Xabi to miss tonight?

[RedKnight]

Voronin missed a few games earlier this season because his missus was in labour. The standard of player is different but what's good for one is good for another.

[robbief]

Thousands of people would want to do your job so they can just go to the perks. Doesn't mean you wouldn't take a couple of days off work so you can be there when your wife gives birth.

 

firstly, i don't get anywhere near what xabi gets for a couple of days work.

secondly, nobody dreams of having my job from the first time they kick a ball.

thirdly, nobody feels as strongly about bloody travel as we do about football.

[aws]

It's just as well Mascherano is fit otherwise we'd have had to alter the current system and we'd have had no cover at all.

[GRADY]

This is a rubbish post in about a hundred different ways.

 

ha ha. I have to agree although it is quite amusing

[Monkeywool]

firstly, i don't get anywhere near what xabi gets for a couple of days work.

secondly, nobody dreams of having my job from the first time they kick a ball.

thirdly, nobody feels as strongly about bloody travel as we do about football.

 

None of those points are relevant. If you are working, regardless of what you do, then being there for the birth of your first child is more important as already mentioned. Xabi rightly wanted to be with his family, Rafa let him do it.

 

None issue, no story nothing wrong with that. Just because you are a fan and you would choose the football over family (presumably you are a: Single and B: Not been in a real loving relationship where you actually want a family) doesn't mean a guy who so happens to do the job you covet can't choose family first.

[robbief]

i know what i'd choose. forget pay, forget sponsorship money, just plain and simple liverpool at the san siro. i'd be there.

[Glen C]

Very silly post. When Alonso's in form (and he's been showing strong signs that he's getting back there), the entire team plays better. He's a huge loss in a game like this.

 

"The team will still function the same." Dearie me.

 

 

Oh please alonso hasn't been 'on form' for 18 months. I've yet to see the alonso i saw in his first season here. Since then his game hasn't improved at all. He seems to have gone complacent.

[Monkeywool]

As already said, that is the reason you will not have any little beefs running around, which would be awesome. I can imagine trying to teach them.

 

Shakespeare, what do you know about him?

 

It makes me sick to know that he actually didn't put 100% into his plays because he was too busy chasing after some 2 bit silly women sir.

 

Right thanks there Mr Beef, anyone else?

[Glen C]

 

 

 

Xabi is still our best midfielder by miles ....anyone here think that our return to form and Xabi's return to the team is coincidental?

 

 

 

hahahaha please tell me you're not serious.

[JohnBull]

hahahaha please tell me you're not serious.

 

I am dead phacking serious!

 

To you and the other poster above who scoffed at the thought that he is our best midfielder tell me who the fack is better?

[coop]

I am dead phacking serious!

 

To you and the other poster above who scoffed at the thought that he is our best midfielder tell me who the fack is better?

 

Only a couple, Gerrard and Mascherano.

[Glen C]

I am dead phacking serious!

 

To you and the other poster above who scoffed at the thought that he is our best midfielder tell me who the fack is better?

 

A certain captain maybe. I've never seen alonso take a game by the scruff like gerrard. Gerrard scores goals, is more dynamic and has won us games. Alonso isn't even a patch on him.

[JohnBull]

Only a couple, Gerrard and Mascherano.

 

Is Gerrard really a midfielder? ... or is he a winger/striker hiding in a midfielders body?

 

Maschersano is a ball winner/bulldog/5th defender of class but he couldnt pass gas if he ate a whole tin of beans by himself.

 

When it comes to passing the ball and keeping the attacking flow of the game going, which btw has been our weakest area this season, Xabi is our best midfielder by miles!

[WaltonRed]

The papers are making more of it because they dont like us and would like nothing more than to see us crash and burn.

[silverlining]

Is Gerrard really a midfielder? ... or is he a winger/striker hiding in a midfielders body?

 

Maschersano is a ball winner/bulldog/5th defender of class but he couldnt pass gas if he ate a whole tin of beans by himself.

 

When it comes to passing the ball and keeping the attacking flow of the game going, which btw has been our weakest area this season, Xabi is our best midfielder by miles!

 

 

You're being simplistic. Or perhaps just simple.

