Alonso.

[DannyMan2006]

Potentially great formation, it would never happen BUT two top class fullbacks, A Babel fulfilling his immense potential as the left forward, Gerrard accepting his role as loose/Right forward, with an exceptional central playmaker would be

In my opinion, there are more players who could play the central attacking role than ones that could perform in the right forward role....

But none with Gerrards drive and none who can bring the sublime passing and tough tackling as well as game saving goals. Stick a Diego in there and he's likely to bring nothing when the games against you, whilst Gerrard would be of no use on the RW.

Get a Quaresma on the RW and he can do the usual rubbish defending by a RW, whilst Gerrard in the centre can slot back and get stuck in. Shame we can't clone Stevie really

[Rich]

But none with Gerrards drive and none who can bring the sublime passing and tough tackling as well as game saving goals. Stick a Diego in there and he's likely to bring nothing when the games against you, whilst Gerrard would be of no use on the RW.

Get a Quaresma on the RW and he can do the usual rubbish defending by a RW, whilst Gerrard in the centre can slot back and get stuck in. Shame we can't clone Stevie really

TO be honest, if we have 4 in defence and 2 sitting central midfielders do we really need to have the "hole" player to have a ferocious tackle? Over kill if you ask me.

[DannyMan2006]

TO be honest, if we have 4 in defence and 2 sitting central midfielders do we really need to have the "hole" player to have a ferocious tackle? Over kill if you ask me.

No we don't have to, but I wouldn't want Lucas to just sit all the time for starters.

But my main point is that we may as well sign a ready made RW, because that's the player we are missing. We already have the ideal player for the centre in Gerrard.

[marcus50bucks]

Strange how quickly fans forget how good Alonso is.
Bad patch, couple of injuries and he suddenly is dross.

Fickle sensationalist bollocks.

[Los Rojos]

I think this one good season stuff is bollocks. He changed role and was less obvious but he was doing very good defensive work and linked defense and attack really nicely. I think he is cleary worth £15m - we have made a choice that we need to be more dynamic in midfield which is perfrectly reasonable but IMO Alonso would be a big loss. We need to strengthen the wide options and get a creative forward in before we look to alter our CM positions.

I would only sell him if it meant getting in a top quality winger or support striker.

Totally agree.

If we had an on-form Alonso in the middle with Mascherano, Gerrard on the right and a classy Left Winger, we might just have 'the best midfield in the world'.

[Shaggy]

I must say, I normally agree with Tommy on most things – except Crouch – but if anything’s sensationalist in this thread then it’s his post.

Alonso is my favourite player yet even I can see he’s been **** for a good while longer than simply “a bad patch”. He’s been poor for 18 months and something is amiss with Xabi, if you ask me. He’s a shadow of the player we know he can be.

[Craig_H]

I must say, I normally agree with Tommy on most things – except Crouch – but if anything’s sensationalist in this thread then it’s his post.

Alonso is my favourite player yet even I can see he’s been **** for a good while longer than simply “a bad patch”. He’s been poor for 18 months and something is amiss with Xabi, if you ask me. He’s a shadow of the player we know he can be.

I'm starting to feel gutted that you're already married

[carheex]

Strange how quickly fans forget how good Alonso is.
Bad patch, couple of injuries and he suddenly is dross.

People haven't forgotten "quickly". He's been a shadow of his former self and has been declining for some time. He's been top quality for about 25-30% of his time at the club and that isn't good enough.

[AFII]

I must say, I normally agree with Tommy on most things – except Crouch – but if anything’s sensationalist in this thread then it’s his post.

Alonso is my favourite player yet even I can see he’s been **** for a good while longer than simply “a bad patch”. He’s been poor for 18 months and something is amiss with Xabi, if you ask me. He’s a shadow of the player we know he can be.

I think that his injuries have taken something out of him in the same way that Kewell have suffered a lot because of his injuries.

Yes, Xabi need that the rest off the team start to move better off the ball but in the same time he need to play more or less week in week out to get his match fitness back. That won't happen because of Mascherano's excellent form.

Right now we simply don't have the time to give him the games he need because every game the rest of the season is more or less a must win game.

[tomasjj]

People haven't forgotten "quickly". He's been a shadow of his former self and has been declining for some time. He's been top quality for about 25-30% of his time at the club and that isn't good enough.

You have no credibility on this issue.

[tomasjj]

I must say, I normally agree with Tommy on most things – except Crouch – but if anything’s sensationalist in this thread then it’s his post.

Alonso is my favourite player yet even I can see he’s been **** for a good while longer than simply “a bad patch”. He’s been poor for 18 months and something is amiss with Xabi, if you ask me. He’s a shadow of the player we know he can be.

People are saying he is crap and we should sell.... when he is off form.
That's my point.

Poor for 18 months? I disagree.

[carheex]

You have no credibility on this issue.

No one has any credibility - it's all about opinions, and mine is that he was superb for us for the first 12 months but has been disappointing since.

[tomasjj]

[tomasjj]

No one has any credibility - it's all about opinions, and mine is that he was superb for us for the first 12 months but has been disappointing since.

After the first season, he was shoehorned into a defensive midfielder position.

[carheex]

After the first season, he was shoehorned into a defensive midfielder position.

What's that got to do with anything? Have you now changed your mind and are saying that he was poor but it was because he was, in your opinion, shoehorned into a defensive role? Regardless of where he was asked to play, his passing has been nothing like it should be and his tackling has been laughable by his own standards.