Rafa Benitez tells Xabi Alonso: Step things up

[Skillz]

Some players need an arm around their shoulder (Marky), some will respond better to a kick up the backside. Several players could do with some kicks, maybe this is what people like to call man management...

I suspect your right and I think xabi will respond positively to this.

[tomasjj]

I suspect your right and I think xabi will respond positively to this.

Yes, I think he will look at himself and strive to improve, not sulk.

[Le Chef]

I've got a feeling he will play Crouch if he starts with a 442, however I think he will pack the midfield and go 451.

[dww]

I think that part of our overall problem has been a lack of a player like Alonso on the pitch who organises our midfield tactically. Mascher seems to be less able to get Gerrard to give him options and to move further up the pitch than Xabi and I suspect this is as much about on pitch personality as it is passing ability. For me when Ranieri described us as playing like we were under remote control Xabi was the reciever and organiser which allowed this to happen to a large degree.

Hopefully Rafa is coming out now to kick his arse into gear as his other methods have failed to get Xabi back to his best.

[Guest]

I can't see Xabi playing second fiddle to Javier, now that he's taken his place. I'd expect him to fight for his place but players don't seem to do it these days especially in a team struggling like ours.

[dww]

I can't see Xabi playing second fiddle to Javier, now that he's taken his place. I'd expect him to fight for his place but players don't seem to do it these days especially in a team struggling like ours.

I think they should play together. Gerrard should be played in a more advanced role. For me the balance in the team is wrong at the minute to achieve Rafa's style of controlling football. To be fair the form of Xabi and Lucas has been unspectacular which hasn't made if easy for Rafa to push Gerrard out of his coveted CM position.

At least until the end of the season Alonso will have to fight for his place if he wants any football so he should knuckle down and get on with it.

[tomasjj]

I think they should play together. Gerrard should be played in a more advanced role. For me the balance in the team is wrong at the minute to achieve Rafa's style of controlling football. To be fair the form of Xabi and Lucas has been unspectacular which hasn't made if easy for Rafa to push Gerrard out of his coveted CM position.

At least until the end of the season Alonso will have to fight for his place if he wants any football so he should knuckle down and get on with it.

Good post.

I reckon SG should be unshackled, and I also suspect Xabi will respond positively to this.

[Guest]

I think they should play together. Gerrard should be played in a more advanced role. For me the balance in the team is wrong at the minute to achieve Rafa's style of controlling football. To be fair the form of Xabi and Lucas has been unspectacular which hasn't made if easy for Rafa to push Gerrard out of his coveted CM position.

At least until the end of the season Alonso will have to fight for his place if he wants any football so he should knuckle down and get on with it.

It's very strange that each time Gerrard has been pushed upfront (bar against Arsenal last season when we walloped them 4-0) it hasn't had the desired effect. I mean, Stevie is excellent going forward and scoring goals and he should have been a great foil for Torres. Imaging the pair of them in tandem upfront.

Is it because Stevie doesn't to play there long term ? He should be instructed come for the ball (ala Beardsley) and set up moves for Torres, not going deep to fetch the ball. This responsibility should be laid at the feet of Xabi or Javier, or even Lucas.

[Skillz]

I think that part of our overall problem has been a lack of a player like Alonso on the pitch who organises our midfield tactically. Mascher seems to be less able to get Gerrard to give him options and to move further up the pitch than Xabi and I suspect this is as much about on pitch personality as it is passing ability. For me when Ranieri described us as playing like we were under remote control Xabi was the reciever and organiser which allowed this to happen to a large degree.

Hopefully Rafa is coming out now to kick his arse into gear as his other methods have failed to get Xabi back to his best.

Agree with that but I am also thinking Agger's loss has been as, if not more important.

[dww]

It's very strange that each time Gerrard has been pushed upfront (bar against Arsenal last season when we walloped them 4-0) it hasn't had the desired effect. I mean, Stevie is excellent going forward and scoring goals and he should have been a great foil for Torres. Imaging the pair of them in tandem upfront.

Is it because Stevie doesn't to play there long term ? He should be instructed come for the ball (ala Beardsley) and set up moves for Torres, not going deep to fetch the ball. This responsibility should be laid at the feet of Xabi or Javier, or even Lucas.

