Liverpool FC Forum

by **Toffeehater** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:08 pm

banana wrote:Did anyone watch Alonso last night. He was amazing. Completely tearing the greeks apart with brilliant passing. His positioning was top class and he was by far the best on the pitch last night. miles ahead of Iniesta and Fabregas.

, have been one of his biggiest critics but have to say that he played superb , brilliant passing and almost could have scored 2 goals of the tournaments

by **Toffeehater** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:10 pm

Lando_Griffin wrote:
Ian Rush's Right foot wrote:
banana wrote:Did anyone watch Alonso last night. He was amazing. Completely tearing the greeks apart with brilliant passing. His positioning was top class and he was by far the best on the pitch last night. miles ahead of Iniesta and Fabregas.

Selling him = massive mistake forced upon Benitez by the owners

i agree, he was top draw, hit the post, almost scored from the halfway line, and directed the game.

but tbh, it was only Greece

You're right - it WAS only the reigning European Champions...

TBH , we all know that greece won the title on luck , it was their year , they year they won it mate . They haven't looked like that side this tournament or so , they barely qualified to begin with but still credit where is due , alonso played superb

by **Perseo** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:41 pm

http://www.cuatro.com/videos/index.html?xref=20080618ctoultpro_19.Ves
alonso :eyebrow

by **Perseo** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:43 pm

mas de alonso

http://www.cuatro.com/videos/index.html?xref=20080618ctoultpro_15.Ves
:wwww

by **Perseo** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:50 pm

mas de alonso

http://www.cuatro.com/videos/index.html?xref=20080601ctoultnot_14.Ves

by **Perseo** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:00 pm

goles de villa 2007

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

by **Sabre** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:02 pm

Please read this thread. Lee esto

by **Perseo** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:17 pm

gracias sabre, entendido sin problema amigo

un saludo y gracias

by **Sabre** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:27 pm

s@int wrote:Originally Posted by George Costanza TLW
I've read what you've said elsewhere Coop. I just disagree with it.

Villa is an exceptional player but I don't believe he would fit in to our current system. Or at least you will be limiting his impact.

I agree completely about his movement across the back line but thats because he's given to do so from a central starting point. Drifting outwide is natural instint for a striker, drifing inside from out wide is not. He may adapt brilliantly and you could be spot on but its a big gamble to make given the amount of money we are talking about. Its not a great comparison but look at Henry. At Arsneal he was a central striker but often drifted out left, it worked as it was a natural movement. He had the freedom to make that movement. At Barca he's played immediately on the left, it is a forced move and not a natural one. He's not used to drifting inside from out. He's not looked comfortable at all.

If we were to sign Villa he'd have to play upfront alongside Torres and we'd have to adjust the team accordingly. IMO of course.

For the record, I just tried to tell my countrymate not to spam the thread with Spanish messages and to use the proper thread, and he has answered me in *this* thread that he got the message.

As for S@int's comment, I don't find it funny. Not any more.

I know that St Michael knows to post his own stuff because he has answered quickly to some posts which make clear he didn't got it from somewhere else.

That's why precisely I'm píssed off when he does that, because he knows perfectly well to post his own stuff.

For the record, I find interesting when members like S@int bring RELEVANT posts from other red sites with the proper credit, at the end of the day we want to be well informed and just as we read articles, posts like Spirit of Shankly's are interesting.

St Michael, please, stop doing that.

by **Bad Bob** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 3:21 am

I've just had a chance to see the whole match between Spain and Greece and Alonso certainly ran the show. As the match progressed I couldn't help but think that Big Mick has been spot on with his idea that Xabi could do much more damage playing just a little further forward. In this match he got off 5 cracking shots, all of which caused Nickopoulidis (Sp?) trouble. Granted, one was from his own half but the others were near the edge of the area and he even managed to get into the box a couple of times. And, moving up didn't hurt his passing game one iota.

The interesting thing is that he was playing with the likes of Fabregas, De La Red and Iniesta--none of which are particularly defensive. In that situation you would expect Alonso to sit deep and shield the back four but he was further forward then I've seen him for us in a long time for large chunks of the game. It makes you wonder if he's being instructed by Rafa to sit deep and "stay at home" while Mascherano bombs about and Gerrard works in behind Torres. If so, I think Rafa is squandering a great resource. As Mick's noted, Masch has the pace and the nous to get back if Alonso pushes up so let him do it. He's shown in the Greece match that he still has a thunderous shot if given a chance to get within 30 yards of the goal and he's got the skill to unlock defenses with his passing. If it truly is Rafa putting the shackles on him, I think a significant rethink is needed. If on the other hand, it's Alonso playing safe, then what had him playing so freely in this match?

by **bigmick** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 4:08 am

I saw it too Bob and I must admit I wasn't actually re-thinking my original thoughts on Xabi after watching it. It's no doubt worth noting that Greece did the mistake of letting him have time and space on the ball to pick a pass, but even so it was a fine performance from Alonso.

In some respects it didn't tell us too much about him that we didn't already know, ie that if you give him time and space there are few better passers of the football anywhere around. Our focus I would have thought ought to have been, (and indeed ought to be if we don't get Barry) how best to put him in a situation where he can actually get on the ball and get his head up. Now given that in the 4-5-1 most if not all teams would have a sitter in front of the back four in an attempt to cope with Gerrard, it just seems to me that if you allow Xabi to drift into that no-mans land "in between the lines" then he really could get a chance to return to somewhere near his best. It's about time we started to really trust the players I think. Masherano is a truly wonderful holding midfielder in the defensive sense, let him get on with throwing himself into tackles, hassling and harrying and let Alonso have a go at what he does best, which I still maintain is playing football with an offensive rather than a defensive mindset.

One things for sure, whether it's his or Rafa's doing he hasn't played like that for Liverpool either in terms of effectiveness or in terms of the positions he took up on the pitch for a very long time.

by **LFC2007** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 4:11 am

You have to account for the opposition, and Greece were absolutely abysmal throughout the tournament. I watched extended highlights of the game and, granted Alonso had a very good game, but he was given so much time and space on the ball to work his magic - time and space which you rarely get in EPL games. I wouldn't use it as any sort of barometer to perform to a higher standard with us.

by **Rush Job** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:11 am

LFC2007 wrote:You have to account for the opposition, and Greece were absolutely abysmal throughout the tournament. I watched extended highlights of the game and, granted Alonso had a very good game, but he was given so much time and space on the ball to work his magic - time and space which you rarely get in EPL games. I wouldn't use it as any sort of barometer to perform to a higher standard with us.

He another of those players that needs a slower league, italy by all accounts, great player though.

by **Toffeehater** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 6:37 am

LFC2007 wrote:You have to account for the opposition, and Greece were absolutely abysmal throughout the tournament. I watched extended highlights of the game and, granted Alonso had a very good game, but he was given so much time and space on the ball to work his magic - time and space which you rarely get in EPL games. I wouldn't use it as any sort of barometer to perform to a higher standard with us.

Agree with you mate but at least he's getting a little bit of form back even if it was against a mediocre team .

by **Owzat** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 6:59 am

LFC2007 wrote:You have to account for the opposition, and Greece were absolutely abysmal throughout the tournament.

How often do people consider that though?

Croatia - ranting and raving about their form, Austria and Poland were very ordinary

Spain - Sweden and Russia were very ordinary, Greece picked up a bit in the last game

Crouch - scores his goals against Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Andorra etc Fortunately the manager isn't quite so ready to take things at face value and knows there are better strikers.

Liverpool FC Forum

The Alonso Thread - hands in transfer request

Who is online