After an eternity of Guillem Ballague sitting squarely on the internet gossip fence concerning the Xabi Alonso transfer, the thing that most of us knew was coming anyway has been and gone; no longer shall our Basque marvel be there to spray his carefully moulded 40-yard pearlers every which way across the famous Anfield turf. Instead, he’ll be feeding the likes of Kaka, Benzema and Ronaldo with his unendingly handsome passes at the Bernabeu. Fair cop, Xabi. You’re going home and it’s to play for the most exciting team (on paper) in modern times. None of us should begrudge the man his move; but we should certainly all mourn the fact that the Spaniard who has come to seem the most ‘scouse’ of them all, and the only other player remaining from the glories of Istanbul besides Gerrard and Carragher, has decided to pack Liverpool in. There’s no way that we can’t be disappointed when proven class seeps out the back door.
Benitez has known about Alonso’s desire to move since May, and it was undoubtedly this knowledge which led to our repeated and unsuccessful bid for Gareth Barry earlier in the summer. He has now turned, after months of what I think we can assume to be meticulous scouting and preparation, to Roma’s Alberto Aquilani as the man to play behind Steven Gerrard in Liverpool’s ‘core’ central midfield. I don’t know enough about Aquilani to define what kind of team we’ll become with him pulling the strings instead of Alonso, but I do know one thing for sure: things will be very different at Anfield next season. There is no other player like Alonso in world football; Pirlo and Beckham perhaps have his passing ability and intelligence, but they lack his Gattuso-like grit, the element of his game which allowed his last season with us to be easily his most formidable. I doubt Aquilani is as good a passer or as good defensively as Alonso; that means that our injury-prone new boy must bring something significant – and something original – to the table.
Alonso began some of our most incisive attacks and possesses the innate ability to sniff out defensive gaps and slice right through them; but if there was any area of his game which was lacking, it was his direct involvement in attacking play. By that, I mean scoring, I mean bursting into the box, I mean taking men on or terrorising a defence single-handedly. Steven Gerrard fits that bill, but if Aquilani could perform as a less skilful but more dynamic Alonso-figure, working more in tandem with the skipper than in deference to him, then our team could adapt, become less resilient but more exciting, less dependent but harder to predict, harder to ‘shut out’ with a well-drilled line of 9 defenders. That’s the only way I think Rafa’s formation can work without his young lad with the mature head on his shoulders, the tough playmaker we’ve all come to know and love, the boy whose venomous hatred of Frank Lampard has endeared him to the Kop almost as much as his pivotal role in our fifth European Cup victory.
Last season, when we played without Xabi Alonso we were lacking in composure, our ‘grip’ on matches slipped. Now we must freshen up, move forwards not sideways, and ensure that we don’t allow that state of fallibility become a permanent fixture. If Rafa’s imagination sparks effectively, then Alonso’s sale could actually be the spark which ignites our title hopes once more; but if the boss stands for even a moment’s stagnation, then we can kiss number 19 goodbye.
“then we can kiss number 19 goodbye.”
I would say you are right in saying this and, this is entirely because of Rafa’s attitudes towards some players: Pennant,Keane and Alonso the season before last.
WHO WILL BE NEXT?
Two questions how many time Alonso has scored?And how many times have we lost with Alonso playing?That excludes the times Rafa thought Alonso wasn’t good enough to be in the first team.
Very well put, hope the new lad is a success, our title hopes depend upon Aquilani doing well.
Thank you for what is easily the most honest, incisive and penetrating commentary I’ve ever heard about Xabi’s departure. I know the club will survive and hopefully prosper without Xabi but I’m tired of hearing cheap revisionists trying to rationalize his departure as a good thing by claiming Xabi was physically weak in the tackle or that his form was bad during his middle three seasons. This is simply bull. No player ever did more in my mind to dispel the image of the soft Spaniard than Xabi. He was a player Shanks would have loved. Your point about us losing power, rythmn and fluency in the middle almost immediately when Xabi went off last season is particularly astute. After two full years I still haven’t got the slightest clue what Rafa sees in Lucas so lets hope Acquilani can stay fit. The cognoscenti of Italian football do rate him very highly but he has some very big shoes to fill.
What revisionist it”s the truth!Alonso became a good player ONLY because of Benitez ,he wanted to show him he was good!!
Where was he when we were performing badly!So many draws…
Alonso was Pele never knew knew that !!Support your team get behind your manager!He knows best.I hope Aquilani is better than Alonso i really hope so.Cause with Alonso we never won the premier league if he was so good in the middle!!
