Xabi speaks

[Shaggy]

Aye, water well under the bridge. Plenty of monumental problems

No Rafa Benitez
No Xabi Alonso
No Javier Mascherano
No Alvaro Arbeloa
No Sami Hyypia
No Albert Reira

That's a top class manager and half a team from two years ago we've "lost".

That's really depressing.

[destinydude]

I have a mate called John who is a massive Man United fan and goes home and away (he even played a gig for 10,000 fans at the tented village outside Milan for the 2009 CL Final). Despite that he's a really decent lad and he has a lot of time for Liverpool the city although he hates Liverpool FC which is how it should be!

By day he is the credit controller for a well-known clothing range based in Trafford Park and one of the foreign agents is a Basque called Felipé who happened to grow up with Xabi Alonso and Mikel Arteta in San Sebastien. In April Felipé invited John and another Manc mate Andy to visit him in Madrid where he lives. As part of the itinerary he arranged for John and Andy to watch Real Madrid train and afterwards they were introduced to Xabi, Alvaro Arbeloa and a few other players. In fact Xabi gave them a lift in his X5 back to their hotel.

John said during the journey it was obvious how much Alonso still loves Liverpool (the city and the club) and misses the place. He said he always referred to LFC as "us" and "we" and he promised he would return one day in some capacity but not whilst Rafa was in charge (this was two months before Rafa's contract was terminated by "mutual agreement" remember). Andy joked that maybe Benitez would join him at Real, which were the rumours at the time, and he laughed and said something in Basque which Felipé later translated roughly as "well I'll be ****ing off then!"

The lads said Xabi was clearly upset about being sold but he understood the reasons and they were ready to move back to Spain anyway as Nagore was pregnant with their second child. He remarked that Nagore loves the city of Liverpool and has loads of mates she was missing (I can confirm this as I 'follow' her on Twitter and she's always tweeting comments like "I miss my friends" and "I miss the rain!"). I think Xabi said they had kept their flat in the Albert Docks "just in case".

John and Andy - both Mancs remember - said what a great guy Xabi was and they'd love to have spent more time with him but he was preparing for a big match. However, he promised next time he and Nagore are in Liverpool that they'd all meet up and I've been invited too!

Just when I thought I was getting over him.

[Lee]

Aye, water well under the bridge. Plenty of monumental problems

No Rafa Benitez
No Xabi Alonso
No Javier Mascherano
No Alvaro Arbeloa
No Sami Hyypia
No Albert Reira

That's a top class manager and half a team from two years ago we've "lost".

Depressing.

I have a mate called John who is a massive Man United fan and goes home and away (he even played a gig for 10,000 fans at the tented village outside Milan for the 2009 CL Final). Despite that he's a really decent lad and he has a lot of time for Liverpool the city although he hates Liverpool FC which is how it should be!

By day he is the credit controller for a well-known clothing range based in Trafford Park and one of the foreign agents is a Basque called Felipé who happened to grow up with Xabi Alonso and Mikel Arteta in San Sebastien. In April Felipé invited John and another Manc mate Andy to visit him in Madrid where he lives. As part of the itinerary he arranged for John and Andy to watch Real Madrid train and afterwards they were introduced to Xabi, Alvaro Arbeloa and a few other players. In fact Xabi gave them a lift in his X5 back to their hotel.

John said during the journey it was obvious how much Alonso still loves Liverpool (the city and the club) and misses the place. He said he always referred to LFC as "us" and "we" and he promised he would return one day in some capacity but not whilst Rafa was in charge (this was two months before Rafa's contract was terminated by "mutual agreement" remember). Andy joked that maybe Benitez would join him at Real, which were the rumours at the time, and he laughed and said something in Basque which Felipé later translated roughly as "well I'll be ****ing off then!"

The lads said Xabi was clearly upset about being sold but he understood the reasons and they were ready to move back to Spain anyway as Nagore was pregnant with their second child. He remarked that Nagore loves the city of Liverpool and has loads of mates she was missing (I can confirm this as I 'follow' her on Twitter and she's always tweeting comments like "I miss my friends" and "I miss the rain!"). I think Xabi said they had kept their flat in the Albert Docks "just in case".

John and Andy - both Mancs remember - said what a great guy Xabi was and they'd love to have spent more time with him but he was preparing for a big match. However, he promised next time he and Nagore are in Liverpool that they'd all meet up and I've been invited too!

Depressing again.

Top man, top player - absolutely gutted he left. One of the worst pieces of business in our recent years. FFS.

[JohnDoe]

Aye, water well under the bridge. Plenty of monumental problems

No Rafa Benitez
No Xabi Alonso
No Javier Mascherano
No Alvaro Arbeloa
No Sami Hyypia
No Albert Reira

That's a top class manager and half a team from two years ago we've "lost".

