Rafa Benitez - the kingmaker

[Lee]

I love Alonso but had we swapped him for Sneijder and Robben then we'd have probably won the league in 2010.

Don't really like the Alonso / Barry talk. Nobody here knows the reasons behind it all so I find the speculation weak and without substance.

[chadrtc]

I wouldnt say no harm done.

Thats was our Archduke Ferdinand moment.

I think if we had kept Alonso, we would have kept Mascherano, Arbeloa and Torres, and we would have continued to have challanged. I think we already had the players to win the league. We did not need to strenthen. When Alonso left the team crumbled.

Obviously that may have affected the ownership issue, but who is to say a successful team would not have brough out a multibillionaire.

We would probably have kept Torres, but Masch and Arbeloa would both have gone regardless. Masch had been angling for a move for 2 summers, his family didn't settle in the area. Arbeloa wanted to go back to Spain.

I don't think the Alonso move played any part in those two.

[Charly]

I don't think the Alonso move played any part in those two.

Its not the move, but the result of the move, ie collapse of league form. If we had challanged, we would have been more attractive, and had abetter chance of keeping them, either through success, or money for a better deal. People under estimate how good Arbeloa was too. He went far too cheaply imho.

[Daniel 7]

In an interview I read, he said he would have stayed, but Rafa had brought in Glen Johnson. Madrid came in, his first team place wasn't guaranteed anymore, so he left.

[Eric Swindler]

The question always remains, would Alonso have played as well as he did in 08/09 had Rafa not tried to sell him to Juventus the previous summer?

[Kenneth]

Its a pretty silly question. It doesn't reflect well on Rafa if that's the only way he could get the best out of him.

[Eric Swindler]

Its a pretty silly question. It doesn't reflect well on Rafa if that's the only way he could get the best out of him.

I'm not sure why it's silly though. Alonso did play his best ever football that season. And left the following one, stating that Rafa's decision to try and sell him was a deciding factor.

[Roboklopp]

Its a pretty silly question. It doesn't reflect well on Rafa if that's the only way he could get the best out of him.

Why's it reflect worse on Rafa than Xabi?

[Eric Swindler]

I think it reflects worse on Alonso to be honest. Prior to 08/09 Alonso was very good, but not great. Rafa then tries to sell him, but ultimately doesn't. Alonso is distraught. Alonso then becomes arguably the best midfielder in the league that season. He doesn't forgive Rafa for the previous summer though, and then ****s off.

A) I don't think Rafa was wrong to try and sell him prior to 08/09
B) It took the threat of sale for Alonso to reach his potential.

It's kind of an interesting situation.

Kinda like the question; Would Lucas be the player he is now, if it wasn't for the Aquilaini mess of two seasons ago?

Probably not, is the answer - and although we like to slate Rafa for signing that ****bag Italian, it did result in Lucas been thrown in at the deep end and ultimately we have a young great player on our hands.

[Tee]

Alonso was plagued with injuries FFS. Once fully fit and with a proper pre-season, he showed his true class. That is all it is!

[The Birdman]

And then he said Barry will be better. Hahahahahahaahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha h!

Yeah the **** Gareth barry with an FA Cup and Premier League Winners medal.
Piss of piss to play week in week out as a first choice regular in that Man City team isn't it.

Gareth Barry makes other players around him and the team tick, if people can't understand that then they are dumb ****ing ****wits.
Not every player has to be spectacularly eye catching.

Watch Mancini bring Barry straight back into the team now he is fit, and by the team I mean the best side in the Premier League with pretty much unparrelled finances, but you know they keep picking Barry because he's ****.

Oh and had we signed Barry we would have made that Liverpool team tick the way that Alonso did.
Different teams, different personal, different tactics but exactly the same role/function.

[The Birdman]

Seems petty discussing ****e like this today but Alonso was good for us, not great, not fantastic and not a regular in the Spain team.
He had great games but also went missing for a lot of games, the facts are he had 1 excellent season which ended with him handing in a transfer request because he knew Real were in for him.

You don't have to be Einstein to work out he played for a move that season, I don't blame him it's how football works.
Alonso handed in a written transfer request yet he is universally lauded by fans.

Bonkers

[Eric Swindler]

Alonso was plagued with injuries FFS. Once fully fit and with a proper pre-season, he showed his true class. That is all it is!

He had a 1 bad season appearance-wise:

2004-2005 24 0 0 8 0 32
2005-2006 35 5 0 11 2 53
2006-2007 32 1 2 15 1 51
2007-2008 19 3 1 4 0 27
2008-2009 33 3 1 10 0 47.

[Tee]

You can still play a lot of games but have underlying injury problems you know.

[Eric Swindler]

You can still play a lot of games but have underlying injury problems you know.

I guess, but I'm not sure he was plagued by injuries.

And Alonso is on record publicly as saying that he felt he had to leave Liverpool after losing the backing of Rafa.

“Last summer the club proposed to me that I might have to be sold to find funds for new players,” Alonso told Sky Sports.

“It was a difficult decision or difficult moment to accept that. I accepted that as a professional and that moment probably changed my mind and I thought that maybe from that moment that maybe it was time for a change.”