Liverpool FC Forum

[stoney]

i think i might not understand football that well.

I think you're right

Did you see the Sunderland game and many times last season where Alonso played absolutely amazing world class passes that split open the defence? That it was makes him miles ahead of Carrick and one of the best holding midfielders.

[stmichael]

there's been a misconception here.

xabi alonso is not a holding midfield player. he's a midfield playmaker who knows his limitations and strengths and adjusts his play and positioning accordingly. when you are playing alongside the likes of gerrard and sissoko who are both phenomenal athletes, it just requires alonso to show a bit of discipline and drop a bit deeper.

having said tha, i do think that the defensive side of alonso's game is extremely underrated. yes he's renowned for his passing ability, but he's not afraid to put his foot in if necessary.

the scary thing is, he's still 5 years off his peak.

[Garymac]

and to think ferguson could have signed him 3/4 years ago but said "no"    

honestly, i think he would still say no even now (if he got to fork out 10m). i dont really understand all the hype thats been given to alonso. he's a decent player, no doubt. but certainly not what one can claim outrightly as "one of the best midfield holding players". I dont really know how one defines "holding midfield player" but certainly its seems that alonso doesn't do much more than what carrick is doing at spurs? or less than what makelele is doing at the ski? if you talk about it on a worldwide basis, then alonso does not even make the top 30 perhaps, and that's already a compliment on my part.

i think i might not understand football that well. i say that without the scarcasm. i really mean it, cos i really dont see the magic behind alonso that alleviates him to a superstar status. i dont see what he has been doing in the matches to give him such status and he was pretty annoynomous yesterday too, yet people are saying he had a perfect game and stuff like that. he's decent, but not yet great.

I hope your taking the p!ss Gungod, have you not watched us this season, the last couple of months his all round game has gone up a notch, we spent most of last season praising his passing ability but there is so much more to his game and he looks like he is learning Didi's trade as well.

He pops up everywhere, hes taking a weight off Gerrards shoulders, he sets up goals, scores them, he has every attribute to be one of the best center mids in the game, he simply brings another quality to are play.

The 2 are awesome and with aworld class winger along side them, its scary to what level Rafa might just have us at, at the end of the season.

Also Gungod, did you see Alonsos 2 passes against Sunderland, id like you to tell me more than 30 footballers who could have done 2 balls like that in 1 game.

No ofence intended but your talking out your ar$e.

[Cool Hand Luke]

I definitely agree that Alonso has took it up a notch since he came back against Sunderland. He looks a lot more authoritative and decisive in his defensive play and is dictating the tempo of games. Personally I think he and Hamann make a superb central midfield partnership, they seem to be on the same wave length, but I must say that when Gerrard went back into the centre alongside him for the Wigan game they looked great together, they were the best players on the pitch.

On the subject of Sissoko, I think he will be a very good player for us, but still see Hamann as the master and Sissoko as the student.

[redmikey]

the sucess at the moment is down to rafa being able to get great players to play well for each other and not go missing as soon as they are not in their best position . gerrard on the right .alonso sitting back. jar on the bench .yet they all know why and what they are meant to be doin.. reds on a roll to the land of the rising sun ..champions of the world sounds quite nice

[115-1073096938]

and to think ferguson could have signed him 3/4 years ago but said "no"    

honestly, i think he would still say no even now (if he got to fork out 10m). i dont really understand all the hype thats been given to alonso. he's a decent player, no doubt. but certainly not what one can claim outrightly as "one of the best midfield holding players". I dont really know how one defines "holding midfield player" but certainly its seems that alonso doesn't do much more than what carrick is doing at spurs? or less than what makelele is doing at the ski? if you talk about it on a worldwide basis, then alonso does not even make the top 30 perhaps, and that's already a compliment on my part.

i think i might not understand football that well. i say that without the scarcasm. i really mean it, cos i really dont see the magic behind alonso that alleviates him to a superstar status. i dont see what he has been doing in the matches to give him such status and he was pretty annoynomous yesterday too, yet people are saying he had a perfect game and stuff like that. he's decent, but not yet great.

Hustler.