Benayoun too.

[kev776]

Guys, Guys, Guys...

When Kevin Keegan left, I cried but King Kenny arrived.

When Rushie left my bottom lip wobbled but Barnes, Beardo and Aldo arrived.

When Xabi and Mascher left I sulked but Poulson and some Portugese Geezer arrived. So the circle of life continues and we move on..... No wait, Oh ****.

[RedSince1964]

Guys, Guys, Guys...

When Kevin Keegan left, I cried but King Kenny arrived.

When Rushie left my bottom lip wobbled but Barnes, Beardo and Aldo arrived.

When Xabi and Mascher left I sulked but Poulson and some Portugese Geezer arrived. So the circle of life continues and we move on..... No wait, Oh ****.

[lickedlollipop]

Guys, Guys, Guys...

When Kevin Keegan left, I cried but King Kenny arrived.

When Rushie left my bottom lip wobbled but Barnes, Beardo and Aldo arrived.

When Xabi and Mascher left I sulked but Poulson and some Portugese Geezer arrived. So the circle of life continues and we move on..... No wait, Oh ****.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry

[JohnDoe]

When Xabi and Mascher left I sulked but Poulson and some Portugese Geezer arrived. So the circle of life continues and we move on..... No wait, Oh ****.

You've got it all wrong, the Portuguese geezer is our new wide midfielder.

[Zapater]

I think that was a complete lie. Apparently Arbeloa said the same thing too about the taxes.

By the way, Xabi did more or less say in an interview with Football Focus that it was the Gareth Barry/Rafa Benitez situation that caused him to leave. It had nothing to do with the fact Real Madrid came in for him and tempted him.

As much as I love Xabi, he definitely did say that sort of thing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/5578084/Xabi-Alonso-warns-that-tax-will-drive-top-players-away.html

"Of course we footballers think about it; we are not stupid, we keep an eye on it," Alonso said. "When you see your contract down by 30 per cent you cannot be happy. I cannot do anything – it must be Gordon Brown or David Cameron.

[Fredo]

As much as I love Xabi, he definitely did say that sort of thing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/5578084/Xabi-Alonso-warns-that-tax-will-drive-top-players-away.html

"Of course we footballers think about it; we are not stupid, we keep an eye on it," Alonso said. "When you see your contract down by 30 per cent you cannot be happy. I cannot do anything – it must be Gordon Brown or David Cameron.

[Arn]

As long as it's the managers decision to sell a player then I will always back him even if it's the best player he want to sell.

It's his job to build the squad and that means selling and buying players. That is the key point when it comes down to the Xabi saga.

It's his job that is on the line. If the players can't accept that the manager one day may want to sell them then I at least don't want them playing for us.

It must always be the managers decision, always. It's his squad.

I don't want us to sell Torres for example but if the manager want to do that and replace him with the players he want then I will back him 100% because he know a hell of a lot more than me what the squad need to suit his system.

[Fredo]

As long as it's the managers decision to sell a player then I will always back him even if it's the best player he want to sell.

It's his job to build the squad and that means selling and buying players. That is the key point when it comes down to the Xabi saga.

It's his job that is on the line. If the players can't accept that the manager one day may want to sell them then I at least don't want them playing for us.

It must always be the managers decision, always. It's his squad.

I don't want us to sell Torres for example but if the manager want to do that and replace him with the players he want then I will back him 100% because he know a hell of a lot more than me what the squad need to suit his system.

I wouldn't trust Roy Hodgson mate. Never.

[Arn]

I wouldn't trust Roy Hodgson mate. Never.

I don't do that either but he is our manager and that means that he get my backing whatever player he want to sell. He is a hell of a lot better manager than me even if he isn't a very good manager.

That is why I will always back Rafa's decision to sell Xabi even if I respected Xabi very very much.

Let the manager build his team. If he don't succeed then he will get sacked.

[little dave hedgehog]

can't we just assume that if he wants to do something it's a bad idea, going on past experience? it seems easier.

[Craig_H]

As long as it's the managers decision to sell a player then I will always back him even if it's the best player he want to sell.

It's his job to build the squad and that means selling and buying players. That is the key point when it comes down to the Xabi saga.

It's his job that is on the line. If the players can't accept that the manager one day may want to sell them then I at least don't want them playing for us.

It must always be the managers decision, always. It's his squad.

I don't want us to sell Torres for example but if the manager want to do that and replace him with the players he want then I will back him 100% because he know a hell of a lot more than me what the squad need to suit his system.

No offence mate, but i think that's silly.

If the manager decided to sell Torres and replace him with Carlton Cole, i wouldnt back that. It'd be a ****ing idiotic decision.