Alonso: I am staying

[Glen C]

Originally Posted by TK421 You say that but when Sky put there little stats up about how much ground the players cover Alonso was top against Chelsea. People make out that he just stands there like Jan Molby and hits pretty passes, but it isn't true. He gets through loads of defensive work too. I <3 him.

I know he does but what about his offensive work...not much going on there is there. We don't need to play two defensive midfielders. I think we're the only team out of the top 4 that plays with two defensive midfielders. We only need mascherano as a defensive midfielder and someone next to him who can support in attack as well as defend which is why rafa wants barry. Now i'm not gonna say that barry is my first choice but i can see where rafa's logic is on this one.

[Roy Hobbs]

I think it is clear he is going, regardless of what he says. He should go to Italy or Barca and he will be a revelation in either of those leagues. I will miss him though as I think he is a class player and person, but the Premier League just doesn't suit him, IMO (well not as much as the others will)

[TK421]

Originally Posted by Glen C I know he does but what about his offensive work...not much going on there is there.

Not if you reduce his output to assists and goals, no. But looking beyond that he's usually involved in most of our play as nearly all of it goes through him, especially if he's playing well.

Originally Posted by -Glen We don't need to play two defensive midfielders. I think we're the only team out of the top 4 that plays with two defensive midfielders. We only need mascherano as a defensive midfielder and someone next to him who can support in attack as well as defend which is why rafa wants barry. Now i'm not gonna say that barry is my first choice but i can see where rafa's logic is on this one.

Rafa nearly always has two players holding though, so basically you're disagreeing with Rafa's approach to the game more than anything else. I doubt he's ever going to change this, it's central to how he sets up his teams.

[Glen C]

Originally Posted by TK421 Not if you reduce his output to assists and goals, no. But looking beyond that he's usually involved in most of our play as nearly all of it goes through him, especially if he's playing well. Rafa nearly always plays two holding midfielders though, so basically you're disagreeing with Rafa's approach to the game more than anything else. I doubt he's ever going to change this, it's central to how he sets up his teams.

Yeah but we only do that when alonso plays. When lucas plays he gets forward more and supports the attack which is what alonso should be doing a lot more. When barry signs i bet you'll see him getting forward more to support torres and gerrard up front.

[Turkish Delight]

Originally Posted by TK421 Those two players play higher up the pitch. Xabi Alonso isn't in the team to play the killer pass. He's there to link the play and, in the main, hold his position when we attack to help guard against a counter attack. And he does it very well.

Alonso may cover more ground but I don't think his movement is as good as Lucas's. Lucas always seems to be close to the play when we're in possession and offering an easy pass. I don't believe he's as gifted on the ball as Xabi but he acts as a good link man for the team and I feel we play more fluid football when he plays.

Barry also plays in a similar fashion but is a bit more solid than Lucas is and personally I'd be all for bringing him in to replace Xabi.

[TK421]

Originally Posted by Turkish Delight Barry also plays in a similar fashion but is a bit more solid than Lucas is and personally I'd be all for bringing him in to replace Xabi.

That may well be the case, but I'll be disappointed if it is as I think Xabi is a better player with a great future ahead of him.

[Spy Bee]

I'll be suprised if he stays.

I think we can do better than the player he has been for the last two seasons. He's still living on 2005.

[MLB]

People will probably romanticise him after he's gone, but we'll be a better side with Barry than we are with Xabi.

[dave u]

Originally Posted by TK421 You say that but when Sky put there little stats up about how much ground the players cover Alonso was top against Chelsea. People make out that he just stands there like Jan Molby and hits pretty passes, but it isn't true. He gets through loads of defensive work too. I <3 him.

Damn straight. He's usually top or close to the top of the distance covered charts. I love Xabi too.

[Walton Park]

Yes but same stats showed that there was only 1 pass out of the 66 that was an attacking one.
Its clutching at straws when we are talking about the Chelsea game that he covered a lot of ground.
When can we say after a game this season that he was ourtstanding. Not many. Played well in some but outstanding. I cant remember one.
I think the time has come for him to move on. It will be the best for both the club and Alonso. The move for Barry does mean the writings on the wall for him.
We cant change the way we play just to suit him I'm sorry to say. If he goes now he will take a bit of respect. If he stays and loses his place next season it will all end in a sour note and he deserves a bit more than that.

[Jens]

Xabi and Kuyt are Rafa´s favourite players, I think we all can agree on that. I simply can´t see Alonso leaving, which is why I think Rafa have another role ready for Barry.

[ATXRED]

Don't really know how I feel about this...I'm on record earlier in the season as feeling Xabi was the most crucial player to the way we played, but over the season, our formation and style of play has become more dynamic and less focused on completely controlling the game. With Torres, Babel, and Gerrard we can break forward with pace, and unfortunately, this is where I feel Xabi is getting left behind. He can't keep up with the attack, and thus rarely contributes. He ends up have to hit the ball more straight up the pitch, and those types of balls are so much easier for defenders to cut out.

He's still a beast when it comes to dictating tempo, but I'm not sure that's what we need anymore. I feel what we need is a CM who can take the ball out of defense, and move it up to attack. If Gerrard gets stuck doing this, Torres is isolated, if Masch does this he typically runs out of ideas and the attack dies. Maybe it's hurt Xabi's game to be without Agger, who allows the entire team to play further up the pitch and thus allowing Xabi to play closer to the front four, but he wasn't all that great last year.

I don't want to see him go, he's a wonderful player, and an incredible professional, but I feel like just maybe our style of play doesn't suit him as well as it did in the past.

[TK421]

Originally Posted by Walton Park Yes but same stats showed that there was only 1 pass out of the 66 that was an attacking one.

Seriously, are you saying that he only completed one forward pass or what? I bet he passed the ball forward a fair few times out of those 66 and most of them probably found their target. And 66 complete passes is not bad going, if that's how it ended. I remember seeing a stat when Yossi came off he had completed something like 18 passes or thereabouts and one was described as "attacking", the one that lead to the equalizer.

[Stu Monty]

I really, really like Xabi when he's playing well but I think that his need to be so deep to conduct things is very often a hinderance to us. We ended up at one point in the game against Chelsea with Alonso and Mascherano level with each other and Gerrard dropped deep to pick the ball up from Xabi, so he was about ten yards from him. I let out a little anguished yell in the pub at this point.

I want Xabi to be the answer, I really do but my head is beating my heart on points at the moment.

[Remington]

"No you're not!"