Xabi Alonso

[wiiksie]

He'd walk into the United team. That's how bad he is.

 

Fuck's sake: a good, hard-earned away result in Europe against a strong team in which he covered more ground than anyone else. And he's getting hammered.

He was awful though? Players, no matter how good, suffer periods of poor form.

[Josef Svejk]

He was awful though? Players, no matter how good, suffer periods of poor form.

 

Yes, he can play better. We know he can. But at least he's working for the cause.

[Spy Bee]

He's never had true width outside him though, Adam. This is not a recent observation, either. I've being saying how he could be a modern Jan Molby if he had more options around him ever since he's been here.

 

Yeah and I can see your point. But as you say, two seasons ago he didn't have width and he was playing much better than he is now.

[Soleilrouge]

He cannot tackle in a game of that tempo

[stringvest]

He does seem to be going through a bad patch. He didn't get any time on the ball yesterday, despite working hard. Class is permanent though; his form will return. On a slightly different tack, I do get frustrated when our 'out' ball to the wide players isn't controlled cleanly - both Babel and Kuyt are guilty of this - it makes a good pass look like a bad one. Babel is every bit as guilty as Kuyt. It's poor for a top class team.

[WaltonRed]

He will come good again. I was suprised he was the biggest runner when it came up but we got a good result at the end of the day.

[Kurt]

Bingo, Mick. Give him better players to pick out and he'll boss games. Certainly, with more quality attacking options round him his Achilles heel of pace would be negated. I also think he's at his best when we play higher up the pitch. I want to see him sitting five to ten yards inside the opposition half rather than ten to fifteen yards inside our own. I'm also not convinced that he and The Chief have quite clicked as a partnership yet.

 

Better players than Torres or Gerrard to pick out?? The fact is that Alonso, for all his passing ability, rarely tries 'attacking' passes these days. Rarely passes that hurts team. With his range of passing, players with Torres and Babels pace should be made for his skills. You saw Arsenal put several long passes behind our defence yesterday. When Flamini can do it, so can Alonso. Too often, in my opinion, he takes the easy option.

 

He has struggled with injuries, but how long can we use that as an excuse? He returned from injuries in mid December. He`s had plenty of time and matches to find his form. The fact is that it`s not only this season he has underperformed. To a degree he is living on past reputation, as we all know how good he can be. But he must find that level again, and soon, and that is up to him.

[philyhamann]

Whats happened to his passing? Thats what I want to know. Hopefully gets out of this bad patch soon, and it just is a bad patch.

[Red Nick]

He was awful though? Players, no matter how good, suffer periods of poor form.

Got to agree with that but I think he´s been below par for almost two seasons now certainly nowhere near as good as his first two seasons and its no surprise our points total has gone downwards since that 82 points season with Alonso not playing to the top of his abillity

[Unrighteous]

I think Alonso, maybe, hasn't the confidence in his long passing like he did in the previous season? I can't really think of a reason for it but Kurt mentioned above that Alonso has been taking the simple short pass a lot this season and I think he's right. Alonso hasn't been trying his incising passes very much.

[Glen C]

Better players than Torres or Gerrard to pick out?? The fact is that Alonso, for all his passing ability, rarely tries 'attacking' passes these days. Rarely passes that hurts team. With his range of passing, players with Torres and Babels pace should be made for his skills. You saw Arsenal put several long passes behind our defence yesterday. When Flamini can do it, so can Alonso. Too often, in my opinion, he takes the easy option.

 

He has struggled with injuries, but how long can we use that as an excuse? He returned from injuries in mid December. He`s had plenty of time and matches to find his form. The fact is that it`s not only this season he has underperformed. To a degree he is living on past reputation, as we all know how good he can be. But he must find that level again, and soon, and that is up to him.

 

Spot on. Alonso has been living off his great first season. The alonso of the first season has only been seen in glimpses. Now all he does is safe sideway passing and doesn't hurt the opposition. We only have gerrard that does that now. Plus his lack of mobility and pace really does show up when you're playing against a quick team like Arsenal and he wants too much time on the ball.

[MLB]

I thought he was poor again. I've been saying it for ages, but all he contributes to the team now is sideways and backwards passes. He's drifting. He doesn't creat goals, doesn't score goals, and for all this "metres covered" doesn't protect the back four anything near as well as Macherano.

