Xabi Alonso reveals reason for leaving

[Shanks]

If anyone deserves more respect in the team than is being given here it was Alonso.

I think even when he had his off days, he was still a much better player than Lucas is now.

Hopefully Lucas can still develop but it helps if you have great players playing alongside you.

The difference with Alonso was that he could always pull something out of the bag that had the ability to change the game in an instant.

His passing range was the best I have ever seen.

[Guest]

I remember Alonso when he was playing badly. He was awful, atrocious and couldn't even string two passes together. Thing with him is that he isn't a box to box midfielder and plays a very specialist game. Lucas is much more adaptable, can play left/right midfield, defensive midfield and has even played as a support striker.

Alonso was great, but I think Rafa took the decision to change the way we play, bring us more options, whilst maybe still keeping Xabi, as he gave him a new contract.

[Reece]

I remember Alonso when he was playing badly. He was awful, atrocious and couldn't even string two passes together.

Whilst I think he had a poor spell, you are exaggerating it right there.

[Guest]

Whilst I think he had a poor spell, you are exaggerating it right there.

He was bounced off the ball a lot of times mate, he had some stinkers believe me. The thing with Xabi, is that his game is about precision, so if he has an off day, the team doesn't perform at all.

It's very harsh saying that Lucas is a passenger, as I don't think it's because of Xabi going that we haven't performed this season. Xabi himself says it. We've been poor because our top players simply haven't performed as usual and as a team we were pants defensively.

[Sadgeek]

...

Lucas is much more adaptable, can run in the space of a left/right midfield, defensive midfield and has even taken the space of a support striker.

...

Corrected for you. (imho of course )

[The Birdman]

The reason why Rafa didn't sign Barry during that saga was because no-one was prepared to offer any decent money for Xabi - I think Juve were rumoured to have offered 14m but I don't know if that was pounds or euros.

Some Liverpool fans need to take their Xabi tinted sunglasses off, yes he had an amazing last season with us, 1 decent one when he joined and 2 very average ones inbetween which some will blame injuries for and others like me will think he just wasn't good enough or wasn't trying hard enough.

The bottom line is no-one in world football was prepared to pay anything more than we paid for him 4 years earlier, hardly the sign of a top top world class player is it??

Regardless of our personal opinions about Xabi as a player or the right and wrongs of Rafa trying to sign Barry the bottom line is no other football club in the world wanted to buy Xabi at that stage.

That tells you everything you need to know.

[badpiggy]

You just knew the barry thing was the reason he left. Lets face it if your employer wanted to bring someone in to replace you who is no where near your skillset you would be pissed too.

deleted

[badpiggy]

oh great a manager who didnt have a supern season then cries off when we try and bring in someone to challenge his position.

hardly the fighting spirit we would want in a manager is it?

i know whast you mean but i also think it's funny how we expect footballers to have less self-respect than we should have in the same situation. he showed rafa how good he was and left anyway. this shows determination, single-mindedness and self-belief which are far more important qualities for a manager to have than a willingness to stay around where you've been told you're not wanted.

[Exiled_red]

It's what we all knew anyway, but fair play to him coming out and saying it rather than waiting until he releases his autobiography like alot of other players would do

[rudedog]

The reason why Rafa didn't sign Barry during that saga was because no-one was prepared to offer any decent money for Xabi - I think Juve were rumoured to have offered 14m but I don't know if that was pounds or euros.

Some Liverpool fans need to take their Xabi tinted sunglasses off, yes he had an amazing last season with us, 1 decent one when he joined and 2 very average ones inbetween which some will blame injuries for and others like me will think he just wasn't good enough or wasn't trying hard enough.

The bottom line is no-one in world football was prepared to pay anything more than we paid for him 4 years earlier, hardly the sign of a top top world class player is it??

Regardless of our personal opinions about Xabi as a player or the right and wrongs of Rafa trying to sign Barry the bottom line is no other football club in the world wanted to buy Xabi at that stage.