[115-1073096938]

there's been a misconception here.

xabi alonso is not a holding midfield player. he's a midfield playmaker who knows his limitations and strengths and adjusts his play and positioning accordingly. when you are playing alongside the likes of gerrard and sissoko who are both phenomenal athletes, it just requires alonso to show a bit of discipline and drop a bit deeper.

having said tha, i do think that the defensive side of alonso's game is extremely underrated. yes he's renowned for his passing ability, but he's not afraid to put his foot in if necessary.

the scary thing is, he's still 5 years off his peak.

Disagree. He is a holding midfielder/deep lying playmaker. His attributes suit both of these types of game and his ability to do both makes us a far greater side.

[stoney]

there's been a misconception here.

xabi alonso is not a holding midfield player. he's a midfield playmaker who knows his limitations and strengths and adjusts his play and positioning accordingly. when you are playing alongside the likes of gerrard and sissoko who are both phenomenal athletes, it just requires alonso to show a bit of discipline and drop a bit deeper.

having said tha, i do think that the defensive side of alonso's game is extremely underrated. yes he's renowned for his passing ability, but he's not afraid to put his foot in if necessary.

the scary thing is, he's still 5 years off his peak.

Disagree. He is a holding midfielder/deep lying playmaker. His attributes suit both of these types of game and his ability to do both makes us a far greater side.

It's true all defensive midfielders are now called holding mids really.

[gary106]

steve and xabi in my opinion are the best central midfield pairing in the premiership

[stmichael]

Here's a good Alonso article.

The Sunday Times December 11, 2005

Club class

Liverpool enter the Fifa Club World Championship on Thursday with their Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso keen to make his mark. By Jonathan Northcroft

His name is not “Zaby” as many in England pronounce it, but “Chavvy”. Our meaning for that word is wholly inappropriate for a footballer so cultured in his mien. The son of a decorated Spanish international, Xabi Alonso carries himself on the pitch with the erectness of a descendant from an aristocratic line and plays with such a grasp of the game’s simple principles that it feels as if he has insider knowledge.
He is a footballer’s footballer. “I love watching him” says Mark Lawrenson, speaking for the large community of former Liverpool players-turned-pundits among whom the 24-year-old is a favourite. “My first thought has always been to pass the ball even when I was a child,” the midfielder says. It is the Liverpool way, the Alonso way.

He sits at a table, red hair tousled, a bit of a mop up top, befitting the leader of a Spanish colony at Anfield dubbed “The Benitles”. He is earnest yet boyish and wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the rising sun emblem. Today Liverpool depart for Yokohama, where they will be based throughout the Fifa Club World Championship held in Japan over the next seven days.

“The European Cup has grown a lot since it started and now the Champions League is massive. I’m sure in the future the world championship will be massive also,” Alonso says. “We see it as a big prestige thing. People all over the world will be watching, so it’s important to do well.”

It is why, despite having to journey across eight time zones at a point in the calendar when the season’s toils begin weighing on a footballer’s legs, the Liverpool squad travel light in spirits. Fifa has revamped a competition that was first held in 2000, when Manchester United had such a miserable time in Brazil, and is trying to help the big teams. Liverpool need win only two matches to become “the best club on the planet”, the first a “semi-final” against the winners of Deportivo Saprissa, the Concacaf champions from Costa Rica, versus Oceania’s Sydney United. Sao Paolo, barring upsets, should await in next Sunday’s final.

“I know the other teams’ names and where they’re from and not much else, but I’m sure when we arrive Rafa (Benitez, the Liverpool manager) will produce videos and we’ll find out everything,” says Alonso, rolling his eyes and smiling in an affectionate send-up of his manager’s thoroughness. “In Spain they show Brazilian football on the telly, so I know Sao Paolo and that it’s difficult against South American teams because of the different tempo of their game. Everyone in our squad is happy to be playing this tournament and nobody is disappointed because of the travelling. We have this chance to show our club to the world.”

It was Alonso who finalised Liverpool’s resurrection in Istanbul on their way to becoming European champions. He is not a penalty-taker, but when Liverpool were awarded one at 3-2 down against AC Milan, he felt someone had to take responsibility, and when Dida saved his effort, he had the coolness to stroke home the rebound.

