The incredible Xabi Alonso thread 2009.

[Jürgen4PM]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=Rosco link=topic=33578.msg873940#msg873940 date=1243183394]


This time next year don't come on here complaining about us going backwards though.
[/quote]

I don't see why that would be a problem, some people have been complaining constantly on here, even though we've improved this season.

 

[Whaddapie]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

Yes you do.

You just don't want to admit that there have been a few negatives mixed in with the (mostly) positives.

 

[spider-Neil]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=Rosco link=topic=33578.msg873859#msg873859 date=1243182243]
[quote author=SaintGeorge67 link=topic=33578.msg873753#msg873753 date=1243178401]
May have been mentioned, but Xabi wasn't playing very well (and please, no smart arses saying he was) the last 2 years. then when the idea of him being sold is banded about he has his best season in four.

I'll trust Rafa on this one.
[/quote]

The Xabi was rubbish for two years myth, is exactly that - a big fucking myth. Was he great ? No.

But he turned in a hell of a lot of consistently good performances during those two years. Tinto should be ashamed of himself after his post above.

Jan Molby nailed it months ago in the chat he and Xabi had. The better the players around him are the easier it is to play his game.

How can a good passer of the ball excel when nobody is willing to play wide and the strikers ahead of him have no pace or movement ?

P.S. - The Count - some of us were very very vocal when Rafa tried to make this mistake last season.
[/quote]

its not a myth, xabi 'was' average for two seasons, well at least he was average for xabi. anyone who thinks otherwise is doing the TRUE level of xabi alonso a disservice.

 

[rage]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

selling alonso would be a mistake, selling him to end up with a midfield 3 of masch, lucas and barry imo will cost us big time. if this happens rafa should resign if he wins fuck all again for the 4th season in a row as a midfield made up of those 3 lacks control and creativity.

 

[SaintGeorge67]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

I could be whooshing multiple threads massively here...

Has there been any sign yet from Liverpool's end that we're after Barry again?

I don't doubt it at all, I just can't remember reading anything other than from Aston Villa.

 

[vantage]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

Ross, are you having one of your 'days'? Y'know, when you try to act all contraversial?

 

[TheBunnyman]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=Rosco link=topic=33578.msg873940#msg873940 date=1243183394]
Xabi haters back out in force.

You can all be wrong together lads, enjoy.

This time next year don't come on here complaining about us going backwards though.
[/quote]

Ross, I'm not quite sure what's happened to you. Did you 'go tabloid' at the same time as Chris Bascombe? I love Xabi - he's my player of the season, and I don't under any circumstances want him to be sold - but to suggest he was consistently good for the two seasons prior to this one is just crass revisionism.

Can't you just go back to calm, detached reasoning, rather than talking in bullet point and telling posters they should be 'ashamed' etc? It doesn't suit you.

 

[vantage]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=33578.msg874058#msg874058 date=1243186344]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=33578.msg873940#msg873940 date=1243183394]
Xabi haters back out in force.

You can all be wrong together lads, enjoy.

This time next year don't come on here complaining about us going backwards though.
[/quote]

Ross, I'm not quite sure what's happened to you. Did you 'go tabloid' at the same time as Chris Bascombe? I love Xabi - he's my player of the season, and I don't under any circumstances want him to be sold - but to suggest he was consistently good for the two seasons prior to this one is just crass revisionism.

Can't you just go back to calm, detached reasoning, rather than talking in bullet point and telling posters they should be 'ashamed' etc? It doesn't suit you.

[/quote]

He's been kidnapped and replaced by DJ.

 

[Rosco]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=33578.msg874058#msg874058 date=1243186344]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=33578.msg873940#msg873940 date=1243183394]
Xabi haters back out in force.

You can all be wrong together lads, enjoy.

This time next year don't come on here complaining about us going backwards though.
[/quote]

Ross, I'm not quite sure what's happened to you. Did you 'go tabloid' at the same time as Chris Bascombe? I love Xabi - he's my player of the season, and I don't under any circumstances want him to be sold - but to suggest he was consistently good for the two seasons prior to this one is just crass revisionism.

Can't you just go back to calm, detached reasoning, rather than talking in bullet point and telling posters they should be 'ashamed' etc? It doesn't suit you.

[/quote]

He was consistently above average for those two seasons.

As for the ashamed comment, it would have made more sense had Tinto not edited out the bit he should have been ashamed about, proving my point actually.

 

[Tinto]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=Rosco link=topic=33578.msg874065#msg874065 date=1243186601]
[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=33578.msg874058#msg874058 date=1243186344]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=33578.msg873940#msg873940 date=1243183394]
Xabi haters back out in force.

You can all be wrong together lads, enjoy.

This time next year don't come on here complaining about us going backwards though.
[/quote]

Ross, I'm not quite sure what's happened to you. Did you 'go tabloid' at the same time as Chris Bascombe? I love Xabi - he's my player of the season, and I don't under any circumstances want him to be sold - but to suggest he was consistently good for the two seasons prior to this one is just crass revisionism.

Can't you just go back to calm, detached reasoning, rather than talking in bullet point and telling posters they should be 'ashamed' etc? It doesn't suit you.

