Do you want Rafa back?

[Craig_H]

Have a blast mate. I'm jealous

[Paul12]

Torres will be gone at the end of the season regardless, and Gerrard and Carra are on the wane...so if the question is do we want one of the best managers in the world back even if it means they won't play for him, them hell yes

[Redspin]

Just cos Xabi wasnt very mobile & could defend well doesnt make him a DM anyway FFS. Our attacking play certainly suffered without him.

It's clear his replacement Aquilani wasn't a DM in any case & his individual merits aside, he certainly wasn't a DM. Lucas covered for him & has more of a defensive bias (certainly at that stage), but Aquilani's injuries are another story.

Perhaps it's the fact that Alonso plays in the defensive midfielder role on the pitch that clinches it? He does so for both Madrid and Spain and did for Liverpool. His lack of a presence in the final third also reflects this. Just 3 assists in his last season out of our 77 goals and just 3 goals himself, one of which was a penalty, another of which was a rebound from his own free-kick at Hull, so just one goal in open play.

Our attacking midfielders contributed far more goals and assists than he did, with 42 goals and 29 assists between them. That's what happens when you play 4-2-3-1 and have two DMs and is entirely to be expected

That is not to criticise him. He's a fine player and his ability to break up an attack and pick the simple pass to an unmarked colleague is second to none. However despite some people's impression, most of his passes were both outside the final third and had a range of about 15-20 yards. The Hollywood ball diagonally across the pitch, which he was excellent at, was the exception in his play. He was and is brilliant at the safe, relatively short, pass

[Redspin]

You been hanging around with redspin?

Another piece of hyperbolicism.

The English language is rich and varied so I don't think it really needs the fine-sounding but hitherto unknown "hyperbolicism".

[the rev leeroy brown]

Perhaps it's the fact that Alonso plays in the defensive midfielder role on the pitch that clinches it? He does so for both Madrid and Spain and did for Liverpool. His lack of a presence in the final third also reflects this. Just 3 assists in his last season out of our 77 goals and just 3 goals himself, one of which was a penalty, another of which was a rebound from his own free-kick at Hull, so just one goal in open play.

Our attacking midfielders contributed far more goals and assists than he did, with 42 goals and 29 assists between them. That's what happens when you play 4-2-3-1 and have two DMs and is entirely to be expected

That is not to criticise him. He's a fine player and his ability to break up an attack and pick the simple pass to an unmarked colleague is second to none. However despite some people's impression, most of his passes were both outside the final third and had a range of about 15-20 yards. The Hollywood ball diagonally across the pitch, which he was excellent at, was the exception in his play. He was and is brilliant at the safe, relatively short, pass

such a poor way to desrcibe alonso's play!! safe, simple passes???? WTF. he is not a defensive midfielder . . . .he is and was for us a playmaker. his eye for the pass that no one else could see was second to none. you say simple and safe - i say imaginative and ingenious.

he may not have had many direct assists but i would bet the majority of our 77 goals came from him as a starting point or had him involved at some point.

i wouldnt say he was a player who breaks up play but more one who starts the play. you find him more in the middle of the pitch than at either end. the majority of the time he was in the defensive third he was taking the ball from the defenders to get things going.

the man is and was a genius on the pitch and i would sell my left bollock to get him back.

xabi =

[Redspin]

Ferguson's signings in the last four windows:

Hernandez (left off the list for some reason)
Christopher Lloyd Smalling (undisclosed, Fulham)
Luis Antonio Valencia Mosquera (undisclosed, Wigan Athletic)
Michael James Owen (free, Newcastle United)
Gabriel Obertan (£3m, Bordeaux)
Mame Biram Diouf (undisclosed, Molde)
Zoran Tošić (undisclosed, Partizan Belgrade)
Adem Ljajić (undisclosed, Partizan Belgrade)
Ritchie Ria Alfons de Laet (undisclosed, Stoke City)

Which of those has improved the first team?

He reportedly spent as much as £10m on Tosic, who's already been offloaded and the same on Smalling, who seems to make one howler a game every time I've seen him

[Redspin]

such a poor way to desrcibe alonso's play!! safe, simple passes???? WTF. he is not a defensive midfielder . . . .he is and was for us a playmaker. his eye for the pass that no one else could see was second to none. you say simple and safe - i say imaginative and ingenious.

he may not have had many direct assists but i would bet the majority of our 77 goals came from him as a starting point or had him involved at some point.

i wouldnt say he was a player who breaks up play but more one who starts the play. you find him more in the middle of the pitch than at either end. the majority of the time he was in the defensive third he was taking the ball from the defenders to get things going.

the man is and was a genius on the pitch and i would sell my left bollock to get him back.

