Xabi Alonso

[El Jefecito]

i agree

El Jefecito was a great example of that. He was pretty ordinary recently, but yesterday he was majestic.

[carheex]

El Jefecito was a great example of that. He was pretty ordinary recently, but yesterday he was majestic.

His presence "appears" to make everyone else play better. The truth is, they look good alongside him as he's been out form for 18 months.

[carheex]

i'm struggling to follow your logic here...you say our problems towards the end of the game yesterday weren't anything to do with alonso's departure but it was, in part, to making do with a full back in midfield who had to replace alonso...doesn't that mean alonso's departure had something to do with it?

Ok - we didn't start playing badly because of the loss of Alonso - it was because we were forced to play with a full back in a midfielder's position. It doesn't matter who the midfielder or fullback was.

[bradsdad]

One thing that came out of yesterdays performance was the formation that we played.

I liked it and with the right players we would rip some teams apart. With the players we've got I'd like to see.

---------------Alonso---Mascher-------------
--------------------Gerrard------------------
---------Babel--------------------Kewell
--------------------Torres-------------------

you might get lucky and see this formation once a season the way rafas goin

[carheex]

you might get lucky and see this formation once a season the way rafas goin

I'd prefer us to use a keeper and some defenders aswell!

[El Jefecito]

His presence "appears" to make everyone else play better. The truth is, they look good alongside him as he's been out form for 18 months.

The joke has worn thin now mate.

[El Jefecito]

you might get lucky and see this formation once a season the way rafas goin

Rafa's valencia we're a 4231 team. So fingers crossed we may see it more. When you consider that all of Xabi, SG and El Jefecito played well, maybe Rafa will see the light. We've been struggling to find a formation that gets the best of both Xabi and SG. This one does it, hopefully Rafa can see that.

[carheex]

The joke has worn thin now mate.

I genuinely don't think he's a bad player - on form he's excellent but we haven't seen that for a long long time IMO. My criticisms are no more extreme than those that claim he's so vital for us. Take yesterday for example, he made 1 successful tackle in the whole game yet people are crediting him with being our best tackler yesterday. All I ever try to do is put things into perspective and add a bit of realism when people get carried away. No offence to anyone is ever intended.

[JonnytheCrook]

Ok - we didn't start playing badly because of the loss of Alonso - it was because we were forced to play with a full back in a midfielder's position. It doesn't matter who the midfielder or fullback was.

well you're entitled to your opinion obviously.

it's my opinion that this had nothing to do with their goal anyway...3 of our players were drawn to the ball which left a massive gap in the middle of our defence, arbeloa didn't track the run from fabregas and reina should have done better

[the rev leeroy brown]

you can't blame reina for the arsenal goal..fabregas is just a class player who took his goal early and wrong footed reina.

[JonnytheCrook]

you can't blame reina for the arsenal goal..fabregas is just a class player who took his goal early and wrong footed reina.

mate i'm not getting into whether you can blame reina for their goal here...as you can see from my post there were 3 things that i blamed for their goal which i think is pretty fair.

fabregas is class and it was a good finish but i think reina is world class and maybe i expected more from the situation

[El Jefecito]

I genuinely don't think he's a bad player - on form he's excellent but we haven't seen that for a long long time IMO. My criticisms are no more extreme than those that claim he's so vital for us. Take yesterday for example, he made 1 successful tackle in the whole game yet people are crediting him with being our best tackler yesterday. All I ever try to do is put things into perspective and add a bit of realism when people get carried away. No offence to anyone is ever intended.

I think I know where you are coming from. And I don't berate you for it You seem to evaluate his performance on his defence splitting long passes. Admittedly these have been less productive than they were in that Fulham (4-2) game.

BUT he does so many (less obvious) things that make him worth his weight in gold. Specifically, he does FAR better than anyone else:

1/ Retain possession
2/ Regain possession
3/ Move the ball quickly enough to catch the opposition out of position
4/ Take the pressure off of the rest of the team.

He REALLY does do these things, they are difficult to see as they are more indirect than 100 yd passes, but if you compare how he plays in the middle (and the rest of the team) vs. a SG and El Jefecito partnership, you'll see the value add.

[the rev leeroy brown]

jonnythecrook - sorry mate never read your full post. just seen the last bit bout reina and thought i'd stand up for him

[thesilverfoxlfc]

Massive loss, great footballer

[Howard_lfc]

Massive loss, great footballer

you make it sound like he's died Vin !