[/quote]

He was consistently above average for those two seasons.

As for the ashamed comment, it would have made more sense had Tinto not edited out the bit he should have been ashamed about, proving my point actually.
[/quote]

I haven't edited anything out my posts today!

 

[TheBunnyman]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

Above whose average? Certainly not above his. Above the PL average for a central midfielder? Yeah, maybe. That's not saying much, though, for a Liverpool player.

Anyway, what about the broader points of my post? Or are you becoming Brendanlike in your selectivity of what to argue about?

 

[refugee]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=vantage link=topic=33578.msg874063#msg874063 date=1243186492]
[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=33578.msg874058#msg874058 date=1243186344]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=33578.msg873940#msg873940 date=1243183394]
Xabi haters back out in force.

You can all be wrong together lads, enjoy.

This time next year don't come on here complaining about us going backwards though.
[/quote]

Ross, I'm not quite sure what's happened to you. Did you 'go tabloid' at the same time as Chris Bascombe? I love Xabi - he's my player of the season, and I don't under any circumstances want him to be sold - but to suggest he was consistently good for the two seasons prior to this one is just crass revisionism.

Can't you just go back to calm, detached reasoning, rather than talking in bullet point and telling posters they should be 'ashamed' etc? It doesn't suit you.

[/quote]

He's been kidnapped and replaced by DJ.
[/quote]

ha

 

[spider-Neil]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

so if alonso had peformed at the level of his debut season and this current season every season he was at liverpool way did rafa try and get rid? I had no problem whatsoever with rafa getting rid last season this season however alonso has recaptured his form so a sale would be folly but the bridges have been burnt it seems.

 

[Whaddapie]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=Rosco link=topic=33578.msg874065#msg874065 date=1243186601]
[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=33578.msg874058#msg874058 date=1243186344]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=33578.msg873940#msg873940 date=1243183394]
Xabi haters back out in force.

You can all be wrong together lads, enjoy.

This time next year don't come on here complaining about us going backwards though.
[/quote]

Ross, I'm not quite sure what's happened to you. Did you 'go tabloid' at the same time as Chris Bascombe? I love Xabi - he's my player of the season, and I don't under any circumstances want him to be sold - but to suggest he was consistently good for the two seasons prior to this one is just crass revisionism.

Can't you just go back to calm, detached reasoning, rather than talking in bullet point and telling posters they should be 'ashamed' etc? It doesn't suit you.

[/quote]

He was consistently above average for those two seasons.

[/quote]

No he wasn't, mate.

He was a showdow of the 04/05 Xabi.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

Rafa isn't trying to get shut Spidey.

 

[manwithnoname]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

Gareth Barry is a worse player than Xabi, that's obvious. But Barry is still a very good player, and who knows if somehow his addition to the midfield mixture somehow catalyses the whole of the team to play even better?

It's not impossible

That said, the thought that The Cunt may be at our club next season, and not Alonso, is enough to bring a tear to a glass eye

 

[Rosco]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=33578.msg874070#msg874070 date=1243186779]
Above whose average? Certainly not above his. Above the PL average for a central midfielder? Yeah, maybe. That's not saying much, though, for a Liverpool player.

Anyway, what about the broader points of my post? Or are you becoming Brendanlike in your selectivity of what to argue about?

[/quote]

What's the broader point ?
I'm being a cunt today ?

 

[TheBunnyman]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=Rosco link=topic=33578.msg874094#msg874094 date=1243187712]
[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=33578.msg874070#msg874070 date=1243186779]
Above whose average? Certainly not above his. Above the PL average for a central midfielder? Yeah, maybe. That's not saying much, though, for a Liverpool player.

Anyway, what about the broader points of my post? Or are you becoming Brendanlike in your selectivity of what to argue about?

[/quote]

What's the broader point ?
I'm being a cunt today ?
[/quote]

Ha. All right, as long as you can see it yourself...

 

[cochyn]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=Rosco link=topic=33578.msg874094#msg874094 date=1243187712]
[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=33578.msg874070#msg874070 date=1243186779]
Above whose average? Certainly not above his. Above the PL average for a central midfielder? Yeah, maybe. That's not saying much, though, for a Liverpool player.

Anyway, what about the broader points of my post? Or are you becoming Brendanlike in your selectivity of what to argue about?

[/quote]

What's the broader point ?
I'm being a cunt today ?
[/quote]

you seem a little tetchy, but not a cunt 😉

 

[Whaddapie]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=33578.msg874095#msg874095 date=1243187811]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=33578.msg874094#msg874094 date=1243187712]
[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=33578.msg874070#msg874070 date=1243186779]
Above whose average? Certainly not above his. Above the PL average for a central midfielder? Yeah, maybe. That's not saying much, though, for a Liverpool player.

Anyway, what about the broader points of my post? Or are you becoming Brendanlike in your selectivity of what to argue about?

[/quote]

What's the broader point ?
I'm being a cunt today ?
[/quote]

Ha. All right, as long as you can see it yourself...

