a couple more hard training sessions to work on his fitness and on current form if I were in Rafa's shoes I'd start with Momo and Stevie in midfield.

by **whylongball?** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 12:12 am

i see what you meant. Maybe Xabi shouldnt really be selected for the first game. However once he gets back his fitness, his form will be fine. I'm more concerned about Crouch fitness and skill in general. Apart from the goal, Crouch hardly contributed much, got bullied around and couldnt hold the ball. I wonder if Benitez setup a weight training rogram for him? He should benefit with more muscle.

by **ivor_the_injun** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 12:19 am

onizukaeikichi wrote:you are thinking like as if sissoko is god now, imo alonso is a needed entity at least to me that he can easily spread the ball to our winger accurately while sissoko lacks it but rafa can play with both of them, putting them in at times depending on the situation

neverless sissoko is going stronger and even stronger and that guy is just what, 22?

I wouldn't go as far to say that I'm thinking like Sissoko is god (!), but you certainly can't drop him after his last two performances. He's on fire, and to cage him for the opening day of the season would be absolute f*cking madness.

Alonso will wreak havoc this season with two natural wingers to pick out, but right now he just doesn't look up to the job of playmaker. Mentally as well as physically, it's an incredibly demanding role, and he's just not with it at the moment.

Certainly nothing that the right kind of training can't fix, and he'll be gnashing at everybody's heels in a couple of weeks. Looking at him today, I don't think he'd be too surprised or offended at the notion of him being benched. His expression when one pass went astray was one of absolute fury with himself. You can't carry passengers in the middle of the park at Prem and Champions League level, and I get the impression that he currently feels like one.

by **jonnymac1979** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 12:33 am

Interesting topic. I respect you for starting it, I'm not saying I agree 100% though.

You're right, Sissoko for me is a player we cannot do without. Was speaking to my mate today who tells me he was reading some kind of OPTA stats and apparently we have a player in Sissoko who covers 13 miles per game. So on average he plays two games a week at the highest level in the Premiership, plus, what the fuck is he doing in training? Where does this guy get his energy from, and where did Rafa get him from? I've never seen a player with so much energy, it's incredible!!!

Momo is worth his weight in Platinum, never mind gold. To quote Mickey from the Rocky films, Sissoko is a wrecking machine. There is no other player in the league like him. Maybe Makelele and to a lesser extent Gilberto Silva of Arsenal, but I honestly believe that in Sissoko we've got the best destructive, defensive midfielder around. Maybe if Gattuso of Milan (a player I think is absolutely fantastic by the way.....) joined a Premier League club, I'd re-evaluate my opinion, but at this moment, I can't see a defensive, destructive midfielder at any club in Europe who is performing as consistently as our Momo.

Alonso though. I can't believe you are seriously contemplating leaving the guy out. Remember today was only the Community Shield and should be treated as a friendly. So forget today. My opinion obviously doesn't count but I am thinking maybe Rafa will use Alonso at Anfield all the time. Don't ever lose at Anfield. Make it the fortress it should be.

Maybe use Sissoko at away games. In the same vein, I can see Crouch (as much as I like him and rate him) becoming a peripheral figure and purely used in a tactical sense as an aggressive striker who will grind out a goal away from home. Obviously Alonso will play away games as well, but Sissoko is the key for me. We haven't even mentioned Steven Gerrard yet.

The fact we have Momo lets Alonso run the game. And he can do this. It's amazing the guy is only 23 years old. On Wednesday against Haifa, count how many times Alonso spread the play out to Pennant. Pennant couldn't have dreamt of a better introducton to life at Liverpool. I don't want to get away from the point too much by mentioning other players without really speaking about Alonso, but as far as I'm concerned, Alonso is one of the most vital cogs in the machine which Liverpool have become. To leave him out, to leave Sissoko out, and lets mention Steven Gerrard finally.... what a fantastic problem Rafa has. Imagine having Alonso, Gerrard and Sissoko as your three central midfielders.

Say that last sentence I just typed out loud to yourself and remember how priveleged you should feel to support and be born a fan of Liverpool Football Club.

Who do you leave out? Or even better, why not play all three? Build our team around these men as an engine. Think about it.

What do we need?

Two pacy wingers? Check.

Solid defence? Check.

Variety in attack? Check.

Top class goalkeeper? Check.

Strength in depth on the bench? Check.

Answering your question though. Drop Alonso?

No way 'Jose'!!!!!!

by **Smeg** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 12:38 am

ivor_the_injun wrote:First of all I'll qualify this by saying I rate Alonso as one of the best central midfielders in the world. On his day, he's unplayable, and I don't think for one second that he's a man in trouble.

That said, for the first match of the new Prem season, I think Rafa must drop Xabi Alonso to the bench.

In a way, Sissoko's storming form makes the decision to do this all the easier. As things stand, we've got 3 awesome central midfielders, but unless we go to 4-5-1, only two starting places. We look far better with two up front for me, and of the 3 central midfielders, on form you have to say that Momo should be the first on the teamsheet. Gerrard was poor against Haifa, but looked far better today.

Alonso, on the other hand, looks like he hasn't had a day off since Spain went out of the World Cup. He was poor last week, and frankly looked lost when he came on today. His normally exemplary passing is currently all over the place, and he frankly looks well short of fitness. A few times today he went for a ball that had moved on half a second earlier, and to me that's a clear sign that he's lacking simple conditioning.

So, for now, let's stop messing Gerrard around, and have him starting in the middle alongside Momo. Pennant and Gonzo (or Aurelio, who impressed me today) on the wings, and Alonso can start the season on the bench.

