Xabi Alonso

[shadow]

Excuses, excuses if you ask me. Might wash if he hadn't been with us for several seasons and been 'Boss' for a lot of that...if you really want an excuse for his ****ness, maybe try the fact he hasn't been playing regularly

As I said earlier, I'm not trying to make any excuses for him

[DancingRobot]

Alonso even on his worst day, doesnt break the composure and chemistry of the midfield as it happened yesterday. Yeah we missed Alonso badly. But as a team competing on four fronts and having 2 players for each position, we should be able to cope up with his loss by using Masch. Though Alonso is one of our poorest tacklers, he holds the midfield superbly and links up defense and attack. Last night on many occasion there was a big hole between Carra-Hyypia and Gerrard-Momo, which wouldnt have happened with Xabi on the field.

Clearly, he is a very important player for us on any day and without ability you dont start for the Spainish National team along the likes of Xavi,Iniesta etc. and most of the times ahead of the other Spanish playmaker, Cesc Fabregas!

Get well soon Xabi!

[SCarter]

We miss Alonso more than we would miss Gerrard or Mascherano. Alonso is the midfielder that keeps the ball flowing and always seems to have time to find an easy pass to keep the ball moving. Alonso also appears to be the only midfielder who really brings the wingers into play, look at the form of Pennant since Alonso's injury.

[Reece]

You don't miss it until it is gone

[Pablo]

You don't miss it until it is gone

A bit like heroin for Coops

[spider-neil]

badly missed, may be off his game but even an out of form xabi can find a red shirt from five yards.

incredible but once upon a time we were known far and wide as a pass and move outfit...sigh

[JohnDoe]

Xabi is our metronome in the middle of pitch. When Gerrard is given the leash we become erratic and sloppy, he can't dictate the play the way Xabi does. When they play together it's a perfect match, we have one guy who injects energy and urgency in our play while the other slows things down and gives us composure. The thing we missed the most last night was composure, Gerrard can only play at one pace: frantic.

[Taffy]

I agree, we miss Alonso big time.

He can take the game by the scruff of the neck and give us possession meaning we keep the ball for longer periods and take the game into the opposition's half.

Sissoko last night was woeful and just continuously gave the ball away meaning we couldn't keep the ball long enough - I don't know why Rafa had Momo playing furthest up the pitch of the two and having Stevie G wasted sitting in (surely it would have been better to do it the other way around as Stevie is more effective in an advanced role and Momo can do less damage sitting in allowing Stevie more freedom!).

We missed both Xabi and Mascherano last night as both can keep the ball well and pass it with ease, Momo can't!

I must also mention Agger and Pako, as someone has already done so. Agger is also a key figure for us in keeping possession as he can pass it so well for a defender - we miss his contribution here. And something is just not right since Pako left as the performances have been lacking since his departure.

[Pacman]

I agree big time that we miss Xabi.

The bloke makes us tick with his passing and moving and frees up Stevie to get forward. Momo should never play at home he should only be in the team for games where you want to pack the midfield like Barca away last season.

[Joe Le Toff]

We miss Alonso more than we would miss Gerrard or Mascherano. Alonso is the midfielder that keeps the ball flowing and always seems to have time to find an easy pass to keep the ball moving. Alonso also appears to be the only midfielder who really brings the wingers into play, look at the form of Pennant since Alonso's injury.

Agree totally with that

[Joe Le Toff]

Xabi is our metronome in the middle of pitch. When Gerrard is given the leash we become erratic and sloppy, he can't dictate the play the way Xabi does. When they play together it's a perfect match, we have one guy who injects energy and urgency in our play while the other slows things down and gives us composure. The thing we missed the most last night was composure, Gerrard can only play at one pace: frantic.

Agree with this too, i didnt think Alonso would be missed at all to be hones as he hasnt exactly been setting the world on fire, but he makes us tick like no other CM we have, theres no question about that.

[El Jefecito]

We miss Alonso more than we would miss Gerrard or Mascherano. Alonso is the midfielder that keeps the ball flowing and always seems to have time to find an easy pass to keep the ball moving. Alonso also appears to be the only midfielder who really brings the wingers into play, look at the form of Pennant since Alonso's injury.

The strikers to a great extent as well.

[Sir Bob]

I don't think Alonso is missed more than any other player. agger is a bigger loss as Sami can't play 2 games a week at the required level for a long period.

In any case Alonso probably would n't have played last night, Rafa may well have rotated him to the bench.

[memzey]

We miss Agger big time IMHO. With him in the team, we can start attacks fluently from the back and defend 5 - 10 yards further up the pitch, which means the strikers are not as isolated as they have been recently. We still missed Alonso, but had Agger been playing, we would not have missed him as much. I think there is an argument in all this for playing Arbeloa in central defence as he as the pace and ball playing skills to partly make up for Aggers' loss.