Super-Xabi....

[JPK]

Riera gives Xabi a great option on the left. Riera is excellent at retaining the ball.
Great signing by Rafa. So glad now that we have both of them and no Barry instead of both of them.

[Vermilion]

i actually won 2 bets today - liverpool to win and under 2.5 goals......

unfortunately, nothing like thousands......

Good result...all round.

[Rich]

Riera gives Xabi a great option on the left. Riera is excellent at retaining the ball.
Great signing by Rafa. So glad now that we have both of them and no Barry instead of both of them.

That is actually a good point, I think Barry is an excellent player and wanted the deal to go through but having Alonso AND Reira or just Barry, well there is no comparison.

[JPK]

Absolutely

[Mystery]

Riera gives Xabi a great option on the left. Riera is excellent at retaining the ball.
Great signing by Rafa. So glad now that we have both of them and no Barry instead of both of them.

I think that's a very good point.

Riera gives the team a great balance that we've missed the last couple of seasons and Xabi needs his teammates to play at his best.

More to come from Xabi. I hope he stays with us..

[lucas]

well i did ****in call it!!!

What's your prediction for the Portsmouth game then??

[Norbs]

You can't bottle genius, Lucas

[lucas]

You can't bottle genius, Lucas

Fair enough...

[rage]

the board played a blinder saying no to the over priced barry and dangling riera as a sweetner in front of rafa.

just hope rafa hasn't burned all his bridges with alonso

[Shaggy]

just hope rafa hasn't burned all his bridges with alonso

I hope so too but I don't believe he has. There's nothing better for morale than the situation we find ourselves in now. Not long ago Xabi was Rafa's on-field general - always pulling him to one side during games to talk to him. They had their spat but now they must be better off for it. Everyone's a winner - Xabi is playing better than ever and arguably he has Rafa to thank for it, to some degree, for providing the kick up the arse he needed. They're like a pair of lovers who had a spat.

[memzey]

I hope so too but I don't believe he has. There's nothing better for morale than the situation we find ourselves in now. Not long ago Xabi was Rafa's on-field general - always pulling him to one side during games to talk to him. They had their spat but now they must be better off for it. Everyone's a winner - Xabi is playing better than ever and arguably he has Rafa to thank for it, to some degree, for providing the kick up the arse he needed. They're like a pair of lovers who had a spat.

Yes.

And villa: you can stick your Gareth Barry up your arse.

[wiw]

I wanted him gone and Barry in, but fair ****ing play to him, the summer was probably a shock and it's kicked him right back into form. Delighted he's still with us and back to his best - winning the league wouldn't be the same without him

[Leyton388]

£16m **** that more like £36m worth of player!!!!!!

[Guest]

the board played a blinder saying no to the over priced barry and dangling riera as a sweetner in front of rafa.

just hope rafa hasn't burned all his bridges with alonso

What the **** are you on about? Do you know what happened as fact? Go back to your shell.

[DannyMan2006]

I wanted him gone and Barry in, but fair ****ing play to him, the summer was probably a shock and it's kicked him right back into form. Delighted he's still with us and back to his best - winning the league wouldn't be the same without him

My sentiments exactly.

An injury free spell has probably helped to. So glad we kept Xabi now, I never thought he'd get back to his best but he's now even better.