Changing style without Alonso

[Redspin]

The biggest problem with the sale of Alonso seems to be who to replace him with. There aren't many players who perform his role or who can perform it as well. My solution is this:

Sell Alonso and Arbeloa to Madrid for 20m plus Huntelaar, snap up silva with the cash and line up as follows:


Reina

johnson...carragher...agger...insua

kuyt...gerrard...mascherano...silva

huntelaar...torres

There's your premiership winners 2009/10!


As for the mascherano issue - he's too good to let go. I'd rather we kept him and lost him for nothing in a few years time. Pairing him with gerrard (whilst SG) is still at his prime is our best chance of winning the prem.

Rafa is a committed 4-2-3-1 man so there's no earthly reason why he'd change his preferred formation. If Alonso goes we'll sign someone who plays a similar role

[Craig_H]

Changing style without Alonso

Now that he's gone, there's talk of changing the formation and system, possibly by dropping Gerrard back into CM and signing a top striker.

Dont get me wrong, i would shoot off a large dose if we signed Villa or Aguero, but i honestly dont see it happening, which leaves us most likely to sign a new CM to simply replace Alonso.

I've been very gutted at his sale and i'll miss him, but one thing this does do for us, is present us with a chance to alter our playing style slightly, which if done accordingly, could benefit us in a major way.

Without doubt, our biggest problem generally and last season especially, was with bus-parking pile of ****e teams, who we failed to break down consistently enough.

I've always been of the opinion that the way you can break down such teams, is by moving the ball quickly, stretching them and then exploiting the space. Whilst i loved Alonso, his style of play was far more composed, slower paced and methodical.

If we now replace him with someone a bit more dynamic, who can move the ball more quickly and plays with a higher tempo, this could make a big difference with the likes of Stoke and teams of that ilk. You see with teams like the mancs and Barcelona, how damaging they can be when they break and move the ball quickly. In fact, we even did it against Bolton at Anfield last season, when Reina collected a Bolton corner, threw it to Alonso, who sent Yossi off down the right, to cross for an easy Keane tap-in. More of that is needed.

So, who is this player who's more dynamic and moves the ball quickly?

[Guest]

Basically with Agger in the team we tend to pass it better too and he's another 'dynamic' player as he likes to join the attack. There aren't better at it that Stevie G, so drop him off there and sign a top striker. Not sure what Rafa is thinking though and I guess he must have his own ideas and maybe it's been playing on his mind since the start of last season.

[Craig_H]

I think we need to have both options, one where SG plays CM and one where someone else comes in.

[DannyMan2006]

Xabi Alonsos style is far more suited to the continent.

The best chance of success in the premiership is to play fast fluid football. I think Alonso started to adapt that style last year and played the ball a lot quicker than he used to. His old style is excellent if after controlling the tempo you have players who can produce a bit of magic against packed defences.

Of all the things LFC lack it is players capable of a piece of brilliance and that is why we struggled against packed defences. I don't care who we play, but every team in the premiership will come out of their half every now and again and have a go at grabbing a goal, be it from a set piece, or a hoof up field and latching onto a ball being held up by a big front man.

To capitalise on this we need to make swift progression up the pitch and not give well drilled defences time to settle. Too often in the past seasons I have seen us pass it about at the back, or between the midfield and defence. Alonso was a key component in this slow build up play.

I would hope that our new midfielder is far more mobile. If this player can run with the ball, lay it off and then take up an advanced position to recieve it back, we could potentially start to build attacks much faster.

Having said that, we make a lot of money in the Champions League and the requirement in Europe is not so gung ho. So this player also needs to be an excellent passer and a player who is capable of being disciplined and holding position.

The player I want?

Alberto Aquilani. From what I've heard and seen he fits the bill. I'm confident if he arrives that he will have passed a very stringent medical. What no one will know is how quickly he adapts to the English game.

[Guest]

I think we need to have both options, one where SG plays CM and one where someone else comes in.

I think in time he's going to be moved there permanently. I have a hunch we're going to launch an audacious bid for Villa. He's best mates with Torres and they're a match made in heaven when they play for the national team, Gerrard could still play there when needed and Lucas would replace him. You can see how many options we would have by signing only one world class striker. Rafa has to go for it, no need to buy Aquilani as I don't think he's that type of player. I can't even think of a dynamic CM around, maybe this guy Hamsik but I haven't seen him play at all.

[DannyMan2006]

I've seen Hamsik mentioned quite a bit.

