Liverpool FC Forum

Number 9 wrote:Seems like a lot on here have a lot of respect and admiration for Xabi,whether its down to sentiment because of how good he has been for us in his first year or two or because hes from San Sebastian(sorry Sabre mate)!
Anyway i feel the respect is justified and can fully understand the applause and showing of respect the other night at Anfield,the crowd showed Xabi they respect him too!

BUT....
I feel he has become too comfortable at LFC over the last couple of years.Its almost as if he has taken the fact he will play often as granted and as a result has lost a bit of hunger and ambition.It may be a little too harsh to say he lacks effort but i would forgive someone for saying it...that may not be too far off the mark.

Im not saying his dip in form has been only down to his mindset.I feel that all managers have caught on to the fact that if you give Xabi space he punishes you and opens teams up.Its no coincedence that he gets hardly any space on the ball anymore and we see very few of his defence splitting long balls.
Thats where I have a problem when he gets closed down quickly i feel he gets rid of the ball to quick,plays a simple pass as opposed to taking players on and making room to do what he does best....spray the ball about.There lies the question,does he have the ability to do this?

Anyway with all due respect and all excuses aside we all know that he is a better player than he has shown regardless of where he has been played it is irrelevant.His performances have not been good enough on a consistant basis and i fail to see how anyone can argue with that!
There is nothing I would like to see more than Xabi staying at LFC and finding his old form.I think now this is possible as the whole Gareth Barry circus has made him realise that nothing is taken for granted in football...least of all at LFC!
Hopefully the fact he was to be sold may have just have been the kick up the @rse he needed to bring him back to form and we can get back the Xabi of old with passion and fire in his belly....lets face it,it would be like signing a new player!
Bottom line is this is LFC and we cant afford passengers if we are to improve as a unit,I feel Xabi has been coasting along in second gear for too long.more effort is needed from him and the whole team in fact.
Some players need to remember who they are playing for and how lucky they are to be here!

Bad Bob wrote:Kinell, roll on the start of the season so we can focus on the actual performances on the pitch and stop speculating about what's going on in someone's head (Alonso's, Rafa's, Barry's or whoever's) or reading way too much into every little comment to the press!

Amen!!

Sabre wrote:

I feel he has become too comfortable at LFC over the last couple of years.Its almost as if he has taken the fact he will play often as granted and as a result has lost a bit of hunger and ambition.It may be a little too harsh to say he lacks effort but i would forgive someone for saying it...that may not be too far off the mark.

It's fair enough what you say, Barry. I also think that in the interval from Hamman left, and Mascherano came Alonso had too easy to play in the team.

I think that Alonso has reached an age and an experience at the club in which we should ask him to contribute more, to be more important. That at the end of the day is to ask him more. I don't want him to become the lad he was when he came here, I want him to improve further.

Now he has proper competition in the team. This competition is good for the team, plus, as the olympics show, you always need to have quality players ready to play if you are a club that wants to win everything.

BTW, S@int

I would doubt that very much mate, he supposedly valued Kuyt at £16million (don't laugh!)

Really!?! I stand corrected then. But I swear I missed that quote!

Sabre im not on about his ability mate..just so you understand.
As a supporter of LFC all I want to see is 100% from all players.Their ability is their gift and playing for LFC is another gift that they are very lucky to have...Not giving enough is not an option and Rafa has seen Xabi has lacked in ambition!
It seems Martin O'Neills awkard stuborness in keeping his captain(which i fully respect) has granted Alonso at least till January to apply himself.
When you next see his dad tell him i said to tell Xabi to shape up or ship out!  

Sabre wrote:BTW, S@int

I would doubt that very much mate, he supposedly valued Kuyt at £16million (don't laugh!)

Really!?! I stand corrected then. But I swear I missed that quote!

It was in the D.Mail, but its immaterial anyway mate, Rafa has said he doesn't want to sell .......... KUYT   

s@int wrote:

Sabre wrote:BTW, S@int

I would doubt that very much mate, he supposedly valued Kuyt at £16million (don't laugh!)

Really!?! I stand corrected then. But I swear I missed that quote!

It was in the D.Mail, but its immaterial anyway mate, Rafa has said he doesn't want to sell .......... KUYT   

Ben1988 wrote:Totally agree with a lot of what i have read in this feed. Alonso may have been coasting and this may have been the kick up the a*se he needs but on the other hand he may not be the same player he used to be. I hope not becos i like the fella, having said that sometimes a squad shake up make a big change even if the system stays v similar. Bringing in barry may add something new... and i trust Benitez. i think. If he spends 18on barry and sells alonso for less than 14 it may be a waist but i hope im proved wrong.

Not realy for this thread but people have been slating Kuyt all over this website and i thinks its totally unfair and i agree with the above statement, about him, 100%. He gives 110% every time he pulls on that shirt, and links up well with gerrard and torres... he just needs to start finding the back of the net more... but if he supplies keane, torres, gerrard this year from the right hand side or whatever system benitez choses ill be very happy. mayb he isnt worth 16million, but thatl be newspaper bullsh*t anyway, i would want 12 for him tho definatly.

Id like to see the situation sorted quickly now, obviously thats been the case for about 6weeks tho! All this chat on here is great fun and very insightful, but at the end of the day its a waiting game... we just gota see what unfolds. Then we can scrutinise the outcome on here lol

i say alonso stays.... silva in!

Players don't loose ability...they loose drive,ambition,determination a willingness to sweat blood for the cause....Alonso is the player he was....He has been reminded that he's at LFC!
Let's hope he plays like he can this season otherwise he can go where he likes!

Scottbot wrote:What happened to the Barry thread?

It died..Villa bought Luke Young and Nicky Shorey!
Watch and see!!

Scottbot wrote:What happened to the Barry thread?