Liverpool FC Forum

by **tubby** » Fri May 22, 2009 10:15 am

Ronaldo in the papers today saying he will not be going to RM so id expect the Alonso move to be sorted soon.

by **aCe'** » Fri May 22, 2009 11:32 am

If we're looking to sell a 20mill player to fund our summer transfers why dont we put Mascherano on the transfer list instead of Alonso... Both have admitted publicly that they would be reluctant to leave so the way i see it, its the clubs decision to get rid of Alonso and not Alonso wanting to leave by any chance... Mascherano could very well be our most overrated player in the squad today... There isnt that big a difference in quality between him and Barry, and id actually think that an Alonso-Barry central midfield partnership would be better than what we have atm....

Selling Alonso would be a huge mistake in my books... i dont trust Rafa to use the money from the Alonso transfer in a positive matter, and that said id much rather we kept hold of Alonso and tried to fix other areas of the squad instead of trying to fix something that isnt broken...

by **GYBS** » Fri May 22, 2009 11:38 am

selling masher would be just as big a mistake - we need to keep them both

by **DrPepe** » Fri May 22, 2009 11:38 am

aCe' wrote:and id actually think that an Alonso-Barry central midfield partnership would be better than what we have atm....

it would certainly be slower

by **HacksawJimDuggin** » Fri May 22, 2009 11:43 am

GYBS wrote:selling masher would be just as big a mistake - we need to keep them both

We can't even contemplate selling Mascha. He is class and does a great (unsung) job in front of the back 4.

by **Owzat** » Fri May 22, 2009 12:19 pm

aCe' wrote:If we're looking to sell a 20mill player to fund our summer transfers why dont we put Mascherano on the transfer list instead of Alonso... Both have admitted publicly that they would be reluctant to leave so the way i see it, its the clubs decision to get rid of Alonso and not Alonso wanting to leave by any chance... Mascherano could very well be our most overrated player in the squad today... There isnt that big a difference in quality between him and Barry, and id actually think that an Alonso-Barry central midfield partnership would be better than what we have atm....

Selling Alonso would be a huge mistake in my books... i dont trust Rafa to use the money from the Alonso transfer in a positive matter, and that said id much rather we kept hold of Alonso and tried to fix other areas of the squad instead of trying to fix something that isnt broken...

Unfortunately a lot of fans on here see what Mascherano does and not what he doesn't. The mancs are champions again, they don't rely heavily on a man sitting in front of the back four. I think we've done well as much in spite of Mascherano as because of Mascherano. It's not difficult to by-pass one man, I agree he is over-rated, certainly by our fans.

Mascherano played just three games at the start of the season, we won six and drew two of the other eight games before he was more regularly in the side. I think he is redundant in a lot of games where we have most of the possession, perhaps why fergie doesn't feel the need to get him one and they have three league titles with nothing more than a Carrick or Fletcher in that role (Alonso sh1 ts all over them both)

And I think most on here, even those that love Mascherano, will freely admit our biggest failing this season is not breaking sides down which Mascherano is hardly the answer to, nor is going to help. He played in three of our five 0-0s in the Premiership, maybe switching to 4-4-2 wouldn't be so bad as it might force Rafa to decide who of Gerrard, Alonso and Mascherano is to make way and given that choice surely it wouldn't be Gerrard or Mascherano?!?

by **DrPepe** » Fri May 22, 2009 12:30 pm

Owzat wrote:
aCe' wrote:If we're looking to sell a 20mill player to fund our summer transfers why dont we put Mascherano on the transfer list instead of Alonso... Both have admitted publicly that they would be reluctant to leave so the way i see it, its the clubs decision to get rid of Alonso and not Alonso wanting to leave by any chance... Mascherano could very well be our most overrated player in the squad today... There isnt that big a difference in quality between him and Barry, and id actually think that an Alonso-Barry central midfield partnership would be better than what we have atm....

Selling Alonso would be a huge mistake in my books... i dont trust Rafa to use the money from the Alonso transfer in a positive matter, and that said id much rather we kept hold of Alonso and tried to fix other areas of the squad instead of trying to fix something that isnt broken...

Unfortunately a lot of fans on here see what Mascherano does and not what he doesn't. The mancs are champions again, they don't rely heavily on a man sitting in front of the back four. I think we've done well as much in spite of Mascherano as because of Mascherano. It's not difficult to by-pass one man, I agree he is over-rated, certainly by our fans.

Mascherano played just three games at the start of the season, we won six and drew two of the other eight games before he was more regularly in the side. I think he is redundant in a lot of games where we have most of the possession, perhaps why fergie doesn't feel the need to get him one and they have three league titles with nothing more than a Carrick or Fletcher in that role (Alonso sh1 ts all over them both)

And I think most on here, even those that love Mascherano, will freely admit our biggest failing this season is not breaking sides down which Mascherano is hardly the answer to, nor is going to help. He played in three of our five 0-0s in the Premiership, maybe switching to 4-4-2 wouldn't be so bad as it might force Rafa to decide who of Gerrard, Alonso and Mascherano is to make way and given that choice surely it wouldn't be Gerrard or Mascherano?!?

i agree with what you say about mascheranos limitations, but i do think alonso needs somone with pace in there with him

the gerard/alonso combo has been tried and abandoned by rafa, so what does that leave?

kaka , obviously :cool:

by **aCe'** » Fri May 22, 2009 3:03 pm

What pace are you talking about... i dont wanna go over this again because im pretty sure i went over the whole Alonso-Mascherano thing more than once in other threads ...

