Xabi Alonso and our lack of goals

[Tom]

So Alonso wasn't playing this time last season? Bring back Alonso and everything is fixed? How disappointing to see such simplistic view from you.

Please try to keep the personal stuff out of it.
Sure we can play poorly when he's in the team, he's only human, but I think we play a helluva lot better when he's in it. It's not conicidence that our midfiled is all over the place at the moment. He's the best passer in the club. He's also the most intelligent player. He's the real club captain in my opinion. Rafa's hand on the ptich.

[Pacman]

Please try to keep the personal stuff out of it.
Sure we can play poorly when he's in the team, he's only human, but I think we play a helluva lot better when he's in it. It's not conicidence that our midfiled is all over the place at the moment. He's the best passer in the club. He's also the most intelligent player.

I totally agree

[tomasjj]

So we never enjoyed spells of playing disjointed, alehouse football with XA in the team?

Much less so, mate.

[kewellnthegang]

He's also the most intelligent player.


he did get up to 64,000 in who want s to win be a millionaire i hear

[CAD]

Please try to keep the personal stuff out of it.
Sure we can play poorly when he's in the team, he's only human, but I think we play a helluva lot better when he's in it. It's not conicidence that our midfiled is all over the place at the moment. He's the best passer in the club. He's also the most intelligent player. He's the real club captain in my opinion. Rafa's hand on the ptich.

Are you serious? Personal stuff? If anything it was a very small compliment. Are you made of glass?

Alonso and Agger are both good players who give us 'poshibillities'.

To say that the poor run in form started with Alonso not playing is simplistic pish. He looked like he was on Prozac again against Pompey. Remember that 0-0 game when the poor run started?

[Tom]

Are you serious? Personal stuff? If anything it was a very small compliment. Are you made of glass?

yeah whatever, I'm now weedy and simplistic. Of course it's not personal and of course you're not being rude.

[dww]

yeah whatever, I'm now weedy and simplistic. Of course it's not personal and of course you're not being rude.

I think you are taking the original comment unfairly. He accused your view on a topic not you of being simplistic as I read it. He was ill advised in the 'made of glass' comment considering your initial reaction but I don't really think it was meant as a vicious character assasination.

[CAD]

I think you are taking the original comment unfairly. He accused your view on a topic not you of being simplistic as I read it. He was ill advised in the 'made of glass' comment considering your initial reaction but I don't really think it was meant as a vicious character assasination.

Spot on. I never called him anything. I merely stated:

"How disappointing to see such a simplistic view from you"

[Flake]

Spot on. I never called him anything. I merely stated:

"How disappointing to see such a simplistic view from you"

Mate it was so patronising..." how disappointing"...lol, you're comment was akin to a teacher addressing his recalcitrant charge....

Soz, I know its got **** all to do with me, but I squirmed when I read your original post... soz.

[CAD]

Mate it was so patronising..." how disappointing"...lol, you're comment was akin to a teacher addressing his recalcitrant charge....

Soz, I know its got **** all to do with me, but I squirmed when I read your original post... soz.

Fair enough.

I think that looking at the LFC equation and coming to the conclusion that the poor form is all about Alonso not playing is very, no, extremely simplistic. I just thought that Tom would be above such an approach.

That was the sentiment I was trying to convey.

I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings or sounded patronising. Please forgive me, Tom

[Jacko]

Sorely missed IMO, and I said as much after the Marseille game.

I think we're a better side with Xabi in it, even when he's off form. Like it or not, he's our maestro and as good as Gerrard is he has shown in the last couple of games when playing deeper in a more Xabi-type position he has been incapable of replicating Xabi's role effectively.

No doubt this is an invitation for a queue of posters with an anti-Xabi agenda led by Carheex to come on here and tell me how much nonsense I'm talking.

I'd hope not Dhav!

Alonso is key to how we play, and has been since his arrival at the club. His passing is only rivalled by an inform Mascherano and his defensive game is the only that comes near to the standard required to fill the void left by Didi.

His range of passing from everywhere, but especially deep is key to us attacking quickly and attacking well and also when he's in the team he not only lets Gerrard do his job but it seems whenever him and Momo play together Momo looks so much more comfortable with his game.

Without him we lack a lot of creativity and along with Daniel Agger, those pair are a huge reason our form has dipped!

We NEED them back sharpish!

[Lecter]

I can see people wanking on about him because the bad results happens to coincide with Alonso missing.

I can see people writing that we would have carved Pompey a new hole if he had been ready. He actually did play. So thats wank and nothing else.

I think losing Agger has hurt us more as we have lesser cover for his position.

Of course I can see the importance of Alonso but you people are overemphasizing it and acting like he's the Messias. He's not. There is little he could have done to make us look better forward. What did he do for us against Pompey? He played the HM and he did very little for us going forward. He would have played HM in the other matches as well with 90% certainty = Little impact up field. Look at his stats for goals and assists as a HM and you will see the picture.

And take your and shove it up your ass.

Xabi's importance in our play is very much like Ronnie Whelans was during the mid / late 80's. He makes interceptions based on positional play, he picks the ball up off the back four and builds our moves, he switches the play better than anyone we have on our books and he sets our rhythm and tempo.

You of course are right that his assists and goal stats are poor but then so where Whelans, however I still remember an interview in the Echo circa 1988 or 89 in which John Barnes was asked who was the best player / most important player at the club was and he unequivocally answered Ronnie Whelan because he was the major cog in the engine and someone who gave the ball to Barnes early which allowed him a little more time and space, essentially without him the team as a whole didnt function as well

I see Alonso's influence on our team and play in a similar vein to Ronnies and thats one of the reasons why when many on here said we should cash in on him because we have Mascherano that I argued the importance of having both

[Lecter]

:bird:

Do you know what, the fact that anyone has to come on a Liverpool board and defend one of the club's most important and influential players to supposedly the "most knowledgeable fans in the country" is, quite frankly, pathetic. Seems to me that Liverpool fans who can't understand Xabi's worth to the team obviously know nothing about football.

It's a sad day when a Manc can appreciate the value of Xabi and our own supporters cannot.

But thats nothing new

All through the 80's many fans at the match regularly slaughtered slaughtered Ronnie Whelan

Only when he was gone did people truly realise how important he was

I personally think its the same with Alonso

[Lecter]

Xabi has been sorely missed in terms of dictating our play and moving the ball quicker.

I dont think hes been missed in terms of out and out chances we create.

Its a chain though isnt it, dictating the play better and moving the ball quicker helps others create more chances

How many games more we would have won is open to debate but I think our results wouldnt have been as bad as they have been

[carheex]

Sorely missed IMO, and I said as much after the Marseille game.

I think we're a better side with Xabi in it, even when he's off form. Like it or not, he's our maestro and as good as Gerrard is he has shown in the last couple of games when playing deeper in a more Xabi-type position he has been incapable of replicating Xabi's role effectively.

No doubt this is an invitation for a queue of posters with an anti-Xabi agenda led by Carheex to come on here and tell me how much nonsense I'm talking.

right on cue....

It's only when someone is out of the team that people forget how poor they were playing before - hence the excitement of kewell's return. As good a player Xabi has shown to be, early in his LFC career, gerrard is 10 times the player in every aspect. Let's not witchhunt our best player because the whole team is playing badly. If you really think alonso's return, bearing in mind he's been poor for well over a year, is going to make us start playing well again then you;re seriously deluded.

BTW - you're an arrogant idiot if you can't respect people's opinions and call them unknowledgeable just because they differ from your own.