Author Topic: Xabi Alonso  (Read 332970 times)

Offline RJ320

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3320 on: March 9, 2017, 01:44:21 pm »
He's retired already? Thought he would've waited until the end of the season. He'd do very well in a managerial role.

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3321 on: March 9, 2017, 01:46:13 pm »
I'm thoroughly confused, because I thought this had been confirmed a few weeks ago ;D

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3322 on: March 9, 2017, 01:49:36 pm »
I'm thoroughly confused, because I thought this had been confirmed a few weeks ago ;D

When did you get those green stars?

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3323 on: March 9, 2017, 02:43:31 pm »
He's retired already? Thought he would've waited until the end of the season. He'd do very well in a managerial role.
It is at the end of the season.
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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3324 on: March 9, 2017, 02:47:34 pm »
I'm thoroughly confused, because I thought this had been confirmed a few weeks ago ;D
i am pretty sure this happened too
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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3325 on: March 9, 2017, 03:11:39 pm »
When did you get those green stars?

When this sub-forum was created - I'd been suggesting it for a while as I felt that there were a lot of former player threads sinking into obscurity in the General Sport area.

Offline CallumLFC

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3326 on: March 9, 2017, 03:34:57 pm »
He's going to manage us to a league title one day, you know.

He's most importantly got the brain for it, and fair to say the education too. Played under Benitez, Mourinho, Guardiola and Ancelotti. Fuckin hell imagine going inside his mind and finding all that he knows about the game.

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3327 on: March 9, 2017, 03:46:31 pm »
When this sub-forum was created - I'd been suggesting it for a while as I felt that there were a lot of former player threads sinking into obscurity in the General Sport area.


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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3328 on: March 9, 2017, 03:51:31 pm »
He's going to manage us to a league title one day, you know.

He's most importantly got the brain for it, and fair to say the education too. Played under Benitez, Mourinho, Guardiola and Ancelotti. Fuckin hell imagine going inside his mind and finding all that he knows about the game.
im either losing the plot of have seen this post before

i remember seeing something like this before and thinking "wow that is some list of managers". dont forget Pellegrini, Del Bosque and Aragones too
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Offline Butcher Knife Roberto

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3329 on: March 9, 2017, 07:10:34 pm »
Get your arse back here & link up with Stevie again.
Superb player.



 :'(

The worst of it is that team in it's prime, in this league, would run fucking riot. Taking each player at their peak, how much would they be worth in the modern game? I reckon nudging half a billion. Fucking scary thought we had them all in red.

Xabi though, what an outstanding footballer. Definitely going a year early, unless he's obviously doing what Stevie did and is listening to the noises coming from his body. If he steps into coaching then we need to be taking a serious look into securing his services.

That legends team is going to be fucking mustard though eh?

Offline YoungKopite

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3330 on: March 9, 2017, 07:46:24 pm »
Someone we'll never be able to replace. Absolute gem of a footballer, and a class act off the pitch. All the best Xabi! YNWA

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3331 on: March 9, 2017, 08:55:14 pm »
All the best Xabi lad, thanks for the memories, would love to see him back one day in some role.
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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3332 on: March 9, 2017, 09:07:38 pm »
Love him, what a great lad, and what a fucking special player, best of luck in the future Xabi 'la.

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3333 on: March 10, 2017, 12:37:06 am »
.
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Offline rscanderlech

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3334 on: March 10, 2017, 10:59:22 am »
"Xabi Alonso is like a metronome, a player in the style of Xavi Hernández. I'm sure that when he hangs his boots up he'll be a great coach. He reminds me of Pep Guardiola when he was a player: he already acts like a coach when he is on the field."
José Mourinho, Alonso's coach at Madrid between 2010 and 2013

Offline Adz LFC

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3335 on: March 10, 2017, 02:15:01 pm »
What a player 8)
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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3336 on: March 11, 2017, 11:25:38 am »
The way Gerrard and Carra go on about Xabi's departure, take away we lost a fantastic player, it's no wonder we had such a shit time of it the season after. Sounds like the captain and vice captain struggled to get their bottom lips off the floor for the entirety of it.
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Offline Paragon

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3337 on: March 11, 2017, 12:52:26 pm »
The way Gerrard and Carra go on about Xabi's departure, take away we lost a fantastic player, it's no wonder we had such a shit time of it the season after. Sounds like the captain and vice captain struggled to get their bottom lips off the floor for the entirety of it.