He would not be srong enough or ready to play in CM in the premiership. He would be ideal in Stevies position. He would also be ideal for the LM position in the 4231. I wouldn't expect him to run past many players, but his intelligence, passing and movement would create a lot of goals. He would also get his fair share of goals from their.

[Craig_H]

Xabi Alonsos style is far more suited to the continent.

The best chance of success in the premiership is to play fast fluid football. I think Alonso started to adapt that style last year and played the ball a lot quicker than he used to. His old style is excellent if after controlling the tempo you have players who can produce a bit of magic against packed defences.

Of all the things LFC lack it is players capable of a piece of brilliance and that is why we struggled against packed defences. I don't care who we play, but every team in the premiership will come out of their half every now and again and have a go at grabbing a goal, be it from a set piece, or a hoof up field and latching onto a ball being held up by a big front man.

To capitalise on this we need to make swift progression up the pitch and not give well drilled defences time to settle. Too often in the past seasons I have seen us pass it about at the back, or between the midfield and defence. Alonso was a key component in this slow build up play.

I would hope that our new midfielder is far more mobile. If this player can run with the ball, lay it off and then take up an advanced position to recieve it back, we could potentially start to build attacks much faster.

Having said that, we make a lot of money in the Champions League and the requirement in Europe is not so gung ho. So this player also needs to be an excellent passer and a player who is capable of being disciplined and holding position.

The player I want?

Alberto Aquilani. From what I've heard and seen he fits the bill. I'm confident if he arrives that he will have passed a very stringent medical. What no one will know is how quickly he adapts to the English game.

Not fully informed to judge Aquilani, but good post.

[DannyMan2006]

Not fully informed to judge Aquilani, but good post.

Neither am I in reality, but initail findings and thoughts are promising. I've only seen him sparingly, but always kept an eye on him because I liked what I saw and his name stands out to me, so easy to remember him.

[dww]

Xabi Alonsos style is far more suited to the continent.

The best chance of success in the premiership is to play fast fluid football. I think Alonso started to adapt that style last year and played the ball a lot quicker than he used to. His old style is excellent if after controlling the tempo you have players who can produce a bit of magic against packed defences.

Of all the things LFC lack it is players capable of a piece of brilliance and that is why we struggled against packed defences. I don't care who we play, but every team in the premiership will come out of their half every now and again and have a go at grabbing a goal, be it from a set piece, or a hoof up field and latching onto a ball being held up by a big front man.

To capitalise on this we need to make swift progression up the pitch and not give well drilled defences time to settle. Too often in the past seasons I have seen us pass it about at the back, or between the midfield and defence. Alonso was a key component in this slow build up play.

I would hope that our new midfielder is far more mobile. If this player can run with the ball, lay it off and then take up an advanced position to recieve it back, we could potentially start to build attacks much faster.

Having said that, we make a lot of money in the Champions League and the requirement in Europe is not so gung ho. So this player also needs to be an excellent passer and a player who is capable of being disciplined and holding position.

The player I want?

Alberto Aquilani. From what I've heard and seen he fits the bill. I'm confident if he arrives that he will have passed a very stringent medical. What no one will know is how quickly he adapts to the English game.

I made similar arguments last season when talking of swapping Alonso for Barry. I've not seen a huge amount of Aquilani but what I have seen has impressed me. The problem is his injury record as we need a player who is there for the vast majority of games and give we already have first choice players like Aurelio, Gerrard and Torres who are injury prone it is a big worry for us.

I would also say that we need to keep the ability to control the flow of matches and this is one of the key reasons I'm not keen on Gerrard moving back to CM. I guess we could argue that we could swap Gerrard and Lucas but at this stage Lucas doesn't really impose his personality on games which would be a problem.

[-V-]

Some good points Danny.

I would def hope we bring in a player who can drive forward with the ball Gerrard style. Xabi was always relaxed and patient with his passes from deep but there is no-one who can replicate that style.

We need a player who can pick the ball up deep and run with it and also possess good passing ability

[el matador]

It suits us to play with 2 holding type players because we lack a little bit of pace at the heart of our defence and when players run at us from that position we can look vulnerable.

having masher and xabi there gave us that extra bit of protection. If aquilani comes in then it will make us more open to counter attacks than we are at present

if he is the one - benitez will have to find a way of incorporating aquilani into his forward 3 with torres and gerrard as that's where he find himself most of the time.

With johnson coming into the right hand side, I just hope we dont leave ourselves over exposed at the back especially if aquilani is also going to be pushing forward.