All ill say is this... Alonso-Barry would be much better than Alonso-Mascherano in going forward... Obviously, Alonso is the better of the 3 players and he'd be the first pick out of the 3 every single time... now between Barry and Mascherano, i know who id rather have playing against Stoke, WestBrom, Hull, WestHam, Newcastle...etc

Its not like we'll be opening up our midfield by playing Barry there ahead of Mascherano... The way some are defending him, you'd think the team would concede 5 goals every game if Mascherano wasnt there to 'cover the back 4' and 'protect Alonso'...

We get way too little in an attacking sense from the Alonso-Mascherano partnership, and that extra defensive cushion everyone keeps going on about is not only overrated, it is most probably not even needed as the Mancs have proven yet and again... wouldnt call Scholes, Carrick, fletcher, Giggs (today) the fastest bunch to respond in defensive situations...

by **GYBS** » Fri May 22, 2009 3:06 pm

Barry doesnt provide anything much clinical going forward - he isnt a clever play with tricks and ability to play clever balls to unlock the tight defenses of teams like stoke etc - . He is a box to box player of a decent standard in the prem but a top class player ?? not for me .

by **RedBen** » Fri May 22, 2009 3:40 pm

RAFA: WE DON'T WANT TO SELL XABI

Rafa Benitez insists Liverpool do not want to sell midfield ace Xabi Alonso.

The Spain international suffers regular media speculation about his future despite having three years remaining on his contract.

Benitez told Liverpoolfc.tv: "It's very clear - Xabi has three years left and we do not want to sell him."

Alonso has enjoyed one of his finest seasons in a red shirt, scoring five goals in 46 appearances and winning Liverpoolfc.tv fans' man of the match seven times.

From the official site

by **aCe'** » Fri May 22, 2009 3:46 pm

GYBS wrote:Barry doesnt provide anything much clinical going forward - he isnt a clever play with tricks and ability to play clever balls to unlock the tight defenses of teams like stoke etc - . He is a box to box player of a decent standard in the prem but a top class player ?? not for me .

Sorry but to me, Barry offers even more than Alonso in terms of direct impact on attacking play... his movememnt off the ball and his ability to get himself in attacking positions where he can either put in a cross or play a through ball are top class.. to me atleast... He gets close to the attacking players... especially the left winger and the attacking midfielder and he does more with the ball in attacking positions than Mascherano or even alonso do...

We see things different and thats fine i guess... Even with the below standard season hes having im pretty sure he has more goals and assists than our midfield pairing combined... cant be bothered looking up the stats or anything but yep... anyways..

by **GYBS** » Fri May 22, 2009 3:51 pm

well i guess we will have to disagree then cause you must be seeing a different barry to the ordinary one i see who is a decent size fish in a villa pond and has been his whole career . He is a step backwards if he becomes a starter for us over xabi or masher.

by **ConnO'var** » Fri May 22, 2009 4:05 pm

GYBS wrote:well i guess we will have to disagree then cause you must be seeing a different barry to the ordinary one i see who is a decent size fish in a villa pond and has been his whole career . He is a step backwards if he becomes a starter for us over xabi or masher.

I agree with you.... Barry can't can't hold a candle to the 2 we already have. But he is more than just a big fish in a small pond. He is an above average player by a fair margin.

Unfortunately, Rafa obviously sees something in Barry over Xabi, that us mere mortals don't

by **heimdall** » Fri May 22, 2009 4:06 pm

ConnO'var wrote:
GYBS wrote:well i guess we will have to disagree then cause you must be seeing a different barry to the ordinary one i see who is a decent size fish in a villa pond and has been his whole career . He is a step backwards if he becomes a starter for us over xabi or masher.

I agree with you.... Barry can't can't hold a candle to the 2 we already have. But he is more than just a big fish in a small pond. He is an above average player by a fair margin.

Unfortunately, Rafa obviously sees something in Barry over Xabi, that us mere mortals don't

Yes kind of like how Rafa still rates Lucas. :Oo:

by **GYBS** » Fri May 22, 2009 4:15 pm

Does Rafa rate Lucas over Xabi and masher and gerrard ? no he is back up to them .

Last season Rafa wanted barry in after barry had a great season and xabi has a quiet one - this summer its different - xabi has been outstanding where as barry his normal decent self . Its just paper speculation that we are in for barry yet he keeps saying he wants xabi to stay - The words of Rafa mean a lot more than any c.rap in the paper .

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