I take it you're referring to Carra's recent comments on Xabi's departure? Here's the full quote...

"It was a pivotal moment. Xabi stayed and his form surpassed the level of his spectacular first year. We finished runners-up to Manchester United in 2009 but when Real Madrid arrived on the scene for him, I became fearful he would go as the wounds of 12 months earlier had not healed.

This is where I have my biggest problem. I had no issue with Xabi wanting to join Real — for Spanish players that is the pinnacle — but I couldn’t understand why Benitez didn’t hold out an olive branch to sort things out.

Benitez had his best team in five years at Anfield. We were close to having a team that could win the Premier League and perhaps reach another Champions League final. Why did he have to continue the fight with Xabi? He had won the initial battle by getting the upturn in his form."


Nothing outrageous there. Alonso was a world class player and his departure was always bound to affect the team. What frustrates me the most however is his reason for wanting to leave (the manager wanted to sell him in order to raise funds to bring Gareth Barry to the club http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/8535368/Real-Madrid-midfielder-Xabi-Alonso-admits-he-left-Liverpool-after-feeling-unwanted-by-Rafael-Benitez.html).

The mind boggles. Wanting rid of Alonso to bring Gareth Barry in is like wanting Jermaine Defoe instead of Luis Suarez. Totally baffling and that's putting it kindly!

All the best, Xabi. You gave us many happy memories.
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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3338 on: March 11, 2017, 03:44:56 pm »
Xabi and Ancelotti news conference. Got to love Carlo.  ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx7uAcvHZOU

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3339 on: March 11, 2017, 03:58:45 pm »
So many of his peers have such nice things to say about Xabi as a person. That more than anything tells you what a sound person he was, as well as a great footballer.
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Offline The Red Machine

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3340 on: March 11, 2017, 04:10:48 pm »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA57Hlkl1ZI&t=147s
One of his first appearances for the club. Such a gifted passer of the ball

Offline xbugawugax

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3341 on: March 12, 2017, 02:16:51 pm »
leaving this here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlKQOweFz2g&feature=youtu.be

such a beautiful player. Became a big fan of the metronomic midfielders because of him. Forever seems to have the time and space to pull off the perfect pass. An absolute gift that cant be teached.

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3342 on: March 12, 2017, 06:16:45 pm »

All of his 19 goals for us...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/nlKQOweFz2g?fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/nlKQOweFz2g?fs=1</a>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlKQOweFz2g
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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3343 on: March 14, 2017, 08:50:43 am »

The mind boggles. Wanting rid of Alonso to bring Gareth Barry in is like wanting Jermaine Defoe instead of Luis Suarez. Totally baffling and that's putting it kindly!

All the best, Xabi. You gave us many happy memories.
its very true that it was a big mistake of Rafa's

it completely de-stabilised the team

but i just think Gareth Barry gets an unfair time of it since, Barry is a pretty decent player and has been ever since. unfair everytime he gets mentioned this gets brought up. Yes he isnt as good as Alonso, but you could say that about a lot of players!
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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3344 on: March 14, 2017, 09:49:16 am »
Yeah, never understood it. Think it was suggested years back that Rafa wanted to switch to a back three and play Gerrard behind Keane and Torres which is why we bought two wingbacks that year but I never quite understood why you'd need to trade on Alonso when he's the sort who'd have thrived in it anyway.

Also needs to be pointed at repeatedly that Ranieri ,despite a lovely league title last year, thought he was too slow for Italian football then bought Poulsen!

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3345 on: March 14, 2017, 09:54:07 am »
Yeah, never understood it. Think it was suggested years back that Rafa wanted to switch to a back three and play Gerrard behind Keane and Torres which is why we bought two wingbacks that year but I never quite understood why you'd need to trade on Alonso when he's the sort who'd have thrived in it anyway.