He isn't a support striker. He doesn't have the guile in terms of passing or the instinct for playing with his back to goal.

The strength of Gerrard is the ability to run at people from anywhere and to burst forward. For me that requires at least the freedom to start from deep which isn't afforded from the second striker role. If you move him more advanced (but still as a central midfield player) it requires more from the wide players in terms of joining in the box and hold up play. At present none of our wide players offers much of either which is why I would tend to unleash him from the right. However I do think Benayoun and Babel particularly could allow us to play him in the middle as they have most of the assets required to aid Torres upfront from wide areas.

I agree with you about the other players giving a better way to create attacks and a more efficient route out of deep areas (too often for me Gerrard looks for long, low percentage balls - although against Sunderland Mascher was doing this too which I found worrying).

[Skillz]

Good post.

I reckon SG should be unshackled, and I also suspect Xabi will respond positively to this.

Next year

-----xabi----Mash----
------Aguero/Aimar---
Gerrard--------Babel
------Torres-------

??????? The playmaker role is one we need bably for Rafa's system to work IMO.

Many variations of course, especially if Rafa is still here and I hope he is.

[Guest]

He isn't a support striker. He doesn't have the guile in terms of passing or the instinct for playing with his back to goal.

The strength of Gerrard is the ability to run at people from anywhere and to burst forward. For me that requires at least the freedom to start from deep which isn't afforded from the second striker role. If you move him more advanced (but still as a central midfield player) it requires more from the wide players in terms of joining in the box and hold up play. At present none of our wide players offers much of either which is why I would tend to unleash him from the right. However I do think Benayoun and Babel particularly could allow us to play him in the middle as they have most of the assets required to aid Torres upfront from wide areas.

I agree with you about the other players giving a better way to create attacks and a more efficient route out of deep areas (too often for me Gerrard looks for long, low percentage balls - although against Sunderland Mascher was doing this too which I found worrying).

Am not sure that he can't play as a second striker. I think he could do it if he put his head into it. Beardsley wasn't really a striker and was more akin' to set up moves (as well as score), but his main asset was to pick the ball deep and run at defenders.

The logic in defining Stevie's role as a second striker, is to allow the other players to concentrate on what's best for them. When we're in trouble, it's all Stevie. He fetches the ball, sets out attacks, and tries to score from all angles. Whilst this is good, I don't think it's the best tactic for us. If he has a bad game or is out of luck we're most likely to be found out.

It's that lack of variety which has been missing from us.

I've looked at Man Utd lately. Anderson and Carrick (Hargreaves) have a well defined role, and both are defensive minded players. It's the movement of their three attacking players which does the trick. Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez through their sheer movement causes havoc. People have been singling out United as being a one man team because of the terrific goalscoring record of Ronaldo, but I don't think it's fair to all the other players. The amount of space Rooney and Tevez (who aren't prolific goalscorers) is a huge huge asset to them. Ronaldo is just a component for them (albeit a fantastic one, don't make me wrong).

[AFII]

Agree with that but I am also thinking Agger's loss has been as, if not more important.

Our defense mostly hoofs the ball past Xabi when Agger isn't playing and that means that Xabi won't see the ball that much, instead he will be playing as a ball chasing central midfielder to get the ball back and that isn't his strength. Our rubbish off the ball movement don't exactly help either.

That is one thing Rafa should have pointed out before he clamped down on Xabi, the other players don't give him a fair chance.

Our biggest problem is that we play without any organization and our movement off the ball is rubbish, not that any single player isn't delivering.

We play rubbish as a team.

[homer1]

Next year

-----xabi----Mash----
------Aguero/Aimar---
Gerrard--------Babel
------Torres-------

??????? The playmaker role is one we need bably for Rafa's system to work IMO.

Many variations of course, especially if Rafa is still here and I hope he is.

I would love to see that and I think this is the formation that Rafa would prefer to play. Add a couple of attacking full backs along the lines of Alves (defence covered by Xabi & the Chief) and that is a top class team there

[Exiled_red]

I can't see Xabi playing second fiddle to Javier, now that he's taken his place. I'd expect him to fight for his place but players don't seem to do it these days especially in a team struggling like ours.

If he's going to carry on rotating it would be good to see Xabi play in matches at home or games where we should be attacking more in as Xabi is a more attacking player than Mascherano