[/quote]

I think he was asking for clarification, Bunny... Not admitting to it. ;D

 

[the count]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=Rosco link=topic=33578.msg873859#msg873859 date=1243182243]
[quote author=SaintGeorge67 link=topic=33578.msg873753#msg873753 date=1243178401]
May have been mentioned, but Xabi wasn't playing very well (and please, no smart arses saying he was) the last 2 years. then when the idea of him being sold is banded about he has his best season in four.

I'll trust Rafa on this one.
[/quote]

The Xabi was rubbish for two years myth, is exactly that - a big fucking myth. Was he great ? No.

But he turned in a hell of a lot of consistently good performances during those two years. Tinto should be ashamed of himself after his post above.

Jan Molby nailed it months ago in the chat he and Xabi had. The better the players around him are the easier it is to play his game.

How can a good passer of the ball excel when nobody is willing to play wide and the strikers ahead of him have no pace or movement ?

P.S. - The Count - some of us were very very vocal when Rafa tried to make this mistake last season.[/quote]

Scratches Ross off the hypocrotes list and writes his name under ANITA

 

[gkmacca]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

Benitez was quizzed on the possibility of Alonso leaving and Carlos Tevez arriving this summer, but would only say: "Clearly I cannot give any names (of players leaving or arriving).

"Alonso has three years left on his contract and we are really pleased with him, so we do not want to sell.

"But I have had a private conversation with his agent, and it was interesting to see who had that information.

"For me it was a private conversation, and it will stay that way, but it is clear he has three more years of his contract and we do not want to sell him.

"I repeat, we do not want to sell, he is not for sale. He has said he is happy here in Liverpool, in every single press conference, in every single interview.

"We have some ideas for the future, without losing any of our key players."



http://www.itv.com/Sport/Football/News/PremierLeague/Generalnews/Benitez-determined-to-keep-Alonso-190782108.html

 

[Bradley]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=gkmacca link=topic=33578.msg874204#msg874204 date=1243197444]
Benitez was quizzed on the possibility of Alonso leaving and Carlos Tevez arriving this summer, but would only say: "Clearly I cannot give any names (of players leaving or arriving).

"Alonso has three years left on his contract and we are really pleased with him, so we do not want to sell.

"But I have had a private conversation with his agent, and it was interesting to see who had that information.

"For me it was a private conversation, and it will stay that way, but it is clear he has three more years of his contract and we do not want to sell him.

"I repeat, we do not want to sell, he is not for sale. He has said he is happy here in Liverpool, in every single press conference, in every single interview.

"We have some ideas for the future, without losing any of our key players."



http://www.itv.com/Sport/Football/News/PremierLeague/Generalnews/Benitez-determined-to-keep-Alonso-190782108.html

[/quote]

Stick that in yer fucking pipe Mr Agent!

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

Quite clearly Rafa doesn't want to sell him but the protestations appear to be either an attempt to stop any criticsm from the fans or a public declaration of his desire to keep Xabi despite the attempts to offload him last season.

 

[Buddha]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=Tinto link=topic=33578.msg873640#msg873640 date=1243171827]

... nobody wanted Xabi at £14m despite that price being an absolute bargain for a player of his talent. This just shows how much his formed had dipped in the previous two seasons.

[/quote]

That's the core of the argument to refute any suggestion Xabi wasn't anything but well below par for the 2 seasons prior. Not a single top club were prepared to bay 14 (or less)m for him last summer - not exactly a sum for any biggish size European club to baulk at.

He's been superb this season and there's probably not one poster here who'd choose to sell him, but it look pretty clear to me that he wants the move. Perhaps it's a reaction to the amateur way we conducted our attempt at selling him last summer, but had he been playing well prior to that Rafa would not have wanted to move him on, and it'd have been a damn sight easier to complete a deal anyway.

At least now if he goes (and I repeat I'd rather he stay) at least we'll likely get 25m odd for him, leaving us circa 15m after buying the replacement Barry. Moreover, Brendan's point is a good one - who's to say Barry (an excellent player in his own right) won't prove an unlikely catalyst to move us on anyway?

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

5th time lucky Buddha.

 

[Buddha]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=Sheik Yerbouti link=topic=33578.msg874216#msg874216 date=1243198600]
5th time lucky Buddha.
[/quote]

Ha ha.

Fucking computers eh?

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=Buddha link=topic=33578.msg874221#msg874221 date=1243198922]
[quote author=Sheik Yerbouti link=topic=33578.msg874216#msg874216 date=1243198600]
5th time lucky Buddha.
[/quote]

Ha ha.

Fucking computers eh?
[/quote]

A bad tradesman always blames his tools.

 

[Buddha]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

[quote author=Sheik Yerbouti link=topic=33578.msg874222#msg874222 date=1243199041]
[quote author=Buddha link=topic=33578.msg874221#msg874221 date=1243198922]
[quote author=Sheik Yerbouti link=topic=33578.msg874216#msg874216 date=1243198600]
5th time lucky Buddha.
[/quote]

Ha ha.

Fucking computers eh?
[/quote]

A bad tradesman always blames his tools.

You're just trying to get me to practice the quote button.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez

Looks like you need some extra tuition. I've assigned Head of Department Mr Brendan to bring you up to the required level.