xabi =

It's as illogical as saying that any defender who passed the ball to Alonso would have been involved at some point in the majority of our 77 goals. He can only be assessed by what he actually does on the pitch rather than what someone thinks he does. And let's not forget that he was hardly vital to our play. He didn't start 11 of our league games that season and we didn't lose a single one of them

[the rev leeroy brown]

It's as illogical as saying that any defender who passed the ball to Alonso would have been involved at some point in the majority of our 77 goals. He can only be assessed by what he actually does on the pitch rather than what someone thinks he does. And let's not forget that he was hardly vital to our play. He didn't start 11 of our league games that season and we didn't lose a single one of them

i have to disagree and say he was possibly our most vital player. the vision he had to find the passes that no one else could see cannot be underestimated. if he for example plyed torres through with a pinpoint pass into the oppo 18 yard box for torres to simply lay it off to gerard to score then torres gets the assist but in my eyes alonso gets the plaudits - this is a scenario that happened on more than a handful of occasions in his final year.

[danperkins]

such a poor way to desrcibe alonso's play!! safe, simple passes???? WTF. he is not a defensive midfielder . . . .he is and was for us a playmaker. his eye for the pass that no one else could see was second to none. you say simple and safe - i say imaginative and ingenious.

he may not have had many direct assists but i would bet the majority of our 77 goals came from him as a starting point or had him involved at some point.

i wouldnt say he was a player who breaks up play but more one who starts the play. you find him more in the middle of the pitch than at either end. the majority of the time he was in the defensive third he was taking the ball from the defenders to get things going.

the man is and was a genius on the pitch and i would sell my left bollock to get him back.

xabi =

he is a deep lying CM that can put it a tackle when needed, there are few players who can do this Essien/Schweinstiger/Gerrard come to mind.

Alonso is a pass master that acts as a cog for the midfield linking defence to midfield and midfield to attack. As well as keeping the team ticking over his range of passing and vision allows him to link the play upfront short and long. His range of passing and accuracy is outstanding.

The truly fantastic talent that has been sorely missed since leaving and i don't think we realsied just how important he was and how vital he was to our team, until he was gone. Also, the guys is an absolute gent and a top pro.

Sounds like a brochure for Xabi Alonso

[Craig_H]

Redspin talks ****e almost as a hobby, but in dismissing Alonso's quality, he's managed to exceed even his own usual diabolically poor standard of posts.

[Shanks]

He's a fine player and his ability to break up an attack and pick the simple pass to an unmarked colleague is second to none.

Redspin talks ****e almost as a hobby, but in dismissing Alonso's quality, he's managed to exceed even his own usual diabolically poor standard of posts.

Dont see much wrong with that comment by redspin..
and you wonder why you get the replies you do..

If you post on here as much as you do Craig, then be prepared for a few disagreements..


I'll say one thing though, these Rafa threads certainly bring out the worst in some people..

[Craig_H]

Dont see much wrong with that comment by redspin..
and you wonder why you get the replies you do..

If you post on here as much as you do Craig, then be prepared for a few disagreements..


I'll say one thing though, these Rafa threads certainly bring out the worst in some people..

I wasnt referring to that comment.

And i dont 'wonder' why i get the replies i do, not in the slightest.

[Tee]

Lets be clear on one thing, we would not give a **** about Rafa if Purslow had appointed a proper replacement and not Roy. If we had Hiddink in charge right now and we were still struggling, I honestly think there would be no clamour for Rafa. It is all down to the ****ing squirell that we have become this desperate.

[Qantaga]

It's simple really. All this no we don't want him back attitude is really quite stupid.

He is a very good manager [tick]
He has the right CV [tick]
He is available [tick]
He just so happens to already know the ins and out's of the club [tick]
He is comfortable living and working here [tick]
He has plenty of experience [tick]
He has a brilliant European record [tick]

He is quite possibly the best Manager out there today who isn't at a club. Right on our doorstep. Talk about good opportunities, whether you want him back or not, it's about the club and I don't think any other manager bar the already Liverpool Legends (Dalglish etc) will do more for the club than Rafa. Managers like Roy not knowing wtf is what, or other managers just looking for a short term fix, that's not what we want. In years to come we will all look back on this moment and think 'it would have been some story if Rafa had come back!', it's the kind of story suited for Liverpool Football Club.

[Zapater]

Lets be clear on one thing, we would not give a **** about Rafa if Purslow had appointed a proper replacement and not Roy. If we had Hiddink in charge right now and we were still struggling, I honestly think there would be no clamour for Rafa. It is all down to the ****ing squirell that we have become this desperate.

Let's be clear, everyone would still give a **** about Rafa because he is a man that put us back in the big time and deserves a lot of respect. Maybe we wouldn't be campaigning to get him back here but still 100% I'd give a **** about Rafa. As I said earlier he more than deserves a second crack, but now is not the time. It's too soon and he needs a bit of a holiday and the stress from one horrendous working condition to another to clear off of him.