[RedKnight]

He doesn't spray the ball around as much he did in his first two seasons.

[Monster Masch]

He dont fit this new formation.

 

Mascherano wins the ball and rallies around and plays simple passes. While Gerrard does the atticaking part, need a player who will add energy to our midfield but yet can pass a bal, like Flamini for Arsenal, Essien for Chelsea, Anderson for Mancs. Alonso looks tired from first minute.

 

De Rossi of Roma would suit the formation.

[George Costanza]

His bad patch has now lasted 2 years. He did a lot of unseen work yesterday but his work on the ball was poor and a million miles behind his first 18 months with us. Since then IMO he has gone backwards and again IMO is nowhere near as good/ as important to us as some of our fans think. I happen to think he'll go in the summer, and I don't think it'll be that big a loss.

 

I will always remember him for that super human effort against the shite at anfield but with Masch taking over the reigns in the centre i think we and xabi needs to move on.

[Paul]

Better players than Torres or Gerrard to pick out?

Don't be daft, Kurt. Better players on the flanks. More quality options are the key. Look at what Carrick has around him for The Mancs and imagine Xabi, who is a far superior passer, with similar options.

[Glen C]

Don't be daft, Kurt. Better players on the flanks. More quality options are the key. Look at what Carrick has around him for The Mancs and imagine Xabi, who is a far superior passer, with similar options.

 

That is such a lame excuse. If that is the reason why he only passes sideways and backwards how come it hasn't affected gerrard from spraying cross field passes in the last few games?

[Paul]

That is such a lame excuse. If that is the reason why he only passes sideways and backwards how come it hasn't affected gerrard from spraying cross field passes in the last few games?

 

Listen, you either rate him or you don't. I rate him. Comparisons with Gerrard are pointless: they're totally different players with totally different roles and positions on the pitch.

[jackofdk]

His bad patch has now lasted 2 years. He did a lot of unseen work yesterday but his work on the ball was poor and a million miles behind his first 18 months with us. Since then IMO he has gone backwards and again IMO is nowhere near as good/ as important to us as some of our fans think. I happen to think he'll go in the summer, and I don't think it'll be that big a loss.

 

I will always remember him for that super human effort against the shite at anfield but with Masch taking over the reigns in the centre i think we and xabi needs to move on.

 

I am a huge fan of Xabi, but sadly I agree with you for most parts.

 

But I still hope that he can get back to his unreal passing best playing for us.

[05 Milan]

When Xabi came on for Spain against Italy the other week, it was like watching those vintage peformances against Norwich and Spurs from the 04-05 season all over again. He was spraying the all over the place with ridiculous precision. Don't know what that means though...

[05 Milan]

Actually, when I think about it, he was much deeper in that game, kind of where Mascherano plays now. Naturally he was given more time and space.

[GOLDMEMBER]

Maybe he's getting told to keep the passes short? I dont think he's mobile enough in this new formation though.

[jackofdk]

Actually, when I think about it, he was much deeper in that game, kind of where Mascherano plays now. Naturally he was given more time and space.

 

I think the problem with him is, that after his first season of greatness the other teams picked up how important he was to our game and made sure, that he was always under pressure when receiving the ball.

[Glen C]

Listen, you either rate him or you don't. I rate him. Comparisons with Gerrard are pointless: they're totally different players with totally different roles and positions on the pitch.

 

Yeah but your point was that if he had better players out wide to pass to we would see his range of passing. My point was that this doesn't seem to affect gerrard so why would it affect alonso who is 'meant' to be a better passer of the ball than gerrard.

[Glen C]

I think the problem with him is, that after his first season of greatness the other teams picked up how important he was to our game and made sure, that he was always under pressure when receiving the ball.

 

Exactly in his first season the opposition didn't know anything about him so he had all the time and space to play his passes. Now the opposition know what he's about so they close him down quickly. When he doesn't have the time his game becomes ineffective. He doesn't have the strength or the mobility to make space for himself to spray his passes around. At international level you get alot more time on the ball so he can play his natural game. Like someone once said, you have to win the physical battle first so you can play your game in the premiership, and alonso will never win the physical battle.