Fareed, you can also add Finnan to the list of players Rafa treated badly for no apparent reason. Even at a time when Arbeloa was playing poorly and Finnan was a much better option he refused to let him have even 5 minutes. I’m still convinced Finnan and not Arbleloa should have been playing when we went out of the UCL against Chelsea in 2008. I’m not out to bag Rafa but I’m not about to pretend these bizarre things didn’t happen either. There was a very noticable difference between Rafa’s attitude towards Alonso and Mascherano this summer which Alonso could not have failed to notice. Both had three years left on their contract but whereas Rafa’s response regarding Mascherano was a simple “no way” (as with Bayern Munich and Ribery) he always gave Madrid enough encouragement about Alonso to make them believe a deal could be done at the right price. While this is clearly Rafa’s prerogative it does expose his comments about wanting Alonso to stay as disingenuous and aimed at placating the fans. Rafa will have to take responsibility for this decision and in due course he will be judged as to whether moving Alonso on for the money was the right one to make.
Great Article, If Aquilani can stay fit and perform to his abilities he will definatly bring a new dimension to our attack which seemed unable to break teams down last season. He is alot more direct than Alonso but just don’t believe he is anywhere as good as Alonso but still a good player.
Gerrard is one of the few people in the world that could replace Alonso and give more attacking oppositions going forward than Alonso could offer so its a pitty we couldnt sign Tevez who would have been better suited to playing behind a stricker than a main stricker role as he was asked to play at United and would have made a great partenership with Torres i just hope Torres remains injury free because without him and Alonso no 19 looks a long way off
Excellent summary of LFC,s position post Alonso.What guarantee have we that Aquilani will make any more appearances than he has averaged over each of his last 3 seasons which is only 16.The Premier is certain to be tougher and I feel we need someone considerably stronger than Lucas as backup.
I am afraid that even if Aquilani could make us forget Alonso that would take some months and the league win would stay a dream… I also agree with Jim about Finnan and I have my doubts about the way Rafa thinks sometimes….
almost totally agree with Rafa, we dont know what goes on off the pitch, too much negative speculation (like the knee - jerkers after the spurs defeat..blah blah,..love Xabi BUt 6/7 players got red-carded..there was a certain predictability that other teams targeted, maybe he could ahve got crocked in the new season 9again) but we have to move on, AA may give us a faster build-up and better passing in the most important part of the field, sometimes we lacked that cutting edge against “small teams”(like the bluesh*te )
Rafa does his best for us and is acknowledged as one of the best tactical managers in the world , how about some support, eh lads..
come on number 19 , yr time is up…YNWA!
Two teams tottenham and man city!! Improved considerably enough to beat any of the top 4. This makes the premiership harder to win this yr and other top teams can drop more points due to the improvement of the two mentioned. So liverpools quest is still very much on!! However Lucas isnt the answer, aquilani is too late to make an impact, another world class striker is needed plus someone tell me why voronin is still there (unbelievable).
i agree that rafa makes some stupid decission at times and when he does it affects the whole squad
he needs to stop being so stubborn and allow the players to be able to express them self and not take it out on them when dem do so he thinks he is too big to listen to players and supporters.
whats so special about lucas is he really a brazilian i dont think so rafa needs to try someone else and forget about him now is not the time to be trying with get rid of him now or else he is going to cost us darely with him in the line up he is no good and is not doing any thing better
I will like Rafa to be more understand with player like Ngog, for me Ngog was a good striker and we need two striker in a game, please rafa
What served Liverpool well last season was their intensity to chase and hunt in packs. They pressurised defences, remember the Man Utd home game whem Mascarano forced Giggs into a defensive mistake, which led toi the Babel winner. That intensity is not there so far this season and must return if we are to be successful. I do believe that we have lost pace and variety in the team by allowing Crouch, Keane and Bellamy to leave and this is hurting us. Alonso was a big loss but other players have not stepped up this season and that includes Gerrard..
My opinion,if we only talk about last season it’s just last season. For this moment,a new hope should follows with a new game style. If only the character is shown, it wont help at all. Liverpool are poor from the beginning of the season,even during their travel before the season started. Liverpool famous of its fantastic draw in a game,but winning not as good as we thought. In order to bring back the glorious of the club, it is not the manager himself, but the players should also keep on doing the right things when they know there’s lacking in managing the team. The fans always trust in the changing,because they can only support and belief. Ngog is very talented, Torres also very good. But, as a striker u should be versatile,when the opponent is marking you, you should be smart means smart to create the possibility of scoring. Not just hoping for a fouls,and so freaky dives. Lucas is trying at his best to prove that he is much better than Alonso. Skrtel is so embarrassing,poor marking and should train himself a better block. For the moment,every thing is terrible especially the defensive. I believe Liverpool in on fire,and the just mess up with a mad kops.