Xabi

[Only1mboy]

I just goes to show that we can play without gerrard, torres,mascherano but not without Alonso.
His creativity this season and his passing has been the thing that has made us tick.
As far as i am concerned Rafa got his tactics wrong and put too much faith in lucas and kuyt yesterday.
Gerrard was left in a position were he could not influense the game as Stoke had 2 players on him every time he got the ball.
Since Alonso was injured, Gerrard should have filled in that positon as he is the only player we have could replace Alonso when he is injured.
Kuyt should have stayed out wide and Keane should have played in the hole with torres up front.
Now if they felt that Torres was not ready to play up front on his own then he should have played Babel up front.But only in the first half. and this stupid obsession with only changing the game at the 60th minute has to stop.
Keane should have come at half time for Lucas and Gerrard go back in the middle and Keane in the hole , then on 60 Benayoun for Torres and Kuyt on the right and on 75 Babel for Riera. Now thats how the substitutions should have been made.

Lucas should only brought on in cup games at the moment and as a sub if we are winning by 2 goals or more.
As for Kuyt as much as i love the guy he just does not cut it up front on his own.
And for ****s sake give Keane a ****ing chance.

[Parm]

funny how peoples views on Lucas change after just one match.
But I do agree with your point about Xabi

[Maxiedge]

I just goes to show that we can play without gerrard, torres,mascherano but not without Alonso.
His creativity this season and his passing has been the thing that has made us tick.
As far as i am concerned Rafa got his tactics wrong and put too much faith in lucas and kuyt yesterday.
Gerrard was left in a position were he could not influense the game as Stoke had 2 players on him every time he got the ball.
Since Alonso was injured, Gerrard should have filled in that positon as he is the only player we have could replace Alonso when he is injured.
Kuyt should have stayed out wide and Keane should have played in the hole with torres up front.
Now if they felt that Torres was not ready to play up front on his own then he should have played Babel up front.But only in the first half. and this stupid obsession with only changing the game at the 60th minute has to stop.
Keane should have come at half time for Lucas and Gerrard go back in the middle and Keane in the hole , then on 60 Benayoun for Torres and Kuyt on the right and on 75 Babel for Riera. Now thats how the substitutions should have been made.

Lucas should only brought on in cup games at the moment and as a sub if we are winning by 2 goals or more.
As for Kuyt as much as i love the guy he just does not cut it up front on his own.
And for ****s sake give Keane a ****ing chance.

Talk about going off on a tangent

[Icon]

I just goes to show that we can play without gerrard, torres,mascherano but not without Alonso.

Xabi is a massive element of our team but so are SG, Torres and Masher - and I would not like to see any line up without them.

[Icon]

funny how peoples views on Lucas change after just one match.

Not me.

Always said he was not good enough.

(excuse double post...)

[Leyton388]

The only thing that cost us victory yesterday was rafa's team selection. Keane should have played up top with babel starting also. Torres should have also come on at half time if he was not fit to start. Either way these dropped points will cost us further down the line and i am hoping for a draw between the chavs and scum today.

[anfieldanfield]

funny how peoples views on Lucas change after just one match.

Not really, the majority have always said he's not good enough.

[BobTheCharmer]

this will be the same xabi that rafa was desperate to get rid of?

i think the majority of lfc fans would admit he's been brilliant this season.

so what do those same people that adore rafa think that says about him?

or was it a tatical bit of genius by the boss to get xabi to raise his game?

[Parm]

Not really, the majority have always said he's not good enough.

well that certainly wasnt the view on here this time last week.

[Neil Young]

this will be the same xabi that rafa was desperate to get rid of?

i think the majority of lfc fans would admit he's been brilliant this season.

so what do those same people that adore rafa think that says about him?

or was it a tatical bit of genius by the boss to get xabi to raise his game?

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

It says Alonso wasn't playing well for two seasons, Rafa reportedly tried to replace him with Barry, both deals fell through and now Alonso is back to his best. Who knows why? I don't have a clue what's behind Alonso's resurgence and I'll be very surprised if you do.

And frankly why should anyone really care? It's football - 'why' isn't really important.

[Parm]

Im just happy that Xabi has pulled his finger out and started to realise his undoubted talent. Sometimes it is just the way it goes with CM's. Look at someone like Xavi who only in the past 2 years has really developed into a genuine world class player. These guys game vision and brains will just keep on getting better.

[SK]

Im just happy that Xabi has pulled his finger out and started to realise his undoubted talent. Sometimes it is just the way it goes with CM's. Look at someone like Xavi who only in the past 2 years has really developed into a genuine world class player. These guys game vision and brains will just keep on getting better.

it was the same with pirlo, who was a nobody until he reached like 27 or 28 years of age and all of a sudden became one of the best deep-lying mids in the world.

xabi has been imense this season, and his abbsence was obvious yesterday

[JPK]

Class is permanent and Xabi is the best play maker in the world. Love the man and felt sick when we tried to sell him. He brings class to the team along with Agger and sets the tempo. We will be a completely different team next week with him and Agger back.

[kingfunk]

Its funny, because yesterday when i was watching the game it was becoming pretty evident that we were missing something, the team had no heart, but that couldnt be? Stevie G is the heart of liverpool fc,, became clear to me yesterday, its a big statment but this season it has been more impotant to have alonso playing than stevie. (dont mean not have stevie playing atall) Im not taking anything away from gerrard it wasnt his fault, it was rafas tactics:
there was nothing in the centre of the field, the defenders were playing a differant game to the players up front there was no link whatsoever.
This could have been avoided by playing either Keane/torres up front, kuyt either on the right or on the bench and gerrard and masher to boss the centre.

-------------------Reina----------------------

cara--------skrtel---------hypia--------aurelio

-----------------macher----------------
Kuyt---------------------------riera
----------------Gerrard--------------

-------------Keane/torres------------

[BG1973]

Im just happy that Xabi has pulled his finger out and started to realise his undoubted talent. Sometimes it is just the way it goes with CM's. Look at someone like Xavi who only in the past 2 years has really developed into a genuine world class player. These guys game vision and brains will just keep on getting better.

xavi has been awesome for about 5 years fella.