Also needs to be pointed at repeatedly that Ranieri ,despite a lovely league title last year, thought he was too slow for Italian football then bought Poulsen!
and could have bought Alonso for a much less price then we ended up selling him for

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3346 on: March 15, 2017, 09:23:01 am »
Aaawww, poor Xabi.  Threatened by Gareth Barry.  He's a footballer.  Should've grown a pair and stopped whinging about the fact that he was distinctly average for 2 seasons before Rafa decided he wanted to sell him.  He fucked off to Real when we needed him most.  That's his love of the club for you!
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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3347 on: March 15, 2017, 09:28:29 am »
he was distinctly average for 2 seasons

Cant believe people still buy this myth! And his "average" shat over Gareth Barry's best.

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3348 on: March 15, 2017, 02:35:50 pm »
Cant believe people still buy this myth! And his "average" shat over Gareth Barry's best.

You're quite right - thats all it is.....is a myth.

Xabi was at no point in his Liverpool career distinctly average.

Some seasons were better than others, but average - nah.

The guy is truly one of the best central midfielders I've had the pleasure of seeing play.

Don't begrudge him his move to Madrid.  He was dedicated to Liverpool while he was here.  And in this day and age, getting 5 seasons out a player is not bad.

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3349 on: March 15, 2017, 03:03:07 pm »
in fairness his form in 2006-7 and 2007-8 wasnt great at all in comparison to 2008-9. it probably wasnt helped by him twice breaking his foot in the 2007-8 season.

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3350 on: March 15, 2017, 03:05:10 pm »
Wasn't he on the market for £12m and the only clubs to show an interest were Juve and Arsenal? And they opted not to buy him. He definitely went up a couple of levels in his final season

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3351 on: March 15, 2017, 03:05:41 pm »
Wasn't he on the market for £12m and the only clubs to show an interest were Juve and Arsenal? And they opted not to buy him. He definitely went up a couple of levels in his final season
18 i think. rumour i think was some would only go to 14
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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3352 on: March 15, 2017, 07:41:33 pm »
Miss him and the quality of midfielder that he represents.

A theoretical navel-gazing question for you all: Do you think a Xabi at this peak would fit into a Klopp team such as the one now? In some respects, I feel like he doesn't fit the mold of the Klopp-style player, especially off the ball. But in terms of a metronome, a midfielder who can stamp his authority on the game and influence control, I feel like he represents the missing piece right now. I feel like he would be really influential, especially in games against the lower-half who sit deep against us. Xabi has the qualities to break the lines and pick the right pass most of the time which our current midfield unfortunately doesn't seem to possess.

Thoughts?

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3353 on: March 15, 2017, 08:08:59 pm »
its very true that it was a big mistake of Rafa's

it completely de-stabilised the team

but i just think Gareth Barry gets an unfair time of it since, Barry is a pretty decent player and has been ever since. unfair everytime he gets mentioned this gets brought up. Yes he isnt as good as Alonso, but you could say that about a lot of players!

From hazy memory Xabi wasn't at his best in 07/08 but maybe that's a bit of revisionism. We did manage to win in the San Siro without him. Wasn't that when he had his kid and Rafa was a bit annoyed he missed a game or two?

Thing is, even without that he might have wanted to leave anyway. Either way, we should have dealt with it better than we did.

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3354 on: March 15, 2017, 08:12:09 pm »
Yeah, never understood it. Think it was suggested years back that Rafa wanted to switch to a back three and play Gerrard behind Keane and Torres which is why we bought two wingbacks that year but I never quite understood why you'd need to trade on Alonso when he's the sort who'd have thrived in it anyway.

Also needs to be pointed at repeatedly that Ranieri ,despite a lovely league title last year, thought he was too slow for Italian football then bought Poulsen!

We were starting to be fucked financially though. The while having to sell to buy shows that. In an ideal world he'd have been able to buy Barry if he wanted him without having to sell and we'd have had a much stronger squad for it.

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3355 on: March 15, 2017, 09:40:58 pm »
Aaawww, poor Xabi.  Threatened by Gareth Barry.