That tells you everything you need to know.

He actually had 2 very good seasons with us before his form dipped. Of the 5 seasons he played with us for, 3 were very good, 1 was indifferent (by his own very high standards) and 1 which was practically written off down to injury.

[the rev leeroy brown]

The bottom line is no-one in world football was prepared to pay anything more than we paid for him 4 years earlier, hardly the sign of a top top world class player is it??

Regardless of our personal opinions about Xabi as a player or the right and wrongs of Rafa trying to sign Barry the bottom line is no other football club in the world wanted to buy Xabi at that stage.

That tells you everything you need to know.

no other team except juventus, arsenal and both milan clubs. all accredited with having more than a passing interest in him but at the tme not willing to shell out big bucks. xabi was and has been one of the most sought after midfeilders in wolrd football since he joined us. he was immense for 2 full seasons ( first and last with us ) and injury plagued the rest through no fault of his own ( notably frank lampard's tackles on him ). IMO a disgarce we tried to shove him out the door for barry but big respect to xabi for staying one more year and helping us get 2nd place.

[FatTony]

A few points made there by Alonso which the RCDNW brigade have been dismissing.

Alonso left because of the way he was treated with the Barry deal, not because he just wanted to play for Real.

Rafa is not a great man manager.

[Tee]

He played more than 1 good season. He was also injured alot. When he wasnt injured he was excellent. But we seem to give Gerrard plenty of room to screw up and still be allowed to continue his poor form. Even when Alonso wasnt scoring goals or assisting much during his couple years of endless injuries, and lets face it everyone seems to get injured MORE while at our club for some stupid reason, he was still in the middle doing great passes and excellent tackles. During his poor seasons he was heads and shoulders above Lucas and the like.

Way too much abuse for what was easily our best midfielder. At least he played like he WANTED to be at the club unlike a few other USELESS BAGGAGE we have, even though rafa was trying to shovle him out to sign some merc. If anyone deserves more respect in the team than is being given here it was Alonso.

I am baffled by the seemingly general concensus of opinion that he was below average for at least a couple of seasons.

When fully fit he showed what a great player he is and I have no doubt whatsoever that his loss from our team is THE main reason we have struggled this term. We will overcome it but it is taking the team time to adjust without him.

[rudedog]

A few points made there by Alonso which the RCDNW brigade have been dismissing.

Alonso left because of the way he was treated with the Barry deal, not because he just wanted to play for Real.

Rafa is not a great man manager.

RCDNW brigade terms like that and 'Rafa bashers' really bug me. I think the reason is that a lot of people can't accept that you can't be somewhere in between - ie if you critisise the manager your are a 'Rafa Basher' or if you defend him you belong to the 'RCDNW brigade'.

[The Birdman]

no other team except juventus, arsenal and both milan clubs. all accredited with having more than a passing interest in him but at the tme not willing to shell out big bucks. xabi was and has been one of the most sought after midfeilders in wolrd football since he joined us. he was immense for 2 full seasons ( first and last with us ) and injury plagued the rest through no fault of his own ( notably frank lampard's tackles on him ). IMO a disgarce we tried to shove him out the door for barry but big respect to xabi for staying one more year and helping us get 2nd place.

What offers did we receive from Juventus, Arsenal and both Milan clubs then?? don't mistake media stories for fact.
My own personal opinion is that Alonso is a good player, he wasn't the messiah some on here think he was but he is clearly a very good player.

If every footballer currently playing for any team got in a strop and left because the manager was trying to improve the squad (in that managers opinion) then players would move every season.

It doesn't really matter what you, I or anyone on else here thinks. All the clubs in the world had the chance to sign Alonso for circa £15 million but none of them did. None of them, that includes Real who paid twice that 12 months later.
That tells you none of the managers of all those clubs rated him enough to make him a priority signing.