Alonso was the first to run to the supporters when Liverpool finally won. “The passion of the crowd has been a discovery for me. In Spain they write about the atmosphere of Anfield and I used to think, ‘Yeah, yeah, it can’t be like that’, then once you’re here, you discover what it’s about. It’s hard to describe what a European night at Anfield is like — the colours, the sounds.

You feel really motivated and privileged to play for such a team. I’ve taken my friends and my father here and they appreciate it. If you like football, you like Anfield.”

His father, Periko, was a midfielder too, and Mikel, his older brother, plays the position for Real Sociedad. As a boy in Tolosa, when the other kids were chasing the ball around and trying to score goals, Mikel and Xabi were practising their passes. “Passing has always brought me pleasure. I like to see a nice pass, I like to organise and support teammates,” Alonso says. “When you strike a pass, the most important thing is the pace on it, and the game is so quick now, and teams play so compact and give you so little space, more than ever you have to get that right. When I hit a good pass, I like how it looks and I feel almost as happy as if I’ve scored a goal. If I give the ball away, I’m really sad, or embarrassed. You know that you’ve given the other team a chance to counter-attack. I take it personally and it becomes my challenge to get the ball back.

“You know when you sign for Liverpool you’re going to play the passing game because in Spain the reputation of the club is the same. Since I’ve been here I’ve realised how much our fans like to see a good long pass or a pass that keeps the tempo of the game going. The crowd here appreciate quality football.”

And Alonso appreciates Liverpool. He and Anfield’s other Iberians are regulars at a Spanish restaurant called La Vina, but he also has a taste for local culture. He lives not in the suburbs but in an apartment on the docks next door to Everton’s Mikel Arteta and close to  Crewe Alexandra’s Juan Ugarte, childhood friends who, drawn by their amigo’s presence, have followed him to Merseyside.

He is seen out and about in the city centre, once in a music shop with Luis Garcia, who was buying a guitar. The Benitles must be thinking of gigging, then? “Ha. It’s a funny name, a good one. I liked the Beatles before coming here and I’ve been to the Beatles Museum. I tried to learn guitar when I was in school, but I was awful. I had no coordination with my fingers — it must all be in my feet. But Luis can play and he’s really quite good.”

You won’t find the Liverpool squad rent by “musical differences”, though. “What’s nice is that in our dressing room it’s not ‘England’ and ‘Spain’,” says Alonso. “Steve (Gerrard) and Sami (Hyypia) are really good guys and they have done a lot to help us mix. The Spanish part of the team is not separate, we get on with everyone , and that’s partly down to the manager. He treats everybody the same, whether you’re Spanish or English. That’s very important to him. He makes everybody speak English. Only if there’s something very special he wants to get across, he might explain it to me in Spanish.”

A great example of integration was witnessed when, after disposing of Juventus in the Champions League quarter- final last season, Alonso and Jamie Carragher, the two men-of-the-match, sat together on the flight home picking through the bones of the match. “Carra loves football. I like to sit with him, and when we are roommates, to speak to him about the game. He reads a lot and he watches a lot of Spanish football on television and we chat about that. Maybe he will be a coach in the future.”





Currently in charge is a man whose presence at Liverpool persuaded Alonso to shun Real Madrid in favour of a £10.5m move to Anfield from Real Sociedad in 2004. Alonso hopes that should Real, as feared, make a big play to appoint Benitez as Vanderlei Luxemburgo’s successor, his manager will stay.
“I’m sure he’s really happy here because the figure of the manager in England is different to Spain; you have more influence on the things around you. I’m sure in the short term Rafa won’t leave here. In Spain his prestige and his image is very big now. When people speak about the top managers in the world, they talk about Rafa Benitez.”

Benitez promised in the aftermath of Istanbul that Liverpool would be markedly better domestically this season. He did not look like delivering when his side won just two of its opening eight league games. But a meaner, more effective Liverpool has emerged.

“We’re not making so many mistakes, we are more compact, physically stronger and have confidence,” Alonso explains. “In Europe we know we can beat anyone at Anfield and also get results away, so we feel confident there. In the league, the next thing we need is to start beating the big teams and I think it’s still possible we can win the title this season, though Chelsea are so consistent.”