Sorry but that comment's ridiculous. If I was Xabi in a situation where the manager wanted to replace me with someone frankly not as good, I'd probably seek to move elsewhere. As it happens, he went on to win further major trophies with two of the world's best clubs but apparently he was expendable in Rafa's pursuit of Gareth Barry? It's actually embarrassing and whether you like it or not, Rafa was wrong and it ended up costing us.

its very true that it was a big mistake of Rafa's

it completely de-stabilised the team

but i just think Gareth Barry gets an unfair time of it since, Barry is a pretty decent player and has been ever since. unfair everytime he gets mentioned this gets brought up. Yes he isnt as good as Alonso, but you could say that about a lot of players!

Maybe Barry fell victim to some irrational criticism in reaction to Rafa's plans but I can understand it, especially with regard to Alonso's reasons for leaving Liverpool.
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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3356 on: March 15, 2017, 11:50:14 pm »
There were problems with Rafa, maybe, or maybe they were never really the point. Alonso never came across as anything but a thoughtful, considered sort of chap. He started out in his home town club, moved to one of the biggest clubs in the world and had success, but realistically, was he ever going to stay? Why would he? He has since spent time in another great club , in another great city, and then he went and did it again. His career has been about giving each destination a decent few years to know the place and the people, a respectful and curious traveller. Rather than indulge in bitterness, we really should be thinking how lucky we were to have had him at all.

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3357 on: March 16, 2017, 11:53:10 pm »
There were problems with Rafa, maybe, or maybe they were never really the point. Alonso never came across as anything but a thoughtful, considered sort of chap. He started out in his home town club, moved to one of the biggest clubs in the world and had success, but realistically, was he ever going to stay? Why would he? He has since spent time in another great club , in another great city, and then he went and did it again. His career has been about giving each destination a decent few years to know the place and the people, a respectful and curious traveller. Rather than indulge in bitterness, we really should be thinking how lucky we were to have had him at all.

This.

The key for me is that he was probably going to leave sooner or later.

But I think the angst speaks to a larger issue, where we as fans think every player we like should love the club unconditionally and with not only unflagging loyalty, but unwavering devotion, to the extent that they will never be interested playing anywhere else.

If Xabi had gone to Chelsea or United, or even another club in England, I think we would have some right to be aggrieved. But he went to Madrid.

The other issue this speaks to is our ability as a club to manage the loss of key players. If we had brought someone in who was as good or better, and we won the league the following season, I don't think anyone would be particularly troubled. But we got Aquilani and the rest is history. Ditto Suarez.

It's not an easy thing to do, but it's something we can and must do better going forward. The alternative is to relive our recent history over and over, and to get bitter at players who have moved on, but otherwise actually have a great connection to the club.

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3358 on: March 17, 2017, 09:38:00 pm »
There were problems with Rafa, maybe, or maybe they were never really the point. Alonso never came across as anything but a thoughtful, considered sort of chap. He started out in his home town club, moved to one of the biggest clubs in the world and had success, but realistically, was he ever going to stay? Why would he? He has since spent time in another great club , in another great city, and then he went and did it again. His career has been about giving each destination a decent few years to know the place and the people, a respectful and curious traveller. Rather than indulge in bitterness, we really should be thinking how lucky we were to have had him at all.

That is an excellent post, it is so easy for people to judge, but none of us know what the backdrop to this truly was. Rafa was under intense pressure at the time, and he made a decision, just like managers do. I would never say he was wrong, as you don't know what forced it. Nor would I judge Xabi for going, he was always going to return to Spain one day anyway.

I will just remember him for the wonderful player he was in those brilliant Liverpool teams, and his silky skills. The way he gave one hundred per cent each time he wore the Red shirt. You need to look at the good things, rather than moping about the bad. Everything happens for a reason as the saying goes. I wish him luck in his life after football.     
"He's trying to get right away from football. I believe he went to Everton"

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Re: Xabi Alonso
« Reply #3359 on: March 21, 2017, 10:15:57 pm »
Always said him and Mascherano will both make great managers.