The majority of blame for Alonso's departure lies with Rafa.
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Well let's fucking hope so. Because if it wasn't then this club is fucked.
There's a lot of soft talk about Rafa's man management being shite because he doesn't put his arms round players shoulders and give them a hug. Sorry but that isn't his job and I don't think it should be.
Rafa is 100% focused on Liverpool Football Club and expects his players to be the same. When he decided to off-load Xabi last season to pay for Barry it was his choice. At that point, with a particular vision for the team in mind, he decided it was the right thing to do. Strapped for cash (I for one still don't know the full story about the Barry/Xabi and Keane deals) he had few options. In those circumstances, can someone explain how it was bad man-management? He expected the deal to go through so his concern was for the incoming player, not Xabi. You might say it was bad football management, that Barry for Alonso was a bad footballing decision (though how the fuck anyone can be sure of that I don't know), but how the fuck can it be bad man-management?...
So the deal fell through and from what Xabi himself says, it seems he decided before the start of last season that he was off this summer. He then has the best season in a red shirt for a few years, some peoples player of the year. For who?... for Liverpool?... for his team-mates?.. for the fans?... or for himself?... none of us really know. Only Xabi knows what the truth is.
Come the transfer window and Xabi already knows Real want him and has decided to make the move. Perez is back at Madrid and the transfer market is in over-drive after the ridiculous Ronaldo and Kaka deals. I'd guess that Rafa knew that Xabi had made his mind up as well so the dance began...
Manchester City come in with their bags of cash for Barry, closing off that option. Whether Rafa still wanted him or not was irrelevant. He needed to sell before he could buy.
Xabi says "it's out of his hands"... he'd be happy to stay at Liverpool or move... (which may or may not be true) knowing full well his agent, Real Madrid and the Spanish press are working overtime to pressurise Liverpool into letting him go for the lowest possible fee. Rafa on the other hand has two options: keep hold of Xabi (probably not going to happen) in which case he needs to make sure he says loud and clear that he wants Xabi to stay... or he needs to get the best possible price and look around for a possible replacement, in which case he needs to make sure he says loud and clear that he
really wants Xabi to stay.
And so it goes...
Rafa's a professional and so is Xabi. Buying and selling players is part of a manager's job and being sold is part of a footballer's life. Some of the nonsense spouted on here about "revenge" and hurt feelings is soft as shite. Xabi gets his "revenge" by having a brilliant season, helping us to 2nd in the league and doubling his transfer value. I wish someone would take that kind of revenge on me.
So yeah... it's Rafa's fault. It's Rafa's fault that he tried to improve the team in his own way... the way he's improved it year on year since he took over from Ged. It's Rafa's fault that after the deal fell through Xabi played a blinder. Maybe it's Rafa's appalling man-management that has created a team with such spirit, a team that plays to the ninetieth minute and beyond, a team that will never say die.
Rafa isn't perfect and he's not beyond criticism. But he's one of the top ten managers in the game and we're lucky to have him. I'd love to have seen what he could have done with the money he was promised. I'd also like to see him treated with the respect he deserves.
So cheerio Xabi, thanks for the kind words about us and thanks for five good years. Now what's the team for Burnley...