 

You can't so easily define what a midfielder is. So, yeah, Masher may not be a very good passer, but he's awesome at tackling and shielding the defence, and does a far better job at it than Alonso would.

 

A midfielder isn't JUST about passing the ball and attacking flow, and while I do agree that Xabi is a lovely passer, and tactically superb, it's just as relevant to say that he isn't a great tackler, is one-paced and doesn't score enough goals.

 

All of the above things could be attributes that you would want "the perfect midfielder" to have. And the closest thing to it in world football is probably Steven Gerrard.

[Zoidberg]

Xabi might not be a match-winner like Gerrard and Torres, but it is obvious that we play MUCH better with Xabi on the pitch.

 

Better-looking football. We have more possession, and our play just flows better.

IMO, of course :whistle:

 

Lucas is a good replacement, but I think we'll miss Xabi's cool head and decision-making tonight.

[GRADY]

Is Gerrard really a midfielder? ... or is he a winger/striker hiding in a midfielders body?

 

Maschersano is a ball winner/bulldog/5th defender of class but he couldnt pass gas if he ate a whole tin of beans by himself.

 

When it comes to passing the ball and keeping the attacking flow of the game going, which btw has been our weakest area this season, Xabi is our best midfielder by miles!

 

You're mad.

[silverlining]

The papers are making more of it because they dont like us and would like nothing more than to see us crash and burn.

 

If Benitez had just managed to rein his fucking gob in and said:

 

"Alonso is not travelling because his wife is about to give birth to their first child" nothing more would have been said, and no headlines would have been written.

 

So he's been a fucking knobhead to the press. AGAIN.

[JohnBull]

All of the above things could be attributes that you would want "the perfect midfielder" to have. And the closest thing to it in world football is probably Steven Gerrard.

 

 

Never said he was perfect .... just that he was our best!

 

Our offense has no real flow to it, if you compare the way we knock the ball around and get forward to Arsenal or ManU, we are positively pedestrian. Whenever I watch us play I get the distinct impression that we don't really know what we are going to do next, that it's all just hit or miss and we are only a moment away from just hoofing it forward and giving chase.

 

Maybe I am exaggerating a bit but I am sure that every fan here, if he is honest, can relate to what I am saying.

 

When Xabi is on the field however, and playing well, that purposeful flow to our game is markedly improved. We still don't quite attain the level of ManU and Arsenal but we are much closer.

 

That is why I say he is our best midfielder.

[silverlining]

 

Maybe I am exaggerating a bit but I am sure that every fan here, if he is honest, can relate to what I am saying.

 

 

 

I'm sure the ones with extra chromosomes can, yeah.

[hamstrung]

I don't care provided no one uses the word phacking any more.

[Bob]

by the way lads, Xabi missing means we are in for a rocky night, but be confident.

 

I had a dream about 2 weeks ago and in that dream, which was as vivid as any dream i have ever had, we were two down after 25 minutes. I thought it was coming to an end, when our Brazilian starlet Lucas popped up with a sensational brace, which took the steam out of Inter's engine and meant that we sailed into the quarter finals.

 

now that Xabi is staying behind, and Lucas will surely start, i beliive this more than ever.

[silverlining]

by the way lads, Xabi missing means we are in for a rocky night, but be confident.

 

I had a dream about 2 weeks ago and in that dream, which was as vivid as any dream i have ever had, we were two down after 25 minutes. I thought it was coming to an end, when our Brazilian starlet Lucas popped up with a sensational brace, which took the steam out of Inter's engine and meant that we sailed into the quarter finals.

 

now that Xabi is staying behind, and Lucas will surely start, i beliive this more than ever.

 

This is more believable than some of the "Hicks e-mails" we've had on here recently

[Mr T]

If Benitez had just managed to rein his fucking gob in and said:

 

"Alonso is not travelling because his wife is about to give birth to their first child" nothing more would have been said, and no headlines would have been written.

 

So he's been a fucking knobhead to the press. AGAIN.

 

Every other post you are attacking someone or other with your polemic bile, now it's the manager. Just leave it out.

[Bellflower]

I don't care provided no one uses the word phacking any more.

 

I think someone has been overdosing on Battlestar Galactica ................