This for me is completely a question of form, and I don't doubt for a second that - come the end of the season - Xabi will have been one of our outstanding performers. A lot of our squad right now look incredibly sharp, right in time for the season's start, and I think that giving Alonso another week or two to get himself conditioned a little better would do the team no harm at all.

You are a tool.

by **Fowler_E7** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 12:44 am

i agree that alonso was very poor when he came on today and that his passing was suprisingly unaccurate. Usually his passing is out of this world, but it was well of the boil today. Personally i just think he's lacking a bit of match practice and sharpness, he'll come good with another weeks training.

As for leaving him out it could be a possibilty for the first game as Sissoko has started the season very well indeed, he is starting to look undropable at the moment, and Pennant has made a good start to his Anfield career also. But IMO we should go with Sissoko and Alonso as centre mid and Gerrard as right midfield for the season opener.

by **ALONSO** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 12:58 am

I don't think Sissoko can be dropped and I want to see Gerrard back in the middle so I do see Alonso as third choice, a very good one though and if he rediscovers his form then I might change my mind.
I would like to see Crouch better built hopefully with a neck the size of Tysons by Christmas so he can power them headers home.

by **ivor_the_injun** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 1:18 am

I agree with Jonny to a point about Alonso's supply to Pennant last week. Some of his balls over the top started some of our most promising attacks.

That said, he had acres to pass into on that side, and even so some of the weights of pass left Pennant to do a lot of extra running to prevent the ball from going out. To any other midfielder, these would've been great balls, but Alonso is normally absolutely pinpoint, and quite a few times Pennant couldn't quite make it because the pass was overhit. So yeah, hit and miss was my verdict, but the sheer quantity of balls he made out there still made for a successful debut for Pennant.

Alonso's passing out left all night was just plain poor, however. A couple of times I thought Zenden could've done better, but a few times he didn't have a prayer of bringing the ball under control. Ditto when trying to link through the middle - his short passing game just wasn't there, and he seemed to be trying to pass through opponents all too often.

I can totally put the Haifa game and his brief cameo V Chelsea down to off-games, and wouldn't be surprised to see him at another level v Sheff Utd. With Bellamy in good nick and Crouch off the mark though, I'd pair those two up and just have 2 in the middle for the Prem opener.

Would not be surprised to see Rafa go to 4-5-1, but if I'm honest I would be disappointed. You back class, for sure, but I think accommodating all three central mids would be a real shame when we've got a potentially promising pairing up top.

by **LFCFan4Life** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 1:29 am

While I agree that he isn't certainly in top form at this moment, Alonso in general has had slow starts to the season in the last two years. It's just the way it is, but I think he's far too valuable to bench him.

We need him to control the tempo of the game, and nobody does it better in our team than he does.

Regarding accomidating the three amigos [Momo,Steven and Xabi], can be done without a five man midfield imo. Pennant or Gonzalez would have to make way but it can be done if Benitez wants all three of them to play.

With Momo and Xabi in the middle, we can have Gerrard on the right like last season with Gonzalez or Aurelio on the left. Or play Gerrard on the left and Jermaine on the right.

The game is in six days, in that amount of time Xabi should improve his fitness.

by **Dundalk** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 2:29 am

Well we are in trouble with this one arent we. Do we drop one of the top 3 passers of the ball in the world to the bench and try and keep him happy, while Real Madrid keep the ink wet in there pen or drop Momo, who is lets face it undropable at the moment,

Gerrard has to play that is a given and with Momo playing as he is it is looking like Xabi will be more and more on the bench in the coming months. He is a player that can play anywhere in the midfield but will he be happy sitting on the bench, I think not, so how do you fit him into the team.

The only way, is to play Momo as a holding midfielder and one up front. Its not going to happen face it,and if we get another forward in as looks like is going to happen then we have a problem with Xabi (I cant believe Im typing this) which would mean Mr. Alonso on the bench.

We would be a lot stronger squad wise but would we be a lot happier team wise?

by **Dundalk** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 2:37 am

Drop alonso

by **looprevil** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 4:05 am

Smeg wrote:
ivor_the_injun wrote:First of all I'll qualify this by saying I rate Alonso as one of the best central midfielders in the world. On his day, he's unplayable, and I don't think for one second that he's a man in trouble.

That said, for the first match of the new Prem season, I think Rafa must drop Xabi Alonso to the bench.

In a way, Sissoko's storming form makes the decision to do this all the easier. As things stand, we've got 3 awesome central midfielders, but unless we go to 4-5-1, only two starting places. We look far better with two up front for me, and of the 3 central midfielders, on form you have to say that Momo should be the first on the teamsheet. Gerrard was poor against Haifa, but looked far better today.

Alonso, on the other hand, looks like he hasn't had a day off since Spain went out of the World Cup. He was poor last week, and frankly looked lost when he came on today. His normally exemplary passing is currently all over the place, and he frankly looks well short of fitness. A few times today he went for a ball that had moved on half a second earlier, and to me that's a clear sign that he's lacking simple conditioning.

So, for now, let's stop messing Gerrard around, and have him starting in the middle alongside Momo. Pennant and Gonzo (or Aurelio, who impressed me today) on the wings, and Alonso can start the season on the bench.

This for me is completely a question of form, and I don't doubt for a second that - come the end of the season - Xabi will have been one of our outstanding performers. A lot of our squad right now look incredibly sharp, right in time for the season's start, and I think that giving Alonso another week or two to get himself conditioned a little better would do the team no harm at all.

You are a tool.

Why is he a tool? Because he has an opinion on something and backed it up with a well thought out post? You can't just write he's a tool, give some reason as to why you disagree.
If he had simply said drop alonso cause he is playing like :censored:

. Then fine call him a tool but I don't think this post warrants that without you giving a reason for why you called him a tool.

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