Xabi Alonso: Welcome back to Anfield.

[Moo]

If Alonso came and did well here I'd fully expect him to go to Madrid after 5-7 years.  But then who wouldn't given the opportunity? In fact it's where I expect Jürgen to end up after his full year out.  It doesn't really matter if it's viewed as a stepping stone (Xabi possibly) or if you don't really plan that far ahead (Klopp possibly).  It's about doing and giving your best for LFC while you're here.

[John102]

Has anyone's checked to see if Klopp has added Bellingham on Instagram?

[Aventus]

I know bundesliga is considered a weak league compared to the prem, but it's still a massive ask to be able to go toe to toe with Bayern Munich who have won it for about a decade straight. If he wins it with Leverkusen then that would be a huge achievement, who was the last manager to actually do that? 

[KMD7]

58 minutes ago, Dicko said:

Why though?

Klopp is a better manager than all of them and never thought that.

Players I get, managers less so.

 

Klopp is a one off in fairness though 

[Bjornebye]

There isn’t any replacing Klopp. As a fanbase we need to keep our own momentum. Good ebening 

[Bjornebye]

[Dicko]

1 hour ago, Moo said:

If Alonso came and did well here I'd fully expect him to go to Madrid after 5-7 years.  But then who wouldn't given the opportunity? In fact it's where I expect Jürgen to end up after his full year out.  It doesn't really matter if it's viewed as a stepping stone (Xabi possibly) or if you don't really plan that far ahead (Klopp possibly).  It's about doing and giving your best for LFC while you're here.

My fear is him going after one or two years.

[VladimirIlyich]

1 hour ago, Mook said:

 

Money, weather & prestige.

 

Klopp is a bit of a one off.

Correct. He was made for our role. Unfortunately because of the blatant cheating and corruption he can only go so far before his health suffers drastically. His family has to come first. He deserves that.

[kemskem]

10 minutes ago, Dicko said:

My fear is him going after one or two years.

It would be factored into any negotiations we had with him I think.

[Jairzinho]

I don't see Alonso being the type to fuck off after a year or two. He's a smart man, he knows the Real gig could last six months. They will give zero fucks about his history at the club.

[Scott_M]

3 hours ago, Code said:

How much did we get for Salah?

Plus Gakpo & Jota. 
 

Xabi will certainly have a few quid to spend if this is the case. 
 

I think all our forwards could comfortably play in a 3-4-3. I’d maybe question Diaz the most as he doesn’t have the experience of playing through the middle like the others, I’m sure it wouldn’t be an issue though. 

[Scott_M]

[Kevin D]

 

[s(k)aturation]

Does Alonso take over this week?

[TheHowieLama]

7 minutes ago, s(k)aturation said:

Does Alonso take over this week?

 

Could use the new manager bounce.

[dave u]

Not sure this has been mentioned as I haven't read the whole thread, but the 3-4-3 he's currently playing doesn't mean anything as manager's will often use a system suited to the players they have. The system Klopp plays now is not the one he played at Dortmund or even played here for much of his time.

 

I'd assume that Alonso is flexible enough to create a system based around the players he has. The basic principles will be there, but he won't be married to a specific formation. 

[TD_LFC]

4 minutes ago, dave u said:

Not sure this has been mentioned as I haven't read the whole thread, but the 3-4-3 he's currently playing doesn't mean anything as manager's will often use a system suited to the players they have. The system Klopp plays now is not the one he played at Dortmund or even played here for much of his time.

 

I'd assume that Alonso is flexible enough to create a system based around the players he has. The basic principles will be there, but he won't be married to a specific formation. 

 

It's not even a 3-4-3 during the game it alternates between 3-4-3, 4-2-3-1 and 3-2-5 in attack much like we cycle through 4-3-3, 3-2-2-3, 2-3-5/3-2-5 depending on whether we're attacking defending or transitioning between the two.

[Babb'sBurstNad]

11 minutes ago, TD_LFC said:

 

It's not even a 3-4-3 during the game it alternates between 3-4-3, 4-2-3-1 and 3-2-5 in attack much like we cycle through 4-3-3, 3-2-2-3, 2-3-5/3-2-5 depending on whether we're attacking defending or transitioning between the two.

 

That's Numberwang!

[Jennings]

Too inexperienced.

[Code]

I knew Guardiola would be a great manager if he wanted  to before he retired, I knew Alonso would be a great manager if he wanted to before he retired, you can see some players have it in them by the way they understand the game itself. 

 

This is a no brainer, the talk about him needing more experience is a bit daft.

 

He started coaching in the Real Madrid youth system, then he went back to Sociedad and the B team, then he went to Leverkusen.

 

He’s been playing at Sociedad, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, he’s won everything there is to win apart from the PL as a player. He got pretty close in his last season for us though. 

He’s been working under managers like Toshack, Benitez, Mourinho, Ancelotti, Guardiola, Inaki Saez, Aragones and Del Bosque, you would think a player with his football brain and capacity would be able to understand and develop based on working in these professional conditions from 2000 when he got into the Sociedad first team until he retired in 2017 at Bayern. 
 

Can some of the names who have been brought forward as more experienced coaches even get close to the actual football experience Alonso has got at the highest level?

 

What Mourinho said in 2010:

“He has the quality that a ‘metronome’ should have. I’m sure that when he hangs up his boots he will be a great coach if he wants to. He reminds me of Pep Guardiola when I had him as a player. He was already a coach on the pitch.”

 

What Alonso said in 2019:

Of course, I have taken a lot from all of them. I've been lucky enough to experience great clubs, with great players, great team-mates and great managers," Alonso said.
"I've always tried to be close to them, to understand how and why they make decisions. You learn from that but you need to build your own personality - it's not a copy and paste thing this manager's job. You need to build your own ideas and believe in them to be able to transmit that idea and that's what I'm trying to do.
"Occasionally I call them (his former managers). I try to keep in touch with some of them that I have a good relationship with. 
"That's the good thing that you have after 18 years playing football, I have been lucky to have contact with John Toshack, with Jose Mourinho, with Pep Guardiola, with Vicente Del Bosque."

Here is Alonso discussing Guardiola and Mourinho tactics with Carra in 2016. 

 

 

 

[dave u]

Love that Frode, great post and I'm with you 100%.

[3 Stacks]

What he did as a player is honestly completely irrelevant other than it adds to his aura.

[Code]

26 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

What he did as a player is honestly completely irrelevant other than it adds to his aura.

You have never played football or been part of a sports team have you?

[3 Stacks]

6 minutes ago, Code said:

You have never played football or been part of a sports team have you?

Yeah, sorry for discounting your copy and paste project above with a single sentence, but it really doesn't matter much. 

 

I don't know how many top managers in the history of the game were crap footballers but it certainly is a lot.

 

As for myself, I find many people are interested in my athletic prowess all of a sudden. It's great. 

[Trumo]

Alonso's understanding of tactics and how to apply them in critical situations was always evident from his playing days, and having that understanding as a manager is certainly useful because you can see how to apply and evolve ideas, but transmitting these ideas to players is always going to be the key. So far he is showing that with Leverkusen, but honestly the sample size is very small as he doesn't have the years under his belt with a proven track record that the likes of Rafa, Jurgen and even Mourinho had before they took over at a PL club.