The ultimate target is to be “one of the top teams in Europe”. A one-off European Cup doesn’t count: “We need to be in European finals and winning English titles consistently.” Alonso has ambition to match his class. Yesterday Middlesbrough, tomorrow the world.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2093-1920160_1,00.html

[stoney]

yeah I saw this article on RAWK, great read

[A.B.]

and to think ferguson could have signed him 3/4 years ago but said "no"    

honestly, i think he would still say no even now (if he got to fork out 10m). i dont really understand all the hype thats been given to alonso. he's a decent player, no doubt. but certainly not what one can claim outrightly as "one of the best midfield holding players". I dont really know how one defines "holding midfield player" but certainly its seems that alonso doesn't do much more than what carrick is doing at spurs? or less than what makelele is doing at the ski? if you talk about it on a worldwide basis, then alonso does not even make the top 30 perhaps, and that's already a compliment on my part.

i think i might not understand football that well. i say that without the scarcasm. i really mean it, cos i really dont see the magic behind alonso that alleviates him to a superstar status. i dont see what he has been doing in the matches to give him such status and he was pretty annoynomous yesterday too, yet people are saying he had a perfect game and stuff like that. he's decent, but not yet great.

Give up football and go watch cricket or paint dry on the side of your house.

[JBG]

and to think ferguson could have signed him 3/4 years ago but said "no"    

honestly, i think he would still say no even now (if he got to fork out 10m). i dont really understand all the hype thats been given to alonso. he's a decent player, no doubt. but certainly not what one can claim outrightly as "one of the best midfield holding players". I dont really know how one defines "holding midfield player" but certainly its seems that alonso doesn't do much more than what carrick is doing at spurs? or less than what makelele is doing at the ski? if you talk about it on a worldwide basis, then alonso does not even make the top 30 perhaps, and that's already a compliment on my part.

i think i might not understand football that well. i say that without the scarcasm. i really mean it, cos i really dont see the magic behind alonso that alleviates him to a superstar status. i dont see what he has been doing in the matches to give him such status and he was pretty annoynomous yesterday too, yet people are saying he had a perfect game and stuff like that. he's decent, but not yet great.

Yes, I think you hit the nail on the head with the first sentence of the second paragraph.

Alonso is a terrific player. There haven't been many players of Alonso's calibre in England since the 1960s.

[stmichael]

It's true all defensive midfielders are now called holding mids really.

it's true and this is the exact thing i don't understand. i'm sure the majority of holding players are instructed not to cross the half way line these days and that's just wrong. this notion that the centre halves need "protecting" is basically saying that they're not good enough to go about their business themselves.

the most recent example is scott parker at newcastle. he was no defensive midfielder at charlton. he was a box to box player. now i very rarely even see him getting into the oppositions box. the example i would used from the past is old liverpool boy john wark. he was a holding player but in one season he score 40 (yes 40) goals from that position. could you ever see the likes of carrick, hamann, makelele, gilberto ever scoring more than 3-4 in a season?

there my friends is the difference. and yes i know the game as changed but too many players are bogged down by tactics and systems these days instead of being allowed to go out, play their natural game and react to situations.

[Sabre]

His name is not “Zaby” as many in England pronounce it, but “Chavvy”.

Wrong, you bloody journalist idiot. Anfield's spelling of Xabi is perfect.

Indeed, Xabi is a basque name and it's pronounced Shabi, as in "share" that's the way he want to be called.

In Catalunyia though, they say Xavi, pronounced Chabi, and many idiots in Spain make the same mistake of the journalist of the Sunday Times. So, Anfield, please continue cheering Alonso as you do, this journalist are clueless.


The rest of the article is not that bad, though

His father, Periko, was a midfielder too, and Mikel, his older brother, plays the position for Real Sociedad. As a boy in Tolosa, when the other kids were chasing the ball around and trying to score goals, Mikel and Xabi were practising their passes

Periko was a kind of midfielder that it's extinct nowadays, he was very english in his gameplay, stong defensive midfielder.

Unfortunately, his older brother got more genetics from the mother, who was prettier, and less genetics from the father the footballer, as he doesn't have the accuracy of the pace of the ball when passing, nor the tackling, nor nothing of his brother.