Xabi Alonso

[G]

Don't think he was playing for a transfer. He was brilliant in his last season and brilliant every other season since then. He was maturing as a player in his time with us but Rafa had pissed him off by the time he reached his best level.

[Red_Polo]

Yep, I feel Rafa must have accepted he wasn't going to get Xabi back to his best and resigned himself to flogging him as a result. Ironic that this should bring him back to life so brilliantly. Rafa probably could've smoothed it over /dealt with it better, but he was never the softly softly sort.

[Roboklopp]

Don't get this mediocre seasons ****. Aye, he had 2 standout seasons, but the ones in between were extremely good, just not absolutely amazing. It was so obvious when he didn't play.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Don't get this mediocre seasons ****. Aye, he had 2 standout seasons, but the ones in between were extremely good, just not absolutely amazing. It was so obvious when he didn't play.

Yep he did not have any shyte seasons, just a season and a bit in which he did not hit stelllar heights. Also seem to remember that in those seasons he had some pretty bad injuries, think it was Lampard who caused a broken bone in Xabi's foot, that saw him miss some time and need some time to get back up to speed.

That said, even a sub par, by his standards, Alonso was still a better ball player than a large percentage of midfielders in the league back then.

[Tee]

Don't get this mediocre seasons ****. Aye, he had 2 standout seasons, but the ones in between were extremely good, just not absolutely amazing. It was so obvious when he didn't play.

[frank the tank]

my favorite ever player.......

You know what is a sickener though - we became a ****in selling club.

If FSG bought us before H&G, we would have won the league by now. That season we nearly won the league, imagine a team along the lines of:

-----------------------------------REINA---------------------------------------


CLYNE----------CARRAGHER---------------AGGER----------------FLANAGAN


-------------------------------MASCHERANO-----------------------------------

-------------ALONSO------------------------------GERRARD-------------------

-------------------------------COUTINHO---------------------------------------

-----------SUAREZ--------------------------------STURRIDGE-----------------



What is a sickener is that the likes of Alonso and Mascherano were bombed out a good few years ago but they would both still be the first name on the team sheet even now.

[labourRed]

my favorite ever player.......

You know what is a sickener though - we became a ****in selling club.

If FSG bought us before H&G, we would have won the league by now. That season we nearly won the league, imagine a team along the lines of:

-----------------------------------REINA---------------------------------------


CLYNE----------CARRAGHER---------------AGGER----------------FLANAGAN


-------------------------------MASCHERANO-----------------------------------

-------------ALONSO------------------------------GERRARD-------------------

-------------------------------COUTINHO---------------------------------------

-----------SUAREZ--------------------------------STURRIDGE-----------------



What is a sickener is that the likes of Alonso and Mascherano were bombed out a good few years ago but they would both still be the first name on the team sheet even now.

That team would ship goals for fun.

[Fivex]

Flanagan?

[Rich]

Insua surely!?

[fah-q]

Degen and PFK FTW!

[Irishnev]

my favorite ever player.......

You know what is a sickener though - we became a ****in selling club.

If FSG bought us before H&G, we would have won the league by now. That season we nearly won the league, imagine a team along the lines of:

-----------------------------------REINA---------------------------------------


CLYNE----------CARRAGHER---------------AGGER----------------FLANAGAN


-------------------------------MASCHERANO-----------------------------------

-------------ALONSO------------------------------GERRARD-------------------

-------------------------------COUTINHO---------------------------------------

-----------SUAREZ--------------------------------STURRIDGE-----------------



What is a sickener is that the likes of Alonso and Mascherano were bombed out a good few years ago but they would both still be the first name on the team sheet even now.

One of my fav players but "bombed out" might not be the best choice words for how he left.

[peekay]

He was playing for the transfer.

He also has played continuously at a level to be a regular starter for Real Madrid, Bayern, and Spain with their glut of great midfielders. Was he playing for a transfer continuously all these years?

He did have some periods where his form dipped, no doubt about it. I think his second and third years with us were not as impressive as his first and final season.

But at his worst he was still an order of magnitude better than the some of his replacements we have had to endure since then. Even when he was out of form he knew how to keep the team ticking and how to position himself defensively.

We have had an Alonso sized hole in our midfield since he left which we have not filled yet.

Love Rafa to bits but it was an absolutely crazy decision from his point of view to attempt to sell Xabi to raise money. Secondly, we had reached two CL finals, regularly hit the later stages of the CL, just made a good shot at trying to win the league - the fact that we were in a position to sell our stars to raise money shows how poor and toxic our ownership was.

[Vermilion]

I blame the tax man.

[Buzzo]

Imagine If FSG hadn't bought us...

--------------------------------BOGDAN--------------------------------

MANQUILLO---------SKRTEL---------------COATES----------------PFK


-------------------------------POULSEN-----------------------------------

--------------ADAM-----------------------------DOWNING-----------------

-------------------------------JOE COLE-------------------------------------

------BIG **** CHRIS----------------------------BORINI------------------


Manager: Roy Hodgson

*shudder*

[Roboklopp]

Would've been Carlton Cole not Big **** Chris