Xabi Alonso - the enigma

[Joe Le Toff]

In my opinion
1: Alonso is not mobile enough to be considered a top midfielder especially when his whole game is based on passing and in a league as fast as our one. After all this time he still gets caught on the ball far too often.

2: We have nowhere near enough movement or fluidity in the team for Alonso to shine. His vision was and remains superb along with the ability to execute the pass but too often he looks sideways for it because there is nothing in front of him, Torres aside, i mean in wide areas where his passing can do a lot of damage. If the Owen of old was playing in front of Xabi then i believe we would be talking about him as one of the best midfielders ever.

3: There were many, many posters on this site, myself included, who commented just how much Xabi was missed when he first got injured this season, and i think that should be remembered. That said, if he doesnt raise his game by the end of the season, i think serious consideration should be given to moving him on.

4: I think Lucas is a viable alternative to Xabi and will become the better player for the role.

[dww]

If you take out Gerrard our CM has clocked in 3 goals. The wingers have managed 5 goals. That is simply outrages.

We badly need players like Hleb and Rosicky etc.

It is unfathomable that we only get 8 goals from wingers and CM (excluding SG) in 20 games.

It probably get's even worse if you look at assists from our CM compared to the other top teams.

I'm dubious about the use of this assists stat as we both agree the rest of the team doesn't score enough so it is likely that the CMs contribution is under represented but we are still doing pretty well. Again I refuse to take out Gerrard as Arsenals no. is equally dependent on Fabregas and Chelseas on Lampard - just like the goals were.

Assists (same source and players as before except I have added Denilson and Diaby to Arsenal - they had no goals anyway):
Chelsea: 10
Liverpool: 10
Man U: 3
Arsenal: 15

Basically I think you are asking the CMs to make up for all the ills elsewhere in the team and I just think that is unreasonable. We need more goals and assists from midfield - true but we need that from the wide areas or the support striker/attacking midfielder not the CMs who are performing comparably with the best in the division.

[Sangria]

I have been wondering if Xabi is perhaps more affected by the uncertainty surrounding Rafa's position than some of the other players. He has always very much seemed like Rafa's man on the pitch to me- you can often see Rafa giving him instructions to pass onto the rest of the team- and he has always said that Rafa was the reason he signed for Liverpool in the first place and then the reason he committed to us long term.

[dww]

I have been wondering if Xabi is perhaps more affected by the uncertainty surrounding Rafa's position than some of the other players. He has always very much seemed like Rafa's man on the pitch to me- you can often see Rafa giving him instructions to pass onto the rest of the team- and he has always said that Rafa was the reason he signed for Liverpool in the first place and then the reason he committed to us long term